Joni Mitchell - The Beat Of Black Wings
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
- written by Joni Mitchell | produced by Joni Mitchell & Larry Klein | from the album Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm (1988) | music video directed by Jim Shea & Joni Mitchell | vhs transfer & remastered audio resynced by sonicboy19 |
I met a young soldier
He said his name was Killer Kyle
He was shakin' all over
Like a night-frightened child
This is his story
It's a tough one for me to sing
Hard as the squawk and the flap
And the beat of black wings
"They gave me a gun" he said
"They gave me a mission
For the power and the glory -
Propaganda - piss on 'em
There's a war zone inside me
I can feel things exploding
I can't even hear the fucking music playing
For the beat of black wings"
He said "I never had nothin' -
Nothin' I could believe in
My girl killed our unborn child
Without even grievin'!
I put my hands on her belly
To feel the kid kickin' - damn!
She'd been to some clinic
Oh the beat of black wings"
"They want you - they need you
They train you to kill
To be a pin on some map
Some vicarious thrill
The old hate the young
That's the whole heartless thing
The old pick the wars
We die in 'em
To the beat of black wings"
There's a man drawing pictures
On the sidewalk with chalk
Just as fast as he draws 'em
Rain come down and wash 'em off
"Keep the drinks comin' girl
'Til I can't feel anything
I'm just a chalk mark in a rainstorm
I'm just the beat of black wings."
© 1988 Crazy Crow Music
Benjamin Orr’s beautiful voice. Ben himself was drafted,but did not go to combat. So haunting that “angel” is one of the lyrics he sings. When rock royalty like Joni wants you on a song you know you have something special.
You have to hear Mitchell's stuff on a very high quality stereo system to get the full impact of what she was doing. This album especially is sonically breath taking.
The Charlie Angel in the chorus is a call back to the 60"s hit Johnny Angel by Shelly Febres, the saccharin sweetness serving as a jarring counterpoint to the brutality of war.
Thanks for your precious hint🪖
I once had an AMAAAAAAZING sound system. So I understand. Really miss it.
The background of this song only cements it as one of Joni's best. It's a shame her music in the 80s didn't get the same attention that her work in the 70s did...this is top-notch stuff from one of the greatest singer-songwriters in American history (we adopted her
Too true
The background vocals on this song are from the late and great Benjamin Orr. Pure Magic. Thanks Joni and Ben.
Yes my beloved Benjamin just wondering why did he do the backing vocals.
@@ashe984 Joni heard some his tracks on his solo album and loved his voice.
her husband co-produced Ben's solo album The Lace
@@ashe984 Ben was recording “The Lace “ in England with her husband Larry Klein producing.She heard Ben’s voice and invited him to do background vocals.
Thank you Joni for being a part of my life for nearly 50 years.
I remember getting serious chills the first time I ever heard this, when I purchased her "Misses" CD back in the 1990s. What an amazing song.
I must agree 100% cosmicrider! Chalk Mark in s Rainstorm is an incredible album which features many musical guests such as Peter Gabriel, Don Henley, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty, Billy Idol and the incredible Manu Katche on many of the drum tracks.I may be forgetting someone with that guest list. Each and every composition on this album is majestic. A long winded way to say thank you sonicboy 19! Joni's video of this song is so very moving. She's a brilliant artist/a trailblazer in musical history.
Ben Orr of the Cars sings backing vocals on this and one other song on the album
I love everything about this woman. So fortunate to have been born into her generation.
If you know his voice you can hear the late Great BENJAMIN ORR singing background vocals...Blends in so perfectly 😎🎶♥️💯
My beloved Benjamin he means everything to me. 🥰😍❤️
Yes I know my Ben’s voice
I can't imagine the challenge Joni under took in this video to not only look black, but then to gender cross . She was a handsome man! This woman goes beyond brilliant.... I love her intellectual, emotional & artistic honesty. And to push through the male dominated business, break the artistic(including musically) "rules"-always asking, "why not?" And coming out the other side with a brilliant creation.
