Album: Blue
Recorded: Early 1971
Released: June 1971
Carey and California
These two songs are the best reflection of Joni's trip to Europe in spring 1970, revealing her restless spirit and openness to new experiences, but also her pining for home in California. All the references in Carey are to real people and places – Joni met Cary Raditz in the hippie hangout of Matala, Crete in spring 1970, and slept in a cave with him, though missed her "clean white linen and French cologne". The Mermaid Cafe was where they drank in the evening, while the "cane" was Cary's shepherd's crook-cum-walking stick and "mean old Daddy" was a reference to his bad temper. I just love the singing and percussion on this track.
As for California, the song starts off with Joni in Paris, which she finds "too old and cold and settled in its ways" compared to the warmth and freedom of California. The second verse is another reference to Cary, the "red red rogue" who stole her camera, while the third verse mentions a party she went to down a "red dirt road" in Spain. There are also references to the anti-war movement, including John Lennon's 1969 song Give Peace A Chance, but personally I find the sentiments a bit twee and the lyrics below par for Joni, though I do like how the song's final lines, "Will you take me as I am? Will you", are almost a direct question to her audience, as she moves away from folk goddess to purveyor of melancholic songs with daring compositions.
All I Want and My Old Man
All I Want is the first song on the album, and the Appalachian dulcimer its first sound. Joni wrote many of Blue's songs on this dulcimer while travelling in Europe and, according to Cary, she would go into a trance-like state while sitting in their Matala cave composing music. All I Want finds her plumbing the depths and the inconstancy of the human heart: “Oh I hate you some, I hate you some, I love you some / Oh I love you when I forget about me”. The song was a late addition to the album, possibly written as her relationship with JT was falling apart, and it sums up perfectly the emotional see-saw of being in love, but also the feeling of being on a "lonely road" when it all falls apart. You can see how much the album version evolved compared to an early live version below.
While All I Want is about the destructiveness of love, follow-up track My Old Man is a sweet reminder of the past, though again it dwells on a failed relationship (this time Graham Nash). Both songs are highly skilled compositions, as is often the case throughout the LP, something the listener can appreciate whether or not they're interested in the autobiographical detail. The fondness felt towards a former lover and fellow musician – "He's the warmest chord I ever heard" – is tinged with the sadness felt in his absence ("The bed's too big / the frying pan's too wide").
Blue and This Flight Tonight
Blue, the title track, is the enigmatic heart of the album, its lyrics a free association of words about sadness, depression and the darker side of life, all of which Joni seems to find perversely attractive ("Blue, I love you"). Another interpretation is that Blue is an actual person (possibly JT) and that the "Acid, booze and ass / needles, guns and grass" refer to a lover whose depression causes him to find solace in unwholesome pursuits. Either way, just listen to the way she enunciates the word “blue”, stretching it with all the bravado of an opera or jazz singer, and it's hard not to be completely drawn into the song's emotional vortex.
This Flight Tonight is my least favourite song on the record, partly it's an aversion to Joni's singing when she hits those really high octaves, but it's also the lack of melody and the fact that one of those godawful 70s hairy rock bands got a successful single out of covering it.
River and A Case of You
Blue has many virtues as an album, but for me its closing run of three exceptional tracks, starting with River and A Case of You, raises it to the status of classic. Beginning with a Jingle Bells sample, River is a Christmas song of a very unique sort, expressing the desire to escape from the holiday season rather than drive home to it. There's deep sadness at what's been lost ("You know, he put me at ease / and he loved me so naughty / made me weak in the knees") mixed with a sense of personal responsibility ("I'm so hard to handle / I'm selfish and I'm sad"), revealing an emotional maturity not often found in many male singer-songwriters of that era. The song's most moving moment for me is when she holds the note on the final word of the line, "I would teach my feet to fly".
A Case of You is one of my personal favourites, from the vocal performance to the stunning lyrics, mixing nostalgia for home (both this song and River evoke Joni's Canadian roots) with literary references to Rilke and Shakespeare, persuading me to agree with the theory that it was most likely written about Leonard Cohen. The combination of Canada, literature (Cohen was first a Canadian poet) and infidelity ("You’re in my blood like holy wine / you taste so bitter and so sweet") all point in that direction.
Highlights: All I Want, Little Green, River, A Case of You, The Last Time I Saw Richard
Album rating: A+
Recorded: Early 1971
Released: June 1971
Songs / length: 10 / 35:41
Blue has the power to shock with its stark, emotional intensity. In all aspects, from its music & lyrics to its cover art, the album signalled a departure from Joni's previous work. In a 1979 interview with Rolling Stone, Joni described Blue as a "turning point" that marked "childhood's end" for her. Most of the songs were written in 1970, a time when she was reassessing her values and taking a step back from touring, allowing her the freedom to travel and reflect on her life and fame.
Though lovers like Graham Nash and James Taylor had come and gone from Joni's life in the period between the recording of her previous record, Ladies of the Canyon, and this album's release, there doesn't appear to be one single trigger for the deep melancholy of Blue, but instead an accumulation of sad events – lost daughter, broken marriage, failed relationships – that led to a new sensitivity.
