What Makes This Song Great? "Amelia" Joni Mitchell
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- Опубліковано 26 тра 2020
- In this episode of "What Makes This Song Great?™" we explore the music of Joni Mitchell.
#jonimitchell #amelia #hejira
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Thanks for giving Joni her due. Lots of people get labeled as “genius.” Joni deserves it with a capital G.
You got that right! Even Prince thought she was a genius.
Yes❤️
Especially this album! So much glorious music!
YES!!!
Truth (with a capital T)!
And I thought I was the only man who cried listening to Joni Mitchell’s songs. I guess there is still hope for this world then!
naaah lots of guys love her. We're all humans and she has a way of getting to you
Not at all. We are many.
Literally wiping tears from my eyes as I type this. First time hearing Amelia, and I’m just overwhelmed.
No there is only hope for subscribers to this channel. :-)
Joni is one of the all time great artists of the 20th century. You are definitely not alone.
No one sounds like Joni. Intimate stories wrapped up in haunting melodies; who can ask for more. She is a force of nature.
Tears and chills. No other artist has brought so many to so many.
Check out Janni Littlepage, “Strange Angels”.
When you mention all the “lift” in the song she’s intentionally/musically creating the mood and feeling of aviation. Such a genius she is.
❤❤❤
As we used to say at the conservatory, Hell, yeah. I heard it for the first time about a month ago, and right away, even without knowing the subject of the song, I felt aloft.
The line “the ghost of aviation, she was swallowed by the sky and by the sea” is just so evocative
Joni loves this video too: "... [Rick] did one on “Amelia.” And she was on the phone one night telling me how much she loved this video and how much she was impressed with how this guy really understood her and the song and got it on every level." - from an interview with Patrick Mulligan about Joni's new Archives release on The Second Disc, Oct. 30.
Is Rick aware of this? Hopefully this encourages him to do more videos on Joni, so that more people get to know her
@@FernandaGomezVasquez I once said, there should be a series called: What makes this Joni Mitchell song great. Just a thought. I Think i have to dig out that interview too. I love it, when Rick gets recognition for the right reasons.
@@shirohige6024 that would be awesome. She is no blocker so...
Joni Mitchell is my all-time favorite. I'm so happy to hear Rick Beato discuss her songwriting! And, yes-that concert is astounding to watch, Jaco and Metheny and Joni Mitchell oh yeah!
@pbarrow I am impressed with Rick. Just found his channel a month ago. He is thorough and knows his stuff. I've been a Joni fan for ages. She is a genius. Everyone promotes Dylan through the ages, but Joni, to me was much, much better and the jazz...OMG...the jazz. Jaco being on her records just confirms it, along with Larry Carlton and Pat Metheny. I mean, c'mon! She was doing stuff back then that people didn't understand, but they do today. She got a lot of flack for the jazzy albums, but she blossomed and metamorphosed into this ascended genius beyond a genius as a writer, singer, poet. I can't express this enough. It kind of makes me sad that she wasn't given her due as much as the male players. She is so phenomenal. What a mentor to me.
This song affects me like few others. David Crosby played this when I saw him with my dad a few years ago. I think I had only seen my dad cry once before in my life. He didn't even cry when we found out his cancer was terminal or as he went through the dying process. But he cried when he heard David sing this song.
Thats beautiful, mate. All the best...
In "A woman of heart and mind" Malka Marom says that the best time she saw Joni singing (I had a King) she sobbed. I think her. music taps directly into our unconscious emotions, better than anyone else.
It's on his album "Sky Trails". Fits perfectly on a great album.
Well I’m not crying now reading this....much. 😔
So much respect for you and your father
Thank you for paying homage to Joni. She's an absolute treasure.
Joni is a true artist. Blue is an absolute masterpiece, and River just might be the saddest Christmas song ever made.
Rick, I don't know but, it is possible you may have saved someone's life or at least changed it fundamentally forever with this emotional yet compassionate appraisal of your love of a great song. The world needs more of this, thank you.
Rick, I was a touring rock musician in the 60's, then I got injured in multiple car accidents and stopped playing. Ever since I began watching your videos the Joy you display when discussing music and musicians has given me the motivation to play (Hammond Organ) again. It's been 50 years and I can hardly play, but I realized I was missing the joy you live in and I need it!.. Thank you
:D
He def displays joy!!💜💙⭐🎶🎼
Great post. Music is indeed one of life's greatest joys.
Best wishes to you....🙏
gabriel forzano I didn’t have anything that prevented me from playing. I just came off the road and started doing something else. That was 33 years ago. Rick has reminded me of the joy I felt back then, and I’m starting to play again.
The whole of the Hejira album is a masterpiece on every level, the greatest song cycle since Schubert's Winterreise no question. If there is a jewel in the crown then it is Amelia, a shimmering, deliquescent piece of musical word-painting. Perfect.
It truly is. . ✨🎶✨🎶❤️🔥
@@DaleRC75 furry sings the blues is my personal favorite (I love when she sings low and does that voice imitation)
To me, Coyote is Joni’s greatest song. But Amelia is right up there. 2 masterpieces.
