Joni Mitchell: "Turbulent Indigo" Song by Song Thread

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Track 7: "Not to Blame"


Lyrical Excerpt:
The story hit the news
From coast to coast
They said you beat the girl
You loved the most
Your charitable acts
Seemed out of place
With the beauty
With your fist marks on her face
Your buddies all stood by
They bet their fortunes
And their fame
That she was out of line
And you were not to blame

Complete Lyrics at Joni's Official Site

 

Not to Blame
Many at the time thought this song was written about Jackson Browne (who was in the news in the early '90s for possibly assaulting his girlfriend at the time, Daryl Hannah). Joni denied this, but it does seem quite plausible. Especially considering that Joni had written about the death of Browne's wife Phyllis Major in 'Song for Sharon' back in 1976. Browne seems to be one of the few of Joni's exes that she did not remain friends with and in fact looks at with a very critical eye.

Anyway, leaving all that aside, I'm glad to hear a piano-based song as I love Joni's piano songs. It's a powerful conversation about abuse and it doesn't really matter who the subject is--there are wife beaters and battered women all across the world and unfortunately many of those wife beaters get away with it and are absolved. It's another melancholy song but honest and lyrically excellent ("These red words that make a stain / On your white-washed claim that / She was out of line"). Poetry. Wayne Shorter's touch is gentle and emotional on this track and really adds to the ambiance.

 

No comments on this one? Bump.

 

I thought this thread and the Night Ride Home one would be hopping after we got past Joni's "bad" '80s period, but apparently not.

I listened to Turbulent Indigo today and there were no major revelations--other than if I'm going to spin lesser-played Joni, my time would probably be better spent on her three pre-Blue albums.

I'll be a regular for Taming The Tiger, but will understand if you're not interested or if you want to take a break.

 

Joni at her most scathing. She said it wasn't about Jackson Browne but... it was. He was incensed by the line about his three year old son, he thought that was below the belt. But as Joni sings... people like him are not usually taken to task by their famous friends. I don't know enough about Jackson's life to know whether it was fair to write that he drove his wife to suicide, though.

I did think the last time I listened to it that there is a slight mismatch between the tough words and the music, which is quite major key and pleasant.

 

I don't dislike the song, but it's probably the one on this album that I am the least exuberant about.

 

I think you just nailed it so well with your description that I couldn't think of anything to add.

There isn't anything I dislike on this album, but I wouldn't say "Not To Blame" is a standout track.

 

Notably, the musical genesis of this song seems to be Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.” In 1991 she was a guest of Murray MacLaughlin’s Swinging On A Star. The reunion of friends (they had performed the same Canadian folk club circuits in the sixties) found the pair performing a number of songs together before Murray asked Joni to play something on the piano. She stumbles into “It’s All Over Now,” with chords that are remarkably reminiscent of what became “Not To Blame.” Can’t find it on YouTube but it’s been “out there” for decades.


“It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” must have really been on her mind around 1991. There’s a ‘91 demo version that was finally released on the 2003 box set. It is a very different beast, guitar-based with a totally different groove.

As for the lyrical content, even separated from the possible headline-based inspiration, it’s still a remarkable song. Though I must admit it’s one I don’t listen to as much in Joni’s catalog.

 

I got my third wind (or maybe my fifth wind! I've been running these since last July!) and I am now determined to see this thing through all the way to the end, as I initially planned. We are going all the way through Shine.

I finally got the Love Has Many Faces box set this month and I have been listening through. Having all the context of each song fresh in my head from discussing on these threads with all of you fine people has made the experience all the richer. Of course, I disagree with Joni on some of her selections (Tax Free on a box set about love? Almost completely ignoring the first three albums? Leaving out Help Me? Only one song from For the Roses??) but the fact that it is her personal curation adds to the experience. I could easily make my own four disc playlist of Joni love songs. Hearing what she came up with herself is charming.

It reminded me why I wanted I wanted to explore Joni Mitchell's complete songbook with these threads.

 

"Not to Blame"
Lovely melody here. I as well, am happy to have a piano-based song. I know Joni Mitchell has a unique guitar style, but it can all get samey-samey.

I don't care for the "Daddy" reading in the least.

