I have a PhD in Mathematical Physics, but if you ask me "What is Time?", I would say listen to this song. I can't do any better, and I'm not sure anyone can. I can't listen to it without crying. Thank you Joni.
It always reminds me of my mother. Taken when I was 20 by cancer. Oh how she loved Joni. Those lyrics about not being able to return to the past hurts because its so painfully true.
@@LadyTylerBioRodriguez I'm so sorry Tyler. But remember that though "we can't return", we *can* "look behind from where we came". And as (trust me!) no one truly understands time, you are free to believe that your mother is still there, in the past.
About 18 years ago I was invited to a small gathering. I'm divorced and my 10 year old daughter was with me that week. I had been working on playing Circle Game and my daughter was taking singing lessons and they were working on Joni. There was an acoustic guitar there at the party. Although my daughter and I had never rehearse, we did this song. The people there were folkies, all older than me. My daughter sang, I played guitar, the rest joined in singing at the chorus. It was a magical moment So every time i hear this, it takes me back to that moment and it brings tears to me.
I just asked my 38-year-old daughter if she remembered me singing this to her as I rocked her as a baby. She replied, “I could sing you the chorus right now”. Thank you, Joni. I didn’t have your voice but I did impart your spirit to my baby girl.
This songs reminds you that the world existed before you were born and will continue after you die. Learn from the past and find joy in the here and now.
Today is the first time in nearly 6.5 years that I’ve been able to listen to The Circle Game. My Son, Jordan, passed away 7th October 2017 aged just 20 years old. It was played at Joe’s funeral. The song is so poignant and takes me back step by step through his short but fulfilling life. Jordan had a heart transplant aged just 7. The first to survive the sort he had, my Son was a brave and loving soul with an old head on his shoulders. He survived another 13 years and went on to achieve many great things - including receiving his Degree (posthumously) for Physics with Theoretical Physics at Manchester University, UK - despite dying before sitting his 2nd year exams. Unprecedented! This song - particularly the last verse - breaks me every time! But, I still need to hear it and weep while I remember my beautiful Son, Jordan Ashley.
I was already in tears and your heart-wrenching story just broke me. I am so very sorry for your loss - but glad in some small way for the time you had with your beloved son and all that he was able to achieve in his all too short life. I lost my wife of 35 years to cancer just over a year ago. She was 70 - so while my experience doesn't compare to yours in that regard, it's always hard to lose a loved one - at any age.
su historia me ha conovido hasta las lágrimas ¡¡ cielos !! siento tanta tristeza cuando me entero de la muerte de una persona joven que su vida se ha cortado en la flor de su juventud,yo tengo un hijo que tiene también 20 años y esta en la universidad no puedo imaginar que sería de mi si algo pudiera pasarle,le mando un abrazo dondequiera que usted se encuentre,recuerde que nuestra vida no dura mucho y pronto nos encontraremos nuevamente con nuestros seres queridos en otro plano espiritual.
My father sang this song many times to me and my brother before bed as children, and then as my brother's casket was being lowered 3 years ago. His circle game was cut short just less than 4 years after the last verse of the song. In some ways I think it was merciful, as it released him from a life that seemed to only have suffering left in store for him, and all of his dreams had been lost. This song was profoundly impactful on my formative years in ways that I was never aware of at the time and helped me process what happened to my brother as I grieved his death.
God comfort your heart, and memory of your brother. The love and blessing of his life shared. Music when no words can begin to capture our losses, and artists like Joni Mitchell, gifted, born to help us through.
I'm sorry you lost your brother....I'll look more but did you say how he died and at what age?? I know what you mean by being in a better place, have you expanded on those views in other writing I could read? I enjoy real experiences of good and bad/sad. Thanks, I was reading about and listening to Neil Young Sugar mountain that led me here to Joni's Circle Game
How could she have wrote this at 16 when this song is inspired by sugar mountain which came out in 1964?Like the person above said she was 22-23,the song was composed in 1966.
I’ll be 70 in a few weeks. Haven’t heard this song in decades. But it popped into my head today for some reason and got stuck there. Came to listen all the way thru to shake it off, since my album is long gone, and I never replaced it. It sure does grow in meaning the longer we’re on that carousel. Still a wonderful song.