Deliquescent what a fantastic word, perhaps it sums her up will try and use it
Spot on. You cannot talk about lyrics, melody, instrumentation, any of it without invoking painting. What are they all but waves? And let's get real, Joni's box of colours is never going to restrict itself to the visible spectrum. Sequences of mass and space. Shadows and light. The clues are everywhere. We are fortunate that we have shared the planet with a genius.
I'm a Lynyrd Skynyrd, Outlaws southern rock fan who also loves good basic classic blues rock. But I absolutely respect the ethereal folk sound of Joni. She has sick freakish talent with her tunings and melodies and as a blue collar rocker I have great respect for Joni and her sound and voicings. Anyone who plays music has to bow in respect to her sound and feel. God bless you Joni and thank you for your music.
She's a genius.
This is the amazing thing about Joni. Musicians from all backgrounds will tip their hat. Just watch the expressions of all the men on stage in The Last Waltz when she is playing. This is the 70s, when men ran the place. The crowd may have gone quiet, because their minds were being blown, but every world-class musician on stage knew. She also saved Neil Young's ass in that segment. He had been up for three days, apparently. In case you think I am dissing him, he was the second best songwriter on that stage.
@@ecstaticist Exactly, good sir, I'm a semi-pro guitarist, and she's an absolute master of her craft and a musical genius.
Very well put Floyd! Thank you for putting into words how we all feel about Joni Mitchell and her outstanding work. I just love this
artist of Canvas, words and music!
When a guy tells me he cries when he is moved by a piece of music (especially a piece of music by the true genius of Joni Mitchell), I know immediately he’s a good guy.
I find it hard to imagine music being able to move a guy who's capable of wiping his family out with an axe.
G.E. W. - I AM “ THAT” GUY ☮️❤️🎼🇺🇸
God I wish that were correct. Never collect red flags.
Jerry Jazzbo - ????
I am such a guy also 💖
I was named after this song!! Joni Mitchell holds such a special place in my heart. Thank you so much for doing this!!
Very nice to be named after a gem by a great artist. I am sure you will make Joni proud.
Wonderful!
That is awesome
Your parents were very cool to do that.
Rick named his children Dylan and Lennon (I forget the third one). No Joni though...
After all these episodes, I just realized what you're doing. At least for me, it's like you're unlocking hidden secrets behind these iconic songs. Joni's music has always been on somewhat of an other-worldly plane for me, I don't have the musical aptitude to connect with the more sophisticated and beautiful songwriting structures she utilizes, but after watching this episode, I finally feel like I grasp her songwriting a little more deeply, which makes me appreciate her talent a hundred fold. Thank you for sharing your own unique talent of making a breakdown of a song an art in and of itself.
Joni in my opinion is genuinely one of the greatest poets of all time. I am 25, I discovered "Blue" at 14 and have since collected all of her releases. She touches my soul with every verse and crushes me with every chorus. She is timeless, transcendent and pure energy. ❤
Who's back to watch it again after Rick's Video bashing WMG ? We're more than happy to see the video back up, Thanks for all your knowledge, enthusiasm and hard work Rick.
Came here to check right away 👊🏼
@@c1audius ne too
Must have been another UA-cam "mistake".
Yep!
Maybe this is why the disable them. Rick makes another video and then people watch this again :)
I was working with Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays on their Warner Brothers Music Show LP when they got the call from Joni asking them to be in her band. They were so psyched. The show they put on that evening was smokin'. After the gig, they packed up, went to Massachusetts, recorded the "American Garage" LP, and then started rehearsals with Joni. I met up with Pat when the "Shadows and Light" tour passed through Philadelphia two months later. He told me that he was having the time of his life.
Wow, great story!
Chris Gately I’m so to know glad they enjoyed playing with her.
This anecdote is great. Thanks for sharing!
Chris Gately has
On the "Shadows & Light" DVD they certainly seem to be enjoying themselves. Pat and Lyle are smiling and laughing a lot.
I'm a portrait photographer, and if I had a series called "What Makes This Album Cover Great" that gorgeous black and white photo of Joni that was used on Heijira would make the top five, easily.
Agreed it is so iconic!
Yep, it's on my wall.
Make it!
@@Zehn-X Sounds good! Any nominations besides this one?
Yep…you got that right!
So happy to re-watch this after seeing that Rick went for dinner with Joni. Vicarious ecstasy!
Joni, being from Canada and through her work, might give some insight on what it means to be from here. Much like Rush, Neil Young, The Band, The Tragically Hip etc, the sound really belies the vastness of this place, and the empty space, of which there is plenty.
And I know some American states get real winter weather, but there is something awe inspiring and terrifying about travelling across Canada in the winter, or just getting up for work when it's minus 30C and it won't be light until 9am. You need the solo from Limelight on the car radio, while you sip coffee and drive through slush. You need Joni in the background, painting with words, or Gord from The Hip (RIP) wailing about Wheat Kings or doomed fishing trips.
Canada is really a nation of people with little to no ideology, or maybe even identity, but somehow, perhaps involuntarily, each is a natural feature, like the trees, mountains, prairies, or the coasts.
Sorry if that's flakey sounding.
Not at all (says a fellow Canadian). Although now I'm really missing the road trip I would have been taking this week in other circumstances. Joni is well represented in my open roads playlist.