Is there any relevance to the 600,000 doctor reference? A statistic?

 

I don't find these final songs as compelling as the first half plus. Hopefully I can find something.

 

Some of the choices for the compilations and the box set mystify me.

(The fact that there were so many compilations really mystified me, to be honest.)

 

I agree about the compilations. My favorite of the bunch is Songs of a Prairie Girl, which is a really nice set with a very cohesive and understandable theme. I can understand The Beginning of Survival as well, even if a set of Joni's topical/angry songs is something I have no personal interest in. The one I really don't get is Dreamland. What exactly is the theme of that set supposed to be?

 

Next up:

Track 8: "Borderline"


Lyrical Excerpt:
Every bristling shaft of pride
Church or nation
Team or tribe
Every notion we subscribe to
Is just a borderline
Good or bad we think we know
As if thinking makes things so!
All convictions grow along a borderline

Complete Lyrics at Joni's Official Site

 

Borderline
Joni seems to have some affection for this song as it was included on both Travelogue and Love Has Many Faces. It has always been one that sort of passed me by on listening (enjoyable but not a favorite) but I just sat and listened to it a few times this morning while reading along with the lyrics (this is my ritual every day as I post these songs) and it really struck me today. Very simple arrangement that is essentially just Joni and guitar and a very strong vocal from her. I can feel her intent and emotion in her words on 'Borderline.' And the words are excellent. I see many folks online feel that they match the current political climate in America, which they do, but they really speak to any situation in which people align themselves stubbornly to one particular group or way of thinking and find themselves unable to cross over the line and find common ground with those outside the group. I think the lyrics are insightful and I enjoy the fact that they are general and not striking out at any one specific group--probably every human being is guilty of doing this at one point or another, even if it is something as mundane as being a passionate follower of a sports team. "Good or bad we think we know / As if thinking makes things so".

This one was a surprise for me today and it has raised in my estimation.

 

The final verse really captures the U.S. news reporting these days... political borderlines.

You snipe so steady
You snub so snide
So ripe and ready
To diminish and deride!
You're so quick to condescend
My opinionated friend
All you deface all you defend
Is just a borderline
Just a borderline
Another borderline
Just a borderline

 

It mostly seems to be a greatest hits set but almost right away you hear “Dreamland” and “The Jungle Line” back to back, followed by the deep cut “Furry Sings the Blues,” and then it returns to Joni classics. The answer must lie in the inclusion of these songs (as well as “Nothing Can Be Done,” another relative obscurity) but I have no idea what it is!

 

Borderline feels like it could have been written in the past month, it seems that prescient.

 

The first song prepared for the album in 1992. She performed it at the comeback gig at the Troubadours of Folk Festival, UCLA, 1993.

Here’s a video of it from PBS’s original broadcast. The song was not included in either the VHS or LaserDisc highlights releases.

 

Speaking of compilations, for the 2014 Love Has Many Faces box set, Joni had a trumpet part added to "Borderline" that was performed by Ambrose Akinmusire. This version is exclusive to the box set, which incidentally was just reissued on vinyl in November.

 

Hmm... what do you think of that?

It's an interesting choice to have it sound like it's being played in the next room...

 

I heard your baby say
When he was only three
"Daddy let's get some girls
One for you and one for me"

I don't get too hung up on lyrics, but I wonder what possessed her to go there, and what was she trying to say?

Have to say I really like the tune, and scathing though it is, that voice makes it go down easy. The piano's a nice - and maybe necessary - change of pace in the album's sequencing.

 

He wrote about her in one song for sure, possibly two.
Turnabout is fair play?

 

I imagine she probably meant something like, your kid is picking up the language you use about women, and another generation of men who treat women badly is born. Was she reading too much into it? Can't say.

 

I'm not sure how necessary it was to add, but I appreciate that Joni wanted to do something different.

Trivia time: Funny enough, one of Joni's rare concert appearances was a performance with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter and others at the Thelonius Monk Institute Gala in October of 2007. There, Ambrose won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. He also performed at the 2013 Luminato Festival which marked Joni's first stage appearance since 2008. Most recently he was part of the house band for the Joni 75 concerts in November.