I will be 17 in a few weeks and I haven't heard this song since my mom played it for me when I was little. It popped into my head today too, and I can't stop thinking about it. I hope that your time on the carousel has been a delight so far, and continues to spark imagination and adventure through your life.
Anyone who heard this since the 1960s and now, long ago raised children, now gone off to their adult lives... We are touched by this song. Thank you Joni.
My name is Joyce. My 37 yr old is a heroin junkey. Never thought the circle game would screw me so badly. Big Joni fan for over 50 years. I guess didn't screw me but him
So often things that we loved in youth don't hold up revisited after many circles on the carousel of time (try rereading Catcher in the Rye without cringing) but everything Joni wrote all those years ago only has more meaning now.
I recently read that Joni Mitchell wrote The Circle Game in response to Neil Young's song Sugar Mountain which he wrote about his sadness at aging out of a club called Sugar Mountain when he turned 20. So The Circle Game was intended as a song of hope that things will still be good as you get older. Now when I hear this song and want to cry, I try to remember that it is a song of hope!
Grew up listening to both Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. Both songs stir me up emotionally when I'm either sad or happy. I'm always quiet and still when listening to Circle Game and Sugar Mountain.
Joni captured mortality with her words. She was very in tune spiritually. I lost my son last year. He was 35. When I became a mom this song always guided me.
I sang this song every night to my son from the day he was born and throughout his childhood. When his son was born 6 years ago I continued the tradition with him. I sang it tonight 3 times as he awoke with nightmares. His Daddy, my son died 1 month ago at 37. It's hard to keep from crying as I sing to him.
Yesterday a child came out to wonder Caught a dragonfly inside a jar Fearful when the sky was full of thunder And tearful at the falling of a star And the seasons they go round and round And the painted ponies go up and down We're captive on the carousel of time We can't return we can only look behind From where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game Then the child moved ten times round the seasons Skated over ten clear frozen streams Words like, when you're older, must appease him And promises of someday make his dreams And the seasons they go round and round And the painted ponies go up and down We're captive on the carousel of time We can't return we can only look behind From where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now Cartwheels turn to car wheels thru the town And they tell him, Take your time, it won't be long now Till you drag your feet just to slow the circles down And the seasons they go round and round And the painted ponies go up and down We're captive on the carousel of time We can't return we can only look behind From where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true There'll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty Before the last revolving year is through And the seasons they go round and round And the painted ponies go up and down We're captive on the carousel of time We can't return, we can only look behind From where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game
Awww…. Many of Joni’s songs do that to me. I could be singing along with her at the start and by the end, I’m a blubbering mess! :) This one in particular no exception. It’s because of how honest it is and how soulful. This song touches on something very common, almost primal, to all of us. Being a child with all the sense of wonder that brings, to growing up and being a teenager, and then coming into adulthood and realizing with a kind of sadness that you are no longer a child any more and you need to navigate the adult world and it’s frightening at times to realize that you’ll never be a child again. Until you have children of your own and the cycle of life, the “circle Game” repeats.
When I first listened to this music, I burst into tears. I don't know why. I just liked this music and I still like this music. "We can't return, we can only look behind, from where we came." 😊 Yes, it's true. We just look behind from where we came. Our life is like a circle game. I pray that my 2024 may be prospering and fruitful by looking behind, I mean, by pausing at the right moment, and by reflecting on my own journey. Amen. :)
I love how every comment is the same in essence. What a beautiful song. My mom shared this w me and I will never not cry when I hear it. I hope everyone remembers the first moment they heard this and shares it with everyone they love. It’s so timeless
Joyce saying: Aaron Neville, Wildflower. Let her cry 'cause she's a lady, Let her dream for she's a child. Let the rain fall down upon her, she's a free and gentile flower growing wild.
My "girlfriends" and used to drive around singing all things JONI as loud as we could. Knew every song and every lyric. Got many women through their lives. Still listening.
Sounds sexist, but most women are & unapologetically so. It's a lodestar for this penile American as well. I have my own equally poetic words to capture the spirit of what she's saying. I'll never be a major recording artist, but, I don't aspire to. Stop trying to genderize what is good, wise, insightful & empathetic, you chauvinistic bigot.