Joni is one of Geddy Lee's favorite artists.
I love how you just get so overwhelmed by the beauty and perfection of this song that you can’t even say anything except AAAAAH. 😂
Rochelle. Yes. I love it when Rick expresses his love of songs.
Love Rick Beato. Adore Joni Mitchell. Amelia is a miracle of a song. The lyrics the poetry draws from the human experience from ancient to the now. It perfectly weaves a tapestry of musical and visionary lyric elements from the longing for a lost relationship, to the imagery of sound and observation. Each line, maybe word is a masterpiece. The music is the colors.
I’m so sad to be losing my hearing, Joni M has long been part of my essence😔. But I still remember her wonderful vocal performances.
I named my daughter Amelia after this song.
Beautiful record and love the live version with Pat Matheny. My personal favourite album of Joni’s.
Nice. My guitar is called Amelia 😌
Oh I love that too. I almost named my daughter Amelia after this song too (also, the Amelia the song is about)
Oh, you get extra props for explaining your reluctance and delay in featuring her music, Rick! She's intimidating, and I find it totally impossible to closely listen to her without losing a lot of myself in emotion. I wept as I watched this! Thanks for honoring this amazing artist and craftswoman. She's peerless. Then, now, and forever.
So well said.
Amen, Cathy!
'peerless'... spot on!
Dead on, Cathy. Exactly what I thought too! Saw her in concert in Glasgow many years ago, one of my favourite gigs ever...
Exactly! Well put! What's really baffling is that some people just don't get her music.....but then people also elected "guess who"
Fighting back tears seeing somebody actually get Joni and illuminate some usually unexamined aspects of her work. Thanks, Rck
Joni Mitchell is mind-blowingly talented. I've been playing for years and her use of tunings still astounds me.
I had to watch it again after your story of having dinner with Joni. Her humility seems to be as extraordinary as her music. Thanks for bringing her to us again with such joy and light.
I find Joni Mitchells talent to be so extraordinary that its emotionally overwhelming. Creativity is an easy word to say but when you see it in full reality through her music its just stunning and inspiring at a level that’s beyond words. Joni from Ft McLeod Alberta...simply a gift to the universe. Thanks Rick for sharing the emotional impact of her brilliance.
My fiance and I both owned Joni albums before we met, and we never talked about it, but Everytime we hear her, we know.
I haven't cried over Joni's work. But I HAVE been deeply moved and then stunned at how accurate she is in her insights. How completely like my experiences on the road. How gifted she is musically, and how effortless she makes her mastery feel.
When Blue came out, I wore out the grooves, sang and knew every word. From then on, Joni was the brightest light in my world. A great many of the singer-songwriters I knew cited Joni as their most profound influence. A great many listeners consider her the Greatest of All Time. David Crosby said (paraphrasing) "In a hundred years, they'll look back and realize that Joni was the best of all of us". Thank you, Rick for the great analysis of Amelia. I'd have a hard time deciding between Blue and Hejira as my favorite album.
Elsewhere, Crosby said that Joni was not the best of this generation, but the best EVER.
I have bought Hejira three times! Didgital couldn’t come fast enough.
I love Joni and this is one of my favorite songs as well as the album Hejira. I have a hard time choosing between Blue and Hejira as my favorite album of hers. Perhaps her writing, voice and musicianship are the best on Hejira, but so many of her songs color the tapestry of my youth that it is difficult to choose. To be honest I have never heard a Joni song that I don't love. She is a true legend and anyone who has not taken the opportunity to know her music is doing themselves a huge disservice. Thank you for doing this podcast, I loved your analysis of this song. Joni paints a moving mural with her lyrics.
Hauntingly Beautiful....I often cry when I listen to Joni...she touches your soul. Thank you for featuring this amazing song, Joni deserves it and you did it well. I love that you were honestly so moved by her music! She is a legend!
This entire album is a masterpiece - lyrics, music, arrangements, textures, performances, everything is out of this world! Joni at her peak IMHO.
Yup, my favourite Joni album. It's not quite as accessible as something like _Night Ride Home_ (another favourite album) but the songs are very poetic etc
Maybe my favorite all time album. I have to listen to it in its entirety. When finished, I'm thrilled to have taken this trip with Joni.
Rick you are the guy that will load $5000 of musical equipment in a $500 vehicle to go play a gig that pays $50!! You make these videos not for profit or gain, but for the love and appreciation of others that would do the same. I see your work as being the keeper of lost souls...never letting others forget they were here and how they made the world a better place.
That is the business model for most musicians. The $50 is for moving the equipment.
You guys are daft! Just look around the room. Maybe when he was 16, but not now. He's smart. He's doing well! 50 bucks in a $500 car, ROTFLMAO
He is doing it for profit, said it's his main source of income. Obviously also for the true love of the craft, so all is good. But load the van ruin your back scratch your gear and lose money, I doubt he does that anymore
The true function of old people is teaching. We're too old to gad about the country, and our heads are stuffed with all kinds of knowledge.