In my view, she has gotten short changed. She should have far more recognition, on so many levels, then what has been given, allotted or known of her. I fear that this may not happen till she is gone. At that point I could only hope this generation & future generations will finally be given an example of what real art/music encompasses. Cause right now it's bankrupt, and all about riches & excess.
agreed !
dogwomanhere totally.
dogwomanhere I love Joni Mitchell. but she definitely does not look black. She was manly though.
Who cares what Joni looks like ? - The sound that I hear is all soul !
I care that's why I commented... It sounds good. But this is far from soul...
One day all of our questions will be answered . . . . Joni is an Amazing Artist ~ The Beat . . . of Black Wings ~
Joined the Coast Guard in 69 not to go to Nam. Went over there anyway on a Cutter and never set foot on Vietnam soil. The CG worked out great! In 2016 I took my mother for chemo and met a guy with cancer that made me aware of my exposure to agent orange. Off the coast we would distill water for drinking that contained the agent. So far so good with my health....
The sound , the lyrics, her voice, the video, Actually , Joni's masterpiece.
Joni Mitchell does a great black face!! 😍
It’s telling to see these comments celebrating it
@@JohnCourageit’s art, it’s not like she’s performing a minstrel show. Get over yourself.
This song has so many connotations...it is yet another manifestation of Joni Mitchell's creative intelligence. Thanks for sharing!
The bckground vocals were done by Benjamin Orr. Larry Klein- her paramour- produced Orr's The Lace.
Horribly sad, but as ever, dead on. The lady never misses. Thanks for posting.
I love her. I feel dead to this world and she is speaking to my soul. I'm so sad, yet happy to finally experience this.
Things get better. They always do ❤
Joni - one brilliant artist.
Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm is a classic album. I heard Lakota in a dream last night and immediately got up and googled it. Thank you Joni for being one of the major adepts. x
mmmm Those background vocals are Ben Orr of The Cars.
One of her more hypnotic songs. Thanks for posting.
wow. This woman is so ingrained in me since I was in college in 1968 with Song To A Seagull to 2007 Shine... I had forgotten about this album. THANK YOU!
You're very welcome! I love her as well. She has so many amazing songs that my favorites seem to constantly evolve depending on either what is going on in my own life or in the world outside. This is definitely one of my favorite videos of hers though! :)
Wondrous. Exactly differing directions, the corporate structure's convolution's devolutionary direction and it's opposite, the evolution's evolutionary one. Thanx, have a great day :) reality
Goodbye.
I love this lady.
Wow! I Love rock and Roll :(
If this woman isn’t a genius, nobody is.
Thank you Sonic. This vid is a Masterpiece.
Thanks sonycboy19 for the quality of this great video.I love Joni Mitchell, this one is one of my favorites.
Beautiful melody, exquisite production, a voice to die for, intelligent, thought-provoking, poetic lyrics. Just wonderful!
I learned of a new song and subject matter today. Thank you for posting.
Overuse of alcohol is no joke. So many could benefit from performance art instead.if only they heard the voice alcohol is drowning when used beyond the therapeutic one drink the wiser elders allow themselves daily.
Decompression from war is a difficult journey.
...know too many like him. *My* soldier never came home.
Although I love Jaco, some of Joni’s work with Larry Klein produced two of my favorite albums, Chalk Mark, and Turbulent Indigo.
Joni Mitchell, "The Beat of Black Wings". (Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm, 1988)
Forever, We will always love you Joni
Masterful!
Thank you !
So amazing to listen to this stream. Hearing references and seeing a new meaning.
You are the most amazing woman with the voice of an angel love a secret place so beautiful
Killer Kyle is Charlie Angel. Great, no "KILLER" Album. I have it on vinyl. I see Janet Jackson covered the song too and will track it next. TY and cheers to all.
lol
ImNotMad ButUR Dude, it’s fucking awesome. Chill out. Janet loved Joni.