We play this at the bridging ceremony at school every year, it’s been seven years since the first time I attended a bridging ceremony in first grade, in seventh, it still brings tears to my eyes
This has always been a favorite of mine, and my daughter Anna, who lives in Ireland now. 3 years ago, when she was home to visit, she came outside with Circle Game playing. She surprised me and began to dance and sing this song! What Magic from 2 to 35!
Joni. My husband used this song and made a slide show of our daughter and son-in-law with photos of them through the years. We played it at their engagement party. Thank you for such a beautiful song!
I have loved this song for most of my life. When i was a young child I thought it was a beautiful song. When I was graduating highschool it hit me i was growing up. It hits you differently when you become a parent. You see your child start their place in the circle.
@@ByteSizeNet I find it kind of funny that you ended up seeing this comment 2 days after I made a comment on Reddit about how I like that. This song was used in a show that I was watching
this song always brings tears to my eyes. we used to sing this song every year at camp, and i’ll never forget the way camp shaped me, and this song was spent singing around a campfire, everyone hoarse and crying, but so full of love.
I guess this song has become a summer camp classic because I also remember singing it with my friends on the last night of camp. We were all holding hands and crying because many of us had gone to that summer camp since we were 5 and now we were 17 and we had all watched each other grow up together. Sometimes, I run into some of my old camp buddies and they have kids and I smile knowing they probably sing this song to them. We go round and round and round in the circle game…
This song is beautiful I am 23 and I feel this song as I have all adult siblings and aging grandparents who are both 70 and the other 83.It's a beautiful life but its bitter sweet how fast everything goes. But Joni gives us a song too carry us throughout this circle game.
We used to sing this song at camp, I remember bawling my eyes out on my last day there and singing this song. I had forgotten the words and I wasn't able to find it until now.
This comment is a year old but.. oh well. My camp sings the circle game before we go to bed every night by the campfire. We also sing it at our closing campfire too and everyone cries :'). What's the name of the camp? It's a slim chance but I wonder if we went to the same one.
my last year of sleepaway camp got canceled because of the virus. the last year is known as the best year, all the kids look up to you. at the end of each summer, everyone gathers around the lake, and they play this song as well as some others. to all my camp friends that i will probably never see again, i wish we could have that last summer all together in another time.
I'm so sorry your camp got cancelled. I'm a camp kid too, and I'm 15 too so I know how important it is to go to camp. People really underestimate the value of summer camp in a kids life. It's the best experience ever. I hope that you stayed in contact with your camp friends, maybe you can be counselors together. Even though I'm getting older, I'm going to do whatever it takes to keep my camp in my life, even though I live 5,000 miles away. I genuinely wish you could've had that amazing last summer too ;-;
Oh and my camp also sings The Circle Game at our closing campfire too- that's why I replied. Forgot to mention that before. Next year I'll be 16 which is a circle game birthday! We love celebrating the three circle game birthdays at camp lol
I don't think there is a truer song written,, almost 66 years of life and how badly I wish I could drag my feet to slow those circles down. It all goes by in a blink it seems, one day you turn around, the kids are grown, with lives of their own now, and they say, ah now your life begins! I would disagree, what I wouldn't give to wake up and hear , Mom what's for breakfast?! Hold on tightly to these moments in time, one day not to far from now, they will just be in your book of memories, and the Circle game goes round and round!
Joni is simply a unique ‘one off’. Such beautiful songs coupled with really striking artwork. She has it all. Love the accompanying voices in this piece.
Joni nailed it . I'm having a bad day today and for some reason I remembered this song. I had to Google it cause I'm old but ain't senile. Ty Joni. We love you girl
I was introduced to this song at my fifth grade graduation. Our teachers had us sing it for the parents and at the time I thought it was just a nice song with a good melody. Now I’m 20 and listening this while I pack to move in to my new apartment and I can’t stop crying. Thank you Joni for blessing us with such beautiful songs.
I came here from fuller house since loved the song they had on in the background, and I’m happy I searched it up.. It reminds me that there is still love, and that even though my great grandma isn’t here right now, she still loves us (my great grandma died 2 weeks ago)
such a poignant, eloquent way to describe the ever-shifting cyclical nature of life. no other song brings me to tears in such a short amount of time. i hope i can hold onto these emotions, i hope i always tear up when listening to this pure art, i hope it always brings me back in time. to those i've lost, i hope you know i think of you every time i listen to this song and i love you endlessly. until we meet again; let me never forget the imprints you've made on my soul. i will never stop telling others about you.