"Hauntingly beautiful" --perfect snapshot of Joni's music
OMG That little period at the end of a phrase!!! I always hear it and enjoy it but actually didn't KNOW it was real until you just told me. Love it!! Music is so rich in people's lives. And YOU TUBE university is awesome. I never could appreciate/ enjoy JM's music until I just now watched a biography of her and then tuned into the fabulous Rick Beato teachings again. It all comes together now and her poetry speaks to my heart.
Better late than never to preach the Gospel according to Joni, Rick. Thank you for this wonderful analysis! This is my favorite record of hers, but it is a difficult choice. You are right to tell people to explore her entire catalog. She is a true artist, ever evolving and never satisfied by her genius work. In my humble opinion, she is one of the greatest artists of the 20th Century - period.
i'll join that Amen choir, any day, Peter!
I'll rank her on a short list of the greatest all around artists of the 20th century with Frank Lloyd Wright and Pablo Picasso
One of my top 100 days as a parent was the day I overheard my youngest daughter @ 14 yrs singing A Case Of You in the shower.
In an era of iPads & headphones , I didn’t realize that she had been paying attention to the music which I play .
She then asked if she could have my original album of Blue. My heart ✨
I informed her that she could have that , Court N Spark and Hejira, as the three albums belong together -in my mind.
If the current generation hears Joni’s music, they love her as she has inspired so many of the female artists who came much later.
While I was mesmerized, they find something familar ,yet much deeper and richer than what is normally commercially available to them .
In time they will see the genius .
Thank you so very much for not only covering a woman, but covering Joni Mitchell 💗
This must have been difficult to even know where to begin. Layers upon layers upon layers ...
Again, thank you !
ah, you have done well, @Lois Kane!
@@ScottHz That album, Joni with Pat Metheny live is a high water mark. On par with
the live version of The Weight, by The Band, with the Staples. It is rarified air when you
have artist, performance, music and lyrics all converging in magic.
Nobody write lyrics like Joni. From, "Furry Sings the Blues"
"Pawn shops glitter like gold tooth caps
In the gray decay
They chew the last few dollars off
Old Beale Street's carcass"
It's mind blowing.
I’ve discovered Joni’s music earlier this year and I came into it knowing she was some kind of a legend, so I wasn’t completely unbiased when hearing her material, I knew it was something big. But nonetheless I was actually stunned and moved as mover before. This music is something otherworldly, hearing a woman being so open in her creativity, flowing in harmonies and melodies just regularly makes me cry as I can’t be even remotely as free in my daily life and because her chord progressions actually hit me to the core, they are so unbearably moving. I’m so glad to be alive in the same era as her 🙏🏻
❤
Beautifully said! Bless your Heart and Soul!
This is why I love Rick. You can clearly see the passion, the awe and the respect that He has for these wonderful musicians. Gotta love that !
Rick, thank you. I’m 16, and if it wasn’t for your channel and others, I wouldn’t find this great music! A lot of people say the internet is ruining my generation, but I think we’ll turn around and surprise those people. I’m excited for the day that I’ll put my music out there from inspiration of your videos.
Great music is great music. I'm so encouraged that you are not afraid to reach back into the past. Absorb everything you can and make great new music!
I was only a couple of years older when I discovered Joni. I'm so happy to know you are exploring her work now.
Be a student of music all the days of your life. You'll never be bored. Ever.
Keep up the good work young blood.
High praise. I’m sure this comment will please Rick more than most. His passion is passin’ on his passion! He’s obvious achieved that with this young artist. I too would be interested in hearing the music this composer will someday write. A total “win” for all involved.
I just listened to the "Blue" album for the first time. I think I'm in love.
Man, surprisingly enough, albums like 'Hejira', 'Court and Spark' and 'Hissing of Summer Lawns' are somehow even better than Blue.
Heijira, Court and Spark, and Blue are all among the greats. I liked her early stuff first, but there's just so much good Joni stuff to choose from
Blue made me fall in love with Joni, too. I'd heard all her singles, but had never heard any of her albums. I melted when I heard Blue. She opened her heart and poured it into that disc. I'm still in awe, 50 years later.
Blue is really good but hejira melts me every time, Amelia, coyote, ect so amazing
They're all great but "Blue" is almost a solo record. Just Joni on guitar, dulcimer, piano. The songs are so deep. It's an astonishing achievement.
Had to rewatch this after the Dinner with Joni video. Yeah... damn straight this is a great song. What makes it great? Everything.
This is exactly how I visualize Rick: mad musical scientist with guitar on lap, hands on piano, notations in the background. All he needs is to strap on a harmonica, deploy a kick drum somewhere, and there you have it...an orchestra! Great analysis as usual.
I've been wondering how familiar you are with Joni's work and if you were ever going to discuss one of her songs in this series... And there you are covering one of my absolute favourites and it turns out you are as passionate about her music as I am. Wonderful to see someone share that enthusiasm. It was a delight watching this video. Here's to crying to Joni's music!
I’m so old that I found it hilarious that you needed to explain who Joni is. 😂
Younger than yesterday, ne’ertheless
I am 17 and found it hilarious too lol😂
A young jaz singer on radio was being interviewed the interviewer said some jm influence in your songs the girl said she was not familiar with jm the interviewer physically choked
Hey Rick, I've watched episode 91 many times like an old movie, and your perspective and knowledge and appreciation of music theory to bring light to Joni's Greatness is a gift, thank you Rick and Joni
Joni Mitchell is, quite possibly, the greatest songwriter, lyricist, and storyteller throughout the history of rock (folk, jazz, classic) music. 😄
For popular music she is in the same category as Bach is in for classical.