Janet recorded this song as a cover for a Joni Tribute album that was never releases. Joni has mad respect for Janet and Janet Loves Joni. They even collaborated on "Son Of a Gun" and Joni recorded new vocals for the sample.
Isaac C. that was Carly Simon on “Son of a Gun”. but Janet did sample Joni on “Got Til It’s Gone”
I really can’t hear my beloved Benjamin Orr’s backing vocals at all really. Wondering why he did that
I can hear them fine. They are, after all, backup vocals, not leads.
Hello sonicboy19.
Thank you for posting this jewels. I remember vaguely you had a full version of this vhs video on your channel. I coudn`t find it. Am I right?
You're welcome, glad you enjoyed it! No, the full video was never posted on my channel, but I do remember someone did have it on their channel at one point...not sure who it was anymore or whether it's still online anymore though. I think I have all the videos from that collection online though with the exception of Dancing Clown, since I wasn't crazy about that particular song or video. Cheers!
Too bad! I cannot find it!
Hi, this is a rip from the "Come In From The Cold" tape, right? Do you have it in it's entirety? I've always wanted to see the video made for Lakota, but I could never find it! Joni's videos are too underrated.
ITS CHE!!
Does anyone know what the chorus is singing at the very beginning (before Joni starts the verse) and in the background inbetween verses. It's not the Charlie Angel line.
Dimes to Dollars it's Joni herself... best to you
Sojouner, thanks. Can you tell what the words she's singing at the beginning and inbetween verses?
delay due to youtube glitch with my computer... now it's jammin'
Ok! I've been listening to this song since it came out, and still have no clue what Joni is singing in the background!
Lyrics: (although above) sending, via link, a larger size, clear font. Link: www.google.com/#q=lyrics+the+beat+of+black+wings
The concept of this song is great but she should have done it 15 years prior on a D-28 and a piano.
love her but she's in blackface here?
this is a thing she did, even has a cover with her in blackface
Oh lord, please no one get crazy for me saying this but only Joni mitchell could do black face. In those days the audaciousness of her pretending g to be a man, etc… it just was so not done.I can understand maybe now with awareness no b7t… you know what I’m saying it’s just kind of true. As a kid I thought it was so cool she’d dress up like a man, blues man, a crow skating on the ice stuff like that. No UA-cam then, no tv, my albums!!!
Did she have to make it sound like those of us who wanted there to be no war were slackers? No one is even sure why the Vietnam war had to go on, nor what the "victory" was.
It is all in the past. History has shown Viet Nam to be a horrible use of resources but unfortunately we didn't learn.
I didn't get that from her.
pretty nice song but is the blackface act crossing a cultural/racial line here? yes it's creative, but is it a sensitive enough appropriation of black culture?
Seems to me that her blacked up portrayal of a broken soldier is the obverse side of the cool dude on the cover of Don Juan’s Reckless daughter. This was recorded at Peter Gabriel’s studio when US planes were based in a nearby airfield during the bombing of Libya. It is a superb anti-war song based on her encounter with a Vietnam vet at Fort Bragg. The Charlie Angel line quotes the melody of Johnny Angel, a pop hit up on UA-cam; I’m unsure why Joni quotes it. Has any artist written so well about the broken lives of the servicemen who fought for the US?
She’s playing a character of a different skin color. Telling his story respectfully nothing to get bent out of shape about.
such a horrible shame she did blackface. I still love her and admire her craft, but those moments, along with other racist statements, stain her legacy
What's wrong with blackface ? In what way is it racist ?What racist statements has Joni Mitchell ever said ? She's worked with many talented black musicians over the years ,have they denounced her as racist ? You are too quick to take "offence" over artistic licence.
@@OohTarquinGoogle is free- just try typing in “what is racist about blackface” and you can have a great afternoon of educational reading
@@OohTarquinI’ve asked this and got no replies. What has she done to insult black people in this video? Nothing. It’s a character, people get so bent out of shape nowadays and find racism where there is none.
Just not into these synthesizers