This song popped into my head while watching the episode of "This is Us" where the Pearson kids have to make a decision about caring for their ailing mother with dementia. It fits this show so beautifully as it reaches the end.
I got introduced to this song for the first time on the episode "The Train" on "This is Us". I agree with Kathy, this song fit the 6 years of the show beautifully as well as a tribute to the loss of their mom at the end of that episode. It definitely made me cry.
Wow About a year ago, I was driving up my long drive way. This song was playing. I thought i heard a thud, I looked in my rear view to see...to my horror a kitten that I had rescued only weeks before laying lifeless on the drive. Time stood still. She had climbed onto the frame of my truck, and jumped off while i was leaving, landing under the tire. She died instantly....thankfully. It was only a kitten, but I remember. I'm supposed to be a tough guy. Her name was Boo Boo. Sorry .
Wow I read your comment about your kitten Boo Boo, twice. The circle game. I'm sorry for your loss just the same. 04.08.21 Peace and Love be with you. ✌❤🐈🙏 🇨🇦💃🐈
I remember first hearing this song at 18 years old, when I graduated high school. I had never heard of Joni Mitchell before, but her voice and the lyrics brought up so many emotions of nostalgia I had never felt before, and this song immediately touched my soul. My school played it as we walked to get our diplomas, and it hit me that I was transitioning to a new chapter and phase of my life, and that I would never forget the fond memories of childhood up to that point that would stay in my heart forever. The line - we can't return we can only look behind from where we came - is a bittersweet way to describe those lingering moments where we feel time passing and our lives changing. It feels like magic to not know what's ahead of you, while at the same time it can feel heavy to know that you are moving away from everything in the past.
I listen to this beautiful and wonderfully truthful song and think of my children and now their children , my grandchildren . Every word conjuring up amazing pictures of life and all its reality . It makes me smile and at the same time sad at wondering why does life pass up by so seemingly quickly when time is a constant...Joni Mitchell , an amazing and talented observer of life..
Struck my heart as soon as I heard it. I'm watching my father, who is a Professor Emeritus, struggle in and out of the descending dementia-I have to go to a place in my soul of acceptance and peace or the torment of it would drive me mad. This was not my choice, my sibling forced it through the court. I visit some days at the facility because he doesn't want to leave and I am surrounded by those "in wait." I feel the pang of a selfish need to escape back to life when sometimes there doesn't seem to be any there. Just bodies in wing-back chairs sitting quietly or noisily vying for attention from health care aides who have built their own wall of defense. This song means so so much but mostly for me it is acceptance.
I am five months too late, but I truly hope you can find peace in your father's struggles. You are stronger than you could ever even imagine. I don't know if your father has passed now, or if he's about to, but I know you're hurting. It's okay to sulk. People always say to "Be strong for your relatives", but it's not always the answer. Everyone grieves differently. Take care.
I remember the music teacher playing this on the first day of 8th grade during the whole-school assembly as my class welcomed the new first graders to our school. I never forgot that chorus. I never will forget it. How could I? This is a beautiful song that's tied to a beautiful memory of mine.
It always amazing to me that she wrote this song at such a young age. This isa song that resonates so much more as you get older. She is a genius songwriter and singer and no mistake.
Joni writes her own songs, songs her own songs and painted her own album covers (some, not all). I love Joan Baez, but rt now it would be Joni that I chose to love the most❤.
As this gem of a song belies, Joni was/is one of the world’s youngest Old Souls. But more than that, her extraordinary gifts of music and visual arts, remind us her Old Soul understood/understands, the true artist continues to create and share and thrive with her audiences. As Beethoven charged we poets, “You must maintain both the spirit of The gypsy and the discipline of the soldier.” No stronger artistic representation of such than “The Circle Game.” Thank You Joni.
Aloha Joni, this song has brought me out of slumps, depression, confusion & anger on many many occasions! It's helped me to shift gears & get into a better & higher frequency when I needed it!! For your genius in creating this incredible love & peace inducing song, I thank you from the deepest part of myself!! Today I've had this song playing in loop mode for hours & for days on end in the past! Wishing you all the best, Joni!! Mahalo nui loa & Aloha nui/Much love!!
We sang this song at day camp and I did not the significance of the song then but now I have a deeper appreciation of the song. God bless Joni Mitchell.