True art lasts forever
I cry to all Joni’s music. Thanks for FINALLY covering Joni! This lineup with Metheny and Jaco is HISTORICALLY amazing!
An older woman I worked with said "I had friends that knew her in art school, and they said they were glad she made it, 'cuz they all just thought she was weird." I understood immediately that my colleague was unredeemable, if that's the only thing she could think of to say about Joni. I lived off Hejira for months when I first discovered it. Some people are lighthouses, showing you how you can navigate forbidding waters, but look out there's rocks here.
Thank you Rick. If Websters wanted to define artist, all they would have to do is put Joni's picture there and refer the reader to her biography. She is truly the definition of "artist."
Rick, Joni Mitchell....sigh.... At 67 less a day I am still moved to the core by her immense candor and lyrical interpretation - of her own songs, let alone anyone else's! Did you hear her sing at this year's Newport Festival?! Med beds had better be real, coz I can't imagine a world without her! Glad to make your acquaintance here, Rick. More, please!
Yeah we need her many talents and heart for a bit longer. Med beds, zero point energy whatever it takes.
Changes are upon us and I want Joni around to witness those changes. And to write us a tune or two about it.
@@galumpher8107 I vote for Medicare beds!!!! For us all!!! How amazing that would be to have her completely recover and tell us everything she knows whether in song, or by candid interview!
Anyone who doesn't have the biggest lump in their throat by the end of this needs a medical examination... Just too beautiful
Hugh McQueen The hairs on my arms were rising, my skin was tingling listening to this. Brilliant analysis of one of my favourite songs.
This song gave me chills before I even knew this much about it. What a magnificent musician she is, with a catalog that puts almost anyone else I can think of to shame.
Stop judging other people, let them have their own experience, yours isn't the only true one.
@@franek_izerski 😆 oh dear, you appear to have taken my comment rather too literally. Was judging absolutely no-one, merely using a well worn exaggeration to convey my love of the song.
One of the greatest songwriters of all time. She is a painter of songs, a writer of colors, and most of all, a poet .
I have loved Joni Mitchell since the late 1960's. So many of her songs have been my saviors when I have needed something to lift me up. . . 'Amelia' in particular. They can be so satisfying, so intelligent, so completely beautiful. . . and there are so many of them.
The first time I heard this song, it was as if time had stopped, and I had been dragged off into another world filled with a beautiful melancholy.
One of my favorite lines on Heijira:
What a strange, strange boy
He sees the cars as sets of waves
Sequences of mass and space
He sees the damage in my face
Joni helped me through my young adult romances, and general youthful angst. If I wasn't listening to her songs, I was singing them.
Thanks for the loving tribute, Rick!
Here Here ...👏👏👏BRAVO RICK B.
Astonishingly Joni Mitchell SIMPLY blows the rest away.....musically and as a wordsmith SIMPLY PEERLESS......Dylan fades into insignificance ......his jealousy has always been apparent......the noble prize should have been presented to Joni Mitchell
>If I wasn't listening to her songs, I was singing them.< Or living them! (In many cases among many of us)
@@kelguy2002 Surely. you mean "hear hear" -- that's how it's written and what it means. :)
Me too..."he sees the cars as sets of waves" and then "he sees the damage in my face." She does this a lot, the sudden change in perspective that brings awareness.
Joni Mitchell is a Canadian music icon. Plain and simple. Cheers! ✌️🇨🇦
Totally! Born in Fort Macleod AB, grew up in Saskatoon SK, and attended Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary AB.
@@AndyFunke Exactly!
Joni Mitchell is an icon of all humanity.
Maybe West Virginia will claim her, too?
@@AndyFunke Joni Mitchell paved the way for other female Canadian singers, like Sarah MacLachlan, and others.
Rick. I don’t know the first thing about music notes or chords or anything - I just love listening to it. But, you make these videos with so much passion and impeccable pedagogy, I just can’t stop watching. Oh, and you’re presenting the tracks of my youth. Thank you.
I'm called after her. I love her voice and lyrics. Thank you for your technical explanation. Her talent puts her in her own category.
Wow Rick! * * * * * I am a musician for 63 years now. Joni has always been at the top of my favorites. That album is my favorite Joni album by far. I have listened to that song [probably] 500 times. The Guitar . . .The Lyrics . . . Very Magical. Thank you for your review. I have never seen that much emotion on your face and the way you Shined while describing her music and passion.
Only topped when Rick shared his Aunt Penny with us. A tremendous gift of story and re-membering...putting pieces of his heart on display for us. Mature masculine in the most beautiful sense.
I'm the same age as she is and my wife is from the small city where Joni started playing. I was familiar with her but not a big fan and we've never met. But, here we are, 55 years later and I have to say I'm finally starting to realize her genius. Better late than never.
Mitchell‘s daughter realized that, too.
Now that she knows her after decades...
Joni is a treasure.
