ladies of the canyon

Joni Mitchell made pilgrimage to a paved paradise seeking to heal ancient injuries and color up the sunshine hours with comfort, consultation, and celebration in this confessional carousel.     She had made a name for herself on the folk circuit performing her own songs:   "I had [no vocal training]. I used to be a breathy little soprano. Then one day I found that I could sing low. At first I thought I had lost my voice forever. I could sing either a breathy high part or a raspy low part. Then the two came together by themselves. It was uncomfortable for a while, but I worked on it, and now I've got this voice...I started at a time when folk clubs were folding alt over the place. It was rock'n'roll everywhere, except for a small underground current of clubs."

She was 'discovered' by David Crosby at a club in Florida and he helped her get a record deal.  He produced her debut album for Reprise Records 'Song to a Seagull'.  By this point, her songs were already being covered by other artists like Judy Collins (who had a top ten hit with her song "Both Sides Now").  Mitchell co-produced her second album 'Clouds' with Paul A. Rothchild, earning her first Grammy Award for Best Folk Performance in 1969.  For her third album, 'Ladies of the Canyon', she took the production reins herself at A&M Studios in Los Angeles.  The sessions featured Joni Mitchell on guitar, piano, and vocals;   with Teresa Adams on cello;   Paul Horn on clarinet and flute;  Jim Horn on baritone saxophone;  Milt Holland on percussion;  The Saskatunes adding bop vocals;  The Lookout Mountain United Downstairs Choir doing the chorus on "The Circle Game";  and Don Bagley working out the cello arrangement.    'Ladies of the Canyon' went to number thirty-two in Australia, twenty-seven in the US, sixteen in Canada, and eight in the UK.  

Mitchell would express at the time:   "I have so many irons in the fire now...Lately, life has been constantly filled with interruptions. I don't have five hours in a row to myself. I think I'm less prolific now, but I'm also more demanding of myself. I have many melodies in my mind at all times, but the words are different now. It's mainly because I rely on my own experiences for lyrics...In New York, the street adventures are incredible. There are a thousand stories in a single block. You see the stories in the people's faces. You hear the songs immediately. Here in Los Angeles, there are less characters because they're all inside automobiles. You don't see them on park benches or peeing in the gutter or any of that...I can't help but know what's happening. But I also know that I can't do a thing about it...It's good to be exposed to politics and what's going down here, but it does damage to me. Too much of it can cripple me. And if I really let myself think about it – the violence, the sickness, all of it – I think I'd flip out."








http://jonimitchell.com/

"Big Yellow Taxi" went to number sixty-seven on the US pop chart, thirty-three on the US adult contemporary chart, seventeen on the Canadian adult contemporary chart, fourteen on the Canadian pop chart, and number six in Australia.  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlNZN94_u-s


They paved paradise 
And put up a parking lot 
With a pink hotel, a boutique 
And a swinging hot spot 

Don't it always seem to go 
That you don't know what you've got 
Till it's gone 
They paved paradise 
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees 
Put 'em in a tree museum 
And they charged the people 
A dollar and a half just to see 'em 

Don't it always seem to go 
That you don't know what you've got 
Till it's gone 
They paved paradise 
And put up a parking lot

Hey farmer farmer 
Put away that DDT now 
Give me spots on my apples 
But leave me the birds and the bees 
Please! 

Don't it always seem to go 
That you don't know what you've got 
Till it's gone 
They paved paradise 
And put up a parking lot

Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94bdMSCdw20






"Woodstock"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3SjqGfe-yM


I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him where are you going
And this he told me
I'm going on down to Yasgur's farm *
I'm going to join in a rock 'n' roll band
I'm going to camp out on the land
I'm going to try an' get my soul free 

We are stardust
We are golden
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

Then can I walk beside you
I have come here to lose the smog
And I feel to be a cog in something turning
Well maybe it is just the time of year
Or maybe it's the time of man
I don't know who I am
But you know life is for learning

We are stardust
We are golden
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

By the time we got to Woodstock
We were half a million strong
And everywhere there was song and celebration
And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation

We are stardust
Billion year old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devil's bargain
And we've got to get ourselves
back to the garden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRjQCvfcXn0

'Ladies of the Canyon'
full album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jft55QBkE6o



All songs written and composed by Joni Mitchell.

Side one
1. "Morning Morgantown"   3:12
2. "For Free"   4:31
3. "Conversation"   4:21
4. "Ladies of the Canyon"   3:32
5. "Willy"   3:00
6. "The Arrangement"   3:32
Side two
7. "Rainy Night House"   3:22
8. "The Priest"   3:39
9. "Blue Boy"   2:53
10. "Big Yellow Taxi"   2:16
11. "Woodstock"   5:25
12. "The Circle Game"   4:50

live on September 3, 1970 at BBC Television Center -- Shepherd's Bush, London
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoKBGotuNhc


Chelsea Morning, 
Cactus Tree, 
My Old Man, 
For Free, 
Introduction to the Dulcimer, 
California, 
Yellow Taxi 
Both Sides Now