Like Frank Sinatra was a great, one of a kind during my parents young adulthood, Joni Mitchell is to our Generation. One of a kind, love her music, talent, and spirit. Thank you Joni Mitchell. 💜💜💜
Because of this song, I always visualize the annual calendar of months as a big circle that just goes around and around. So beautiful and yet so gut wrenching because it's so true.
Joni Mitchell's "The Circle Game" is a poignant song about life cycles, and my reflections on it speak to a profound truth: the importance of self-acceptance and living life on my terms. My life's journey mirrors the lyrics. Like the child in the song, I started with a sense of wonder and possibility. But somewhere along the way, society's expectations ("Words like when you're older must appease him") and the desire to please others derailed me. We all made choices out of obligation or fear of judgment instead of following our hearts. Those regrets-especially from my time in Vietnam-stay with me or haunt me at times. Yet, I've reached a place of clarity. At 72, I realize external validation is fleeting. True satisfaction lies in staying true to yourself, even if it took a lifetime to learn this lesson. As the song continues, the boy grows into a man. His youthful dreams may have faded, but a poignant wisdom replaces them. He understands that while time keeps spinning ("the seasons they go round and round") and we're locked within this cycle ("captive on the carousel of time"), there's beauty in the journey. My closing words about those "new dreams, maybe better dreams" reflect this. There's a quiet determination in my voice. I'm not resigned to fading away but instead, choose to view life's inevitable turns as opportunities for a different kind of fulfillment. This resonates deeply with the song's imagery and my own story. (Mike Archer)
I have always loved this classic by our treasures,Joni Mitchell. It is the theme song for the company that I work for. How ironical. It is a company that works with seniors. Thank you Joni. Love and Prayers from Ontario Canada 🇨🇦❤️🕊✝️✌️📻🎵
Maybe we keep living a life over and over again until whatever needs to be changed by us as we do things differently. It is something to think about. Have you ever had deja vu? It might explain it.
This fantastic Joni Mitchell song is the song the company I work for uses. I've always loved it. Joni Mitchell is a very gifted Canadian. Music and her painting, what beautiful gifts. Thank you Joni Mitchell from an Ontario Canadian fan 🙏🕊
I remember going through a brutal breakup when I was 19 and hearing this song for the first time and it brought so much comfort knowing I was still extremely young and the heartbreak I was feeling was temporary for the long life I had ahead me, I'm almost 27 now and just moved my long time girlfriend up to College 7 hours from here where she'll be for two years I'm feeling a lot of the feeling of being separated from someone you love a lot but Joni and her music have continued to remind me that life will go on and thing's will be ok
![Joni Mitchell - Ladies of the Canyon (Full Album) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3Rvf324HtJg/mqdefault.jpg)
![Joni Mitchell - Ladies of the Canyon (Full Album) [Official Video]](/img/tr.png)
I have a PhD in Mathematical Physics, but if you ask me "What is Time?", I would say listen to this song. I can't do any better, and I'm not sure anyone can. I can't listen to it without crying. Thank you Joni.
Me too Richard.
It always reminds me of my mother. Taken when I was 20 by cancer. Oh how she loved Joni. Those lyrics about not being able to return to the past hurts because its so painfully true.
@@LadyTylerBioRodriguez I'm so sorry Tyler. But remember that though "we can't return", we *can* "look behind from where we came". And as (trust me!) no one truly understands time, you are free to believe that your mother is still there, in the past.
@@richardmercer2337 A lovely sentiment. I wish you could do more then look back but its the best anyone can ever do.
I have tears in my eyed every time I hear this song
About 18 years ago I was invited to a small gathering. I'm divorced and my 10 year old daughter was with me that week. I had been working on playing Circle Game and my daughter was taking singing lessons and they were working on Joni. There was an acoustic guitar there at the party. Although my daughter and I had never rehearse, we did this song. The people there were folkies, all older than me. My daughter sang, I played guitar, the rest joined in singing at the chorus. It was a magical moment So every time i hear this, it takes me back to that moment and it brings tears to me.
wow, beautifully said
Precious moments
beautiful
It would be wonderful if there was vid, but what a great story! 😊
how I wish there were. But it was before cameras and video on cell phones. But there are photos afterwards someone took with their camera.