As a child, the Beatles changed my world. As a young adult, the world again changed when Joni entered. Her growth from coffee shop folk music to a superb jazz artist (and beyond) and everything in between has influenced me. I laugh, I cry, and feel everything. I can never get enough Joni.
I had the extreme pleasure of being alive when Joni was touring with Tom Scott/LA Express and attended the smallest of venues in Rochester NY. Roger McQuinn opened for this 400 seat venue. I was following Joni Mitchell since 1965-66 when she was writing world class songs and performing in Toronto. I was thunderstruck watching her perform barefoot standing on a Persian rug. The 35 year old genius who surpassed every performance I had seen up to that point. I've seen my share of the greats in concert, but I reach back in saying that of all, Joni was the most prolific of all, knowing of her ability,and courage to overcome her childhood illness which affected her vocal presentation, she embraced the love of words( the greatest wordsmith in the industry) and expressed her music in emotional tunings from her heart. Which I believe was the one thing overlooked by everyone she connected with and cared about. She is the GOAT.
In Nevada on 95, heading south, you run through the desert. About 75 miles northwest of Las Vegas, just to the north of 95 is Indian Springs AFB, the practice field for the USAF Thunderbirds. Joni must have been driving down from Reno or San Francisco to Las Vegas and witnessed the team doing maneuvers with smoke on ("vapor trails"). It's a captivating thing to witness when the whole team is together as "six jet planes." That 747 she describes at icy altitudes could have been just south of her headed into or -out of, LAX.
In 1981 I was a student going through flight training at Williams AFB when I stopped by a stereo store and "Amelia" was on. I was absolutely captivated at the grandeur and spot on imaging she brought into that song. Having witnessed her song from the side of the pilot, like you, I find it immensely moving. I can't count the number of times I have been at sub-zero temperatures at altitude in summer, looking down on a baking desert, and thought of Joni's amazing words. After a 30 year career in aviation and with a lifelong love of music, Amelia is still one of my all-time favorite songs, and my favorite from the incomparable Joni. Thanks for the reminder Rick.
right on
Beautifully said.
Thank you for this. Beautiful. Life creates so many amazing connections.
Thankyou for adding color to JM's music - I'd not heard the Thunderbird flight team idea before as an explanation of the six trails, then the hexagon, etc, etc. Makes such complete sense now. I also then learned in this video about the strings of her guitar ....what an absolute master lyricist she is...
@@PaulJHershey1 The "hexagram of the heavens" reference is to the Chinese mystical fortune telling system the "I Ching" which uses hexagrams of 6 solid or broken lines for its symbols - there's 64 combinations, but Hexagram 1, six unbroken stacked lines exactly like 6 guitar strings, is called "The Creative" - so very fitting as Joni was writing songs for "Hejira", including "Amelia", on the road as she journeyed across the States and saw the vapour trails.
Excuse me for my English but Tried to explane my gratitud for Rick because it was very emotional this Joni Mitchell song. Thanks Rick because when I was young and listened this kind of jazz songs I never underestand why the acords or melodies were so intensive and deep and strange and beautifull. Today I open my mind for this masterclass. I am 58 years but I look my pass and the life with other eyes. Rick is not only the an amazing person and teacher, I considered my friend and guru.
Your message comes through loud and clear. Your heart carried it through. Peace.
Her music defines an era.
And her music is part of why our popular music really was better back then.
Another most amazing thing about that song, that you did not mention, perhaps you are unaware, is the fact that it isn't a pedal steel guitar, rather Larry Carlton on an ES335. This is - and I don't think anyone could argue otherwise - the most AMAZING presentation of pedal steel guitar effects ever recorded or performed. I spent 20 years certain that it was a steel and then i heard it was Larry and his regular ES335. I inquired and, as I recollect, got the man himself to confirm, via an email reply, he did it on his electric hollow-body guitar. Joni had laid the basic track down and as I recollect Larry went in afterwards, just he and the engineer and did that stunning guitar work. That's not to say what Joni was doing was any less. It is a beautiful song and I thank you for those chord demos.
It takes as much artistry to appreciate Joni Mitchell's music as it does on her part to create it! It's sad that so much of today's music lacks the soul of work like this! Just a brilliant musician and artist! Thank You for this presentation of her!
So much of the music then lacked the soul of work like this!
The problem is that trust me, there such amazing music, it's just that the industry wants to sell music that doesn't make you overthink our society, lives etc... It started somewhere at the end of the 90's...
It boggles my mind that there is anyone on this planet that doesn't know who Joni Mitchell is. I can't even fathom it. The greatest singer-songwriter in my lifetime, that's for sure.
Released in November 1976, Joni's "On The Road" album, with her reflections on traveling alone across our country. The first time I heard Hejira, I was standing in a dimly lit crowded room in Buffalo during Christmas week '76. It was 5 degrees outside, with snow and ice that would not melt until springtime (a great setting for a song writer). The weather explained in part why there were so many people there. The body heat everyone emitted was welcomed warmth. .
I tuned out the chatter in the room and listened closely to "Coyote" and what followed. Joni's music is so magical, beautiful, and thought provoking. She is a national treasure, as explained so eloquently by Rick.
5,329 comments? Only Joni could do this. Thank you Rick for your thoughtful explanation of her music to help other generations appreciate her genius. You are the best!