After the split with Nash and her travels in Europe, Joni met JT at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, and they toured together in October 1970, including appearances at the Greenpeace Benefit Concert in Vancouver and at the Paris Theatre in London (the latter was taped by the BBC for radio broadcast, and there's a bootleg available). Joni provided backing vocals on three tracks (Love Has Brought Me Around, You've Got A Friend and Long Ago & Far Away) on JT's third album Mud Slide Slim & The Blue Horizon. Two songs on the record – You Can Close Your Eyes and Love Has Brought Me Around – appear to be about Joni, and the lyrics to the latter mention how "my day was full of blue" until you [Joni] came around, so "goodbye lonely blue".
Depression and heroin addiction plagued JT and was a key factor in their split, though he still played acoustic guitar on Blue, which was recorded at A&M studios in Hollywood in early 1971, at the same time as Carole King's Tapestry (Joni provided backing vocals with JT on Will You Love Me Tomorrow?) and the Carpenters' third self-titled album. Out of all three performers, Joni in studio C had the prize asset – a red Steinway piano – and this along with her Appalachian dulcimer provide the core of the album's sound, supported by Russ Kunkel on drums, Stephen Stills and Sneaky Pete.
Given the vast number of reviews of this classic album, I've taken a more unusual approach below and grouped the LP's 10 songs into 5 pairs, on the basis of shared biographical detail or theme:
Little Green and The Last Time I Saw Richard
In both these songs, Joni is reflecting on earlier life events, with Last Time I Saw Richard set – according to the song's opening line – "in Detroit in '68" and Little Green written in 1967. People listening to the album at the time, and for many years afterwards, would not have been aware that Little Green is about the baby that Joni gave up for adoption aged 20 (just a "child with a child pretending"). It wasn't until the late 90s that Joni was reunited with her only daughter, Kelly Dale Anderson (formerly Kilauren Gibb), at which point the back story became more widely known.
Blue has the power to shock with its stark, emotional intensity. In all aspects, from its music & lyrics to its cover art, the album signalled a departure from Joni's previous work. In a 1979 interview with Rolling Stone, Joni described Blue as a "turning point" that marked "childhood's end" for her. Most of the songs were written in 1970, a time when she was reassessing her values and taking a step back from touring, allowing her the freedom to travel and reflect on her life and fame.
Though lovers like Graham Nash and James Taylor had come and gone from Joni's life in the period between the recording of her previous record, Ladies of the Canyon, and this album's release, there doesn't appear to be one single trigger for the deep melancholy of Blue, but instead an accumulation of sad events – lost daughter, broken marriage, failed relationships – that led to a new sensitivity.
After the split with Nash and her travels in Europe, Joni met JT at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, and they toured together in October 1970, including appearances at the Greenpeace Benefit Concert in Vancouver and at the Paris Theatre in London (the latter was taped by the BBC for radio broadcast, and there's a bootleg available). Joni provided backing vocals on three tracks (Love Has Brought Me Around, You've Got A Friend and Long Ago & Far Away) on JT's third album Mud Slide Slim & The Blue Horizon. Two songs on the record – You Can Close Your Eyes and Love Has Brought Me Around – appear to be about Joni, and the lyrics to the latter mention how "my day was full of blue" until you [Joni] came around, so "goodbye lonely blue".
Depression and heroin addiction plagued JT and was a key factor in their split, though he still played acoustic guitar on Blue, which was recorded at A&M studios in Hollywood in early 1971, at the same time as Carole King's Tapestry (Joni provided backing vocals with JT on Will You Love Me Tomorrow?) and the Carpenters' third self-titled album. Out of all three performers, Joni in studio C had the prize asset – a red Steinway piano – and this along with her Appalachian dulcimer provide the core of the album's sound, supported by Russ Kunkel on drums, Stephen Stills and Sneaky Pete.
Given the vast number of reviews of this classic album, I've taken a more unusual approach below and grouped the LP's 10 songs into 5 pairs, on the basis of shared biographical detail or theme:
Little Green and The Last Time I Saw Richard
In both these songs, Joni is reflecting on earlier life events, with Last Time I Saw Richard set – according to the song's opening line – "in Detroit in '68" and Little Green written in 1967. People listening to the album at the time, and for many years afterwards, would not have been aware that Little Green is about the baby that Joni gave up for adoption aged 20 (just a "child with a child pretending"). It wasn't until the late 90s that Joni was reunited with her only daughter, Kelly Dale Anderson (formerly Kilauren Gibb), at which point the back story became more widely known.
Child with a child pretending
Weary of lies you are sending home
So you sign all the papers in the family name
You're sad and you're sorry but you're not ashamed
Little green have a happy ending
Despite the sad tone of both songs, Joni is also expressing a deep resilience to cope with what life throws at her, plus a desire to take responsibility for her decisions. Any regret she confesses about her daughter is not similarly voiced in The Last Time I Saw Richard, a song widely believed to be about her ex-husband Chuck Mitchell. Instead, the lyrics reveal a strong sense of relief at moving on from the negativity of that relationship, and Joni very cleverly contrasts her eyes "full of moon" with the "tombs" in the eyes of her cynical and jaded partner, who's getting drunk on a barroom stool. That said, Joni recognises she too has a tendency to sink into a gloom and lose sight of her dreams, though the song ends on a positive note, in the knowledge "these dark cafe days" are "only a phase".