I just asked my 38-year-old daughter if she remembered me singing this to her as I rocked her as a baby. She replied, “I could sing you the chorus right now”. Thank you, Joni. I didn’t have your voice but I did impart your spirit to my baby girl.
This songs reminds you that the world existed before you were born and will continue after you die. Learn from the past and find joy in the here and now.
Today is the first time in nearly 6.5 years that I’ve been able to listen to The Circle Game.
My Son, Jordan, passed away 7th October 2017 aged just 20 years old. It was played at Joe’s funeral. The song is so poignant and takes me back step by step through his short but fulfilling life. Jordan had a heart transplant aged just 7. The first to survive the sort he had, my Son was a brave and loving soul with an old head on his shoulders. He survived another 13 years and went on to achieve many great things - including receiving his Degree (posthumously) for Physics with Theoretical Physics at Manchester University, UK - despite dying before sitting his 2nd year exams. Unprecedented!
This song - particularly the last verse - breaks me every time! But, I still need to hear it and weep while I remember my beautiful Son, Jordan Ashley.
I wish I had met him. He sounds beautiful.
I am sorry you had to go through this. I can't imagine what it was like. I'll think of you both whenever I hear this. 💔
I was already in tears and your heart-wrenching story just broke me. I am so very sorry for your loss - but glad in some small way for the time you had with your beloved son and all that he was able to achieve in his all too short life. I lost my wife of 35 years to cancer just over a year ago. She was 70 - so while my experience doesn't compare to yours in that regard, it's always hard to lose a loved one - at any age.
su historia me ha conovido hasta las lágrimas ¡¡ cielos !! siento tanta tristeza cuando me entero de la muerte de una persona joven que su vida se ha cortado en la flor de su juventud,yo tengo un hijo que tiene también 20 años y esta en la universidad no puedo imaginar que sería de mi si algo pudiera pasarle,le mando un abrazo dondequiera que usted se encuentre,recuerde que nuestra vida no dura mucho y pronto nos encontraremos nuevamente con nuestros seres queridos en otro plano espiritual.
Condolences ❤
My father sang this song many times to me and my brother before bed as children, and then as my brother's casket was being lowered 3 years ago. His circle game was cut short just less than 4 years after the last verse of the song. In some ways I think it was merciful, as it released him from a life that seemed to only have suffering left in store for him, and all of his dreams had been lost. This song was profoundly impactful on my formative years in ways that I was never aware of at the time and helped me process what happened to my brother as I grieved his death.
God comfort your heart, and memory of your brother. The love and blessing of his life shared. Music when no words can begin to capture our losses, and artists like Joni Mitchell, gifted, born to help us through.
I'm sorry you lost your brother....I'll look more but did you say how he died and at what age?? I know what you mean by being in a better place, have you expanded on those views in other writing I could read? I enjoy real experiences of good and bad/sad.
Thanks,
I was reading about and listening to Neil Young Sugar mountain that led me here to Joni's Circle Game
Sorry for your loss
@Purplepentapus_, I’m sorry for the loss of your brother and your dad sounds like he was a wonderful man.
She wrote this song at 16 years of age. Amazing.
The older I get, the more heavy this song gets.
Amazong
Es maravillosa❤
No, she didn't. She was 23
How could she have wrote this at 16 when this song is inspired by sugar mountain which came out in 1964?Like the person above said she was 22-23,the song was composed in 1966.
I’ll be 70 in a few weeks. Haven’t heard this song in decades. But it popped into my head today for some reason and got stuck there. Came to listen all the way thru to shake it off, since my album is long gone, and I never replaced it. It sure does grow in meaning the longer we’re on that carousel. Still a wonderful song.
I will be 17 in a few weeks and I haven't heard this song since my mom played it for me when I was little. It popped into my head today too, and I can't stop thinking about it. I hope that your time on the carousel has been a delight so far, and continues to spark imagination and adventure through your life.
I'm 72, and had the same experience. Haven't heard it in years but it popped into my head, demanding resolution. Here I am, still circling.
Anyone who heard this since the 1960s and now, long ago raised children, now gone off to their adult lives... We are touched by this song. Thank you Joni.