I swear I was just thinking the other day, "why doesn't Rick cover Joni?" "Is he scared?" "Alt tunings?" Cuz I *knew* you had to love her.
She makes me cry all the time,too, Rick. Thank you.
IF Bob Dylan can win a Nobel Prize for Literature, Joni should have one in her collection as well. And that's only for her lyrics...her music is pf an entirely other dimension that Mr. Dylan couldn't even touch…
I too have been brought to tears by Joni's beautiful music and like Rick found myself spending hours perusing her lyrics from her album sleeves because for me they stand alone as poetry.
@Thomas Yuri Haha what a hilarious display of cognitive dissonance
@Thomas Hancock I was the same. Everyone loved Dylan but to me it wasn't even close. Sure, perhaps Dylan was somewhat more at the forefront of 'the movement'...whatever that was, but musically, lyrically, poetically, emotionally he was not in her class. He had his moments no doubt but she eclipsed him without even knowing it. There's another video of her playing at someone's party. She's playing Coyote and Dylan is trying to play along. He doesn't realise she's in a different tuning and sort of flounders somewhat embarrassingly in the background. I couldn't handle his voice either. To be fair, I've come to appreciate him more in my latter years. Compared to 99.999% of today's sorry dross, he's almost a breath of fresh air. I don't even compare today's 'artists' to Joni. It's not fair on the poor things.
I am so with you on that! Joni is sublime
@@michaelbyrd7883 Not discounting Dylan. But Joni matches him word for word in terms of unique heartfelt poetry / lyricism. I doff my cap to Dylan and agree he deserves his place in the pantheon. But he was never the vocalist, musician or artist that Joni is. He was a clever social commentator of the time. Joni is a great for the ages.
Hi Rick . I'm a 62 year old farmer from New Zealand and I have loved your video on Joni. She was the sound track of my young woman years and you have taken me right back there complete with tears and ripped heart that only her music can do. I loved sharing the experience with you describing how much you love and are affected by the music that has always been quite a solitary experience for me . Kiora
Joni is what it feels like to be fully observant and fully alive, talking with your lover over coffee on a quiet morning by the lake.
She makes me believe we have souls.
And now you know why Canada considers her a national treasure.
We must protect Rick and all of his content for the sake of future generations. I am back here rewatching this video hoping that those dummies at the record companies realize that the work Rick is doing it’s also making them money and not to mention the educational value.
“Free man in Paris” is one of my favourites. She wrote it in a few hours in a hotel room in Paris while on a trip with her then producer, David Geffen. The song is entirely about Geffen. And it’s so beautifully written… “I was a free man in Paris; I felt unfettered and alive. Nobody calling me up for favours; nobody’s future to decide…….. Stoking the star maker machinery behind he popular song.”
“I deal in dreamers, and telephone screamers. Lately I wonder what I do it for. If I had my way, I’d just walk through those doors…..” Amazing…. she conveys what it’s like to be a music producer in a way we can all relate. Geffen didn’t like the song. Not because it wasn’t a great song. It definitely is. But for Geffen it was too personal and made him feel uneasy about being the subject of the song.
Joni educated us to art. She didn’t insult our intelligence with “ I’m just Jennie from the block used to have a little now I have a lot”. Thank you Joni for stretching our hearts and minds…
"Honor died in World War II. You know, it just kinda died. Not very many people know how to do it anymore. If they honor you wrong, it makes you arrogant, because it stung. If they honor you right, it's humbling because it's inspiring." - Joni Mitchell. Rick you honor her right, thank you.
Rick’s knowledge, enthusiasm and appreciation of diverse music artists makes him, in my opinion, unique on UA-cam. Credit where credit is due.
I am so glad you walked through the chords and layers of Amelia. This is probably my favorite song of Joni's. There may be a broader meaning to the lyrics, but for me it's story of my early adulthood, when time after time the hope for a great love came to naught....it was just a false alarm. And I was also on the road. This woman knows my heart.
I’ve been hooked on “Coyote” for the past few weeks. I’m a vocalist, and I still have trouble singing the line, “Privately probing the public rooms, peeking through keyholes where the players lick their wounds, “. It’s hard to stop, because the next line is so impactful! I couldn’t listen to “Little Green”, for a long time, because it made me cry so much about those mundane and beautiful moments, she’d missed in her daughter’s life. I heard someone say recently, that “Blue” could be the greatest album ever recorded, let alone that Joni Mitchell wrote and performed the whole album.
I will never forget the first time I saw Joni on Ed Sullivan over at a friends house. All I could say was, "Who the heck is that!" I've been in love with her ever since.
Thank you for playing Joni Mitchell's Amelia. Joni is brilliant, a genius painting stories and emotional landscapes with her music & lyrics Poetry. She is certainly the voice & music of my youth and remains my favorite artist.
"𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘹 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴" - A Case of You, 1971
There's a seaside resort on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, a few hours by ferry and road from Vancouver. Joni has owned a house on 80 acres of land nearby since 1970. When I was staying with a friend at this resort, which is made up of a bunch of permanent canvas tent structures on a hillside facing the sea, the manager casually pointed out a cabin at water's edge. "That's where Joni Mitchell stayed while her house was being built. She worked on the songs on Blue in that cabin." I hope that cabin is never torn down.