Carey and California
These two songs are the best reflection of Joni's trip to Europe in spring 1970, revealing her restless spirit and openness to new experiences, but also her pining for home in California. All the references in Carey are to real people and places – Joni met Cary Raditz in the hippie hangout of Matala, Crete in spring 1970, and slept in a cave with him, though missed her "clean white linen and French cologne". The Mermaid Cafe was where they drank in the evening, while the "cane" was Cary's shepherd's crook-cum-walking stick and "mean old Daddy" was a reference to his bad temper. I just love the singing and percussion on this track.
As for California, the song starts off with Joni in Paris, which she finds "too old and cold and settled in its ways" compared to the warmth and freedom of California. The second verse is another reference to Cary, the "red red rogue" who stole her camera, while the third verse mentions a party she went to down a "red dirt road" in Spain. There are also references to the anti-war movement, including John Lennon's 1969 song Give Peace A Chance, but personally I find the sentiments a bit twee and the lyrics below par for Joni, though I do like how the song's final lines, "Will you take me as I am? Will you", are almost a direct question to her audience, as she moves away from folk goddess to purveyor of melancholic songs with daring compositions.
All I Want and My Old Man
All I Want is the first song on the album, and the Appalachian dulcimer its first sound. Joni wrote many of Blue's songs on this dulcimer while travelling in Europe and, according to Cary, she would go into a trance-like state while sitting in their Matala cave composing music. All I Want finds her plumbing the depths and the inconstancy of the human heart: “Oh I hate you some, I hate you some, I love you some / Oh I love you when I forget about me”. The song was a late addition to the album, possibly written as her relationship with JT was falling apart, and it sums up perfectly the emotional see-saw of being in love, but also the feeling of being on a "lonely road" when it all falls apart. You can see how much the album version evolved compared to an early live version below.
While All I Want is about the destructiveness of love, follow-up track My Old Man is a sweet reminder of the past, though again it dwells on a failed relationship (this time Graham Nash). Both songs are highly skilled compositions, as is often the case throughout the LP, something the listener can appreciate whether or not they're interested in the autobiographical detail. The fondness felt towards a former lover and fellow musician – "He's the warmest chord I ever heard" – is tinged with the sadness felt in his absence ("The bed's too big / the frying pan's too wide").
Blue and This Flight Tonight
Blue, the title track, is the enigmatic heart of the album, its lyrics a free association of words about sadness, depression and the darker side of life, all of which Joni seems to find perversely attractive ("Blue, I love you"). Another interpretation is that Blue is an actual person (possibly JT) and that the "Acid, booze and ass / needles, guns and grass" refer to a lover whose depression causes him to find solace in unwholesome pursuits. Either way, just listen to the way she enunciates the word “blue”, stretching it with all the bravado of an opera or jazz singer, and it's hard not to be completely drawn into the song's emotional vortex.
This Flight Tonight is my least favourite song on the record, partly it's an aversion to Joni's singing when she hits those really high octaves, but it's also the lack of melody and the fact that one of those godawful 70s hairy rock bands got a successful single out of covering it.
River and A Case of You
Blue has many virtues as an album, but for me its closing run of three exceptional tracks, starting with River and A Case of You, raises it to the status of classic. Beginning with a Jingle Bells sample, River is a Christmas song of a very unique sort, expressing the desire to escape from the holiday season rather than drive home to it. There's deep sadness at what's been lost ("You know, he put me at ease / and he loved me so naughty / made me weak in the knees") mixed with a sense of personal responsibility ("I'm so hard to handle / I'm selfish and I'm sad"), revealing an emotional maturity not often found in many male singer-songwriters of that era. The song's most moving moment for me is when she holds the note on the final word of the line, "I would teach my feet to fly".
A Case of You is one of my personal favourites, from the vocal performance to the stunning lyrics, mixing nostalgia for home (both this song and River evoke Joni's Canadian roots) with literary references to Rilke and Shakespeare, persuading me to agree with the theory that it was most likely written about Leonard Cohen. The combination of Canada, literature (Cohen was first a Canadian poet) and infidelity ("You’re in my blood like holy wine / you taste so bitter and so sweet") all point in that direction.
Oh I am a lonely painter
I live in a box of paints
I'm frightened by the devil
And I'm drawn to those ones that ain't afraid
Everything about this record is raw, daring and brilliant. Musically, it's sparer in sound compared to previous Joni albums, while her voice sounds darker and richer, and there's a definitely sense of battle-scarred wisdom. Joni said in a late 70s interview: "I perceived my inability to love at that point. And it horrified me. It’s something still that I ... hate to say I’m working on, because the idea of work implies effort, and effort implies you’ll never get there. But it’s something I’m noticing."
Highlights: All I Want, Little Green, River, A Case of You, The Last Time I Saw Richard
Album rating: A+
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