Blue
Joni MitchellYou know what 6+2+2 equals? Exactly. Blue has always been one of my favorite albums, both as a kid and an (almost) adult. I think it had a huge influence on my songwriting style, not that I’ll ever measure up to Joni Mitchell. Here’s my LONG and detailed opinion (?) on the songs: 1) All I Want This is the perfect reminder that yes, even people on the verge of turning 30 don’t got everything figured out. My favorite part of the song is her realizing that ‘comfortable’ could mean something so high and complex as bringing out the best out of what the history agreed was evil, and as simple as shampooing the love of your life. 2) My Old Man Melodically, it’s not one of my favorites, but I love the metaphor; which goes like “yes, he’s many things to many different people, and that’s how humans are perceived by each other, but it’s not about how many things he could be, it’s how about MUCH he is to me.” I love it, I think it taught me so much about love at a young age. 3) Little Green My favorite part of my childhood, satirically obviously, is crying over the iconic “there’ll be icicles, and birthday clothes, and sometimes there’ll be sorrow” lyric Cause my 9 year old self definitely didn’t witness any of the first two parts of that line. It made me realize as a child, that I’m not cut to be a child. 4) Carey Nothing has ever struck me deep as “you know it sure is hard to leave here, but it’s really not my home” Sure the song was lighthearted, but this line has weighed the heaviest on my heart ever since I was nine, and it still does, ten years later. 5) Blue It’s the closure lost in All I Want, and the rightfully placed disdain lost in Little Green. 6) California Cali was a place of sadness in Little Green, but here it’s the sunshine needed. Maybe it’s a metaphor for how heartache is as cruel as the stormy weather, but it is as easily torn apart. Or maybe it’s a metaphor for how heartache in a familiar place is much lighter on one’s soul than heartache in a foreign spot. 7) This Flight Tonight No 8) River No one ever told a tale of anguish in a euphoric setting the way Joni did. That’s all I could say about River. 9) A Case of You This is a hindsight look into a lost cause, but paid no regrets. I love the instrumental, and always admired the descriptive and vivid imagery the lyrics always delivered. 10) The Last Time I Saw Richard The irony of this song is that, it crushed my faith in love as a child, and here I am, listening to it with the boy that renewed the hope this song destroyed. Could it be laughing at my naivety? Could I be hit with the regret in hindsight in a few years? Perhaps, but for now I’d like to think that the last laugh is mine.