A thing about the chorus. She sings the beginning, but the completion of her thought and feeling is completely instrumental. The guitars finish and articulate words that can't be said. Oh, Amelia, it was just a false alarm. The rest of it, and the heart of this song, is spoken by guitars and bass and is absolutely the most haunting thing I ever heard.
Cathy Keating Never thought of it that way. Very astute observation!
This commenter understands Joni's music. Nice to read.
What an insightful observation Cathy. You surely truly feel Joni's emotional commentary.
.Lucky you!
Interesting analysis.. I always looked at it as, there is actually no 'chorus', but 7 cycles of verses with the same resolution, lyrics and all, re-using the intro each time.. Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue" works the same formula.
@@PM-nc1km Yes, I can see that. Although each verse in Tangled Up in Blue takes you to such a very different place, and time. Each chorus + instrumental bridge seems devised to usher you into each of those different times, scenarios, and outcomes, which makes it sort of a saga, kind of like a Nordic poem. Hard to pinpoint the writer's point of view but that is what makes it feel epic. Different from the structure of Amelia, but I see your point.
I have followed Rick on and off for a couple of years now. I have thoroughly enjoyed his videos but I sometimes thought he might be missing the big picture by digging too deep into the technical side of music and songwriting. Boy was I wrong. Joni's songs have often brought me to tears too. But so did Rick's unabashed and deeply insightful presentation in this video. Thank you Rick. Ringing the bell now.
Heartstrings
Beyond beautiful. She deserves all the accolades in the world.
I have a history with Joni Mitchells music. I was 10 years old in late August 1969 & Woodstock had happened two weeks before. My parent had season tickets at the Greek theatre in L.A. I went with my parents and older brothers to the Crosby Stills Nash and introducing Neil Young concert with Joni Mitchell doing a warm up set. We had seats in the orchestra pit. She was amazing. Great start to the show. It was until 5 years later I bought the court and Spark album and was hooked. Loved trouble child breaking like the waves in Malibu just great imagery lyrics story and beautiful vocals and music. Keep up the good work Rick Beato I share your awe for Joni Mitchell
Supposedly Led Zeppelin’s Going to California on IV was written about Joni Mitchell. “Someone told me there’s a girl out there with love in her eyes and flowers in her hair.”
true
"To find a queen without a king
They say she plays guitar and cries and sings"
Really? I did not know that. Good piece of trivia. Thanks for that. (By the way, Going To California is a great tune by Led Zeppelin. Robert Plant's voice has never sounded better IMHO).
@@sh230968 Yes, for sure. He doing an absolute imitation/tribute to Joni in the way he sings on that track, rising at the end of lines ("in her haiiiirrrr") and phrasing it in that relaxed California way that Joni perfects.
Robert Plant even name checks her in the song on the "How The West Was Won" live album.
I saw the show a few days before the one on "Shadow's and Light" the night before I was heading off to college to study music in 1979. The show was part of the Mississippi River Festival at SIU Edwardsville, IL. The sound was so incredible you could hear the bend in the wire if you dropped a pin on the stage - no small feat in 1979. It was the 2nd of two concerts (the other being Jethro Tull in1975) that made me say "I want to do THAT!" and I spent the next ten years trying to find the inner Joni, Pat, Bruce Cockburn, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, until I finally started to have a voice of my own. 40 years, and 11 albums later, I still strive to even come close, but that show made everything coalesce. Maybe some day... Thanks for your great stuff, Rick!
I was at the very same show - and it was magnificent!
Thank you for this Rick. She is an absolute treasure. Please reach out to Joni for an interview - you two would be so great together. I cannot think of anyone who could do justice to her like you could.
To me, Joni Mitchell is the GOAT. My children have been exposed to all of her music. Now I am sharing it with my grandchildren. She is a true genius. Thank you. That was wonderful.
Greatest Of All Time?
there is no question taht she is in a class by herself...like Frank Lloyd WRight...
"Joni's weird chords" and "chords of inquiry"... So great.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for your analysis, your emotion, your talent and your raising the uninitiated to the wonders of Joni Mitchell.
This is a brilliant deconstruction of Joni Mitchell's incredibly complex songwriting, and I really enjoy it. This is what music appreciation should be.
Tragic that we will never again fall under the melodic incantations of this bedeviled enchantress in live performance. Rising up from the ashes of polio, this waif of the Saskatchewan plains, learned to transmute her demons whispers into a Siren's voice for every mind and soul. Until now and forever, with only a strum from her twisted tunings and sweet rebelliousness, she draws me, helpless and eager, to revisit her ramshackle entourage of wondrous and tragic timeless characters moving round and round in this circle game only Joni could guide one through. A voice more compelling than the winds or crashing waves....a vision more insistent as life itself...a painter of words... a lyricist of light.
I seen what ya done there Señor. Que bonito!
Shadows and Light is a masterpiece. Stirring through and through. JM is so awesome! ✌️
When I was first married we woke up early one Sunday morning and Coyote from Shadows and Light was playing on the radio, S&L had just been released. I thought how can you improve Coyote? She did.