My name is Joyce. My 37 yr old is a heroin junkey. Never thought the circle game would screw me so badly. Big Joni fan for over 50 years. I guess didn't screw me but him
So often things that we loved in youth don't hold up revisited after many circles on the carousel of time (try rereading Catcher in the Rye without cringing) but everything Joni wrote all those years ago only has more meaning now.
I recently read that Joni Mitchell wrote The Circle Game in response to Neil Young's song Sugar Mountain which he wrote about his sadness at aging out of a club called Sugar Mountain when he turned 20. So The Circle Game was intended as a song of hope that things will still be good as you get older. Now when I hear this song and want to cry, I try to remember that it is a song of hope!
Grew up listening to both Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. Both songs stir me up emotionally when I'm either sad or happy. I'm always quiet and still when listening to Circle Game and Sugar Mountain.
Joni captured mortality with her words. She was very in tune spiritually. I lost my son last year. He was 35. When I became a mom this song always guided me.
God bless your mother's heart, my sister! Your loss is one none of us should experience and yet so many do. Be blessed!
I sang this song every night to my son from the day he was born and throughout his childhood. When his son was born 6 years ago I continued the tradition with him. I sang it tonight 3 times as he awoke with nightmares. His Daddy, my son died 1 month ago at 37. It's hard to keep from crying as I sing to him.
Mucha liz para tí❤
RIP
I Iost my Mom in 2002.
Played at my 91 year old mom's funeral reception yesterday. Perfect ❤
My deepest condolences to the family. May God bless you during this difficult time. ❤
Joni Mitchell is a wonderful folk song composer and singer.....keep it up,please.
Larry Davies
Here we all are, gathered together, and Joni is teaching us! How wonderful ☮️
Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
Then the child moved ten times round the seasons
Skated over ten clear frozen streams
Words like, when you're older, must appease him
And promises of someday make his dreams
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels thru the town
And they tell him,
Take your time, it won't be long now
Till you drag your feet just to slow the circles down
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There'll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return, we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
Listening to it because of The Walking Dead
Thank you ❤️
@@lisaact1 Most welcome. It's a privilege to share.
Thank you for posting the words. I’m listening to this for the first time. Very moving song.
Wish she went onto later life cycles…🎄❄️
I almost never cry, but this song brings out the waterworks
doppelganger
This song gets me, too, when I hear it. Every. Single. Time. I can’t even listen to it, much less sing it, without the floodgates opening.
Awww…. Many of Joni’s songs do that to me. I could be singing along with her at the start and by the end, I’m a blubbering mess! :) This one in particular no exception. It’s because of how honest it is and how soulful. This song touches on something very common, almost primal, to all of us. Being a child with all the sense of wonder that brings, to growing up and being a teenager, and then coming into adulthood and realizing with a kind of sadness that you are no longer a child any more and you need to navigate the adult world and it’s frightening at times to realize that you’ll never be a child again. Until you have children of your own and the cycle of life, the “circle Game” repeats.
When I first listened to this music, I burst into tears. I don't know why. I just liked this music and I still like this music. "We can't return, we can only look behind, from where we came." 😊 Yes, it's true. We just look behind from where we came. Our life is like a circle game.
I pray that my 2024 may be prospering and fruitful by looking behind, I mean, by pausing at the right moment, and by reflecting on my own journey. Amen. :)
My 2024 as well!🎉
Young Joni was wise beyond her years. Spiritually connected, I think.
This song reflects an ability to summarize humanity that goes way beyond mere talent
humanity, & life!
A fabulous song that becomes more relevant the older you get.
😏" round and round in the
Circle game.. "
..."and they tell him
take your time, it won't be long now
til' you drag your feet to slow the circles down"...
That one always gets me
My mom played this song for me when I moved away from home it reminds me of all the good times and makes me feel hopeful for the future
❤❤❤
My Mom played this song all the time growing up. I'm grateful for it.
I love how every comment is the same in essence. What a beautiful song. My mom shared this w me and I will never not cry when I hear it. I hope everyone remembers the first moment they heard this and shares it with everyone they love. It’s so timeless
The music I want playing endlessly in the background on my last day.....
Joyce saying: Aaron Neville, Wildflower. Let her cry 'cause she's a lady, Let her dream for she's a child. Let the rain fall down upon her, she's a free and gentile flower growing wild.
My "girlfriends" and used to drive around singing all things JONI as loud as we could. Knew every song and every lyric. Got many women through their lives. Still listening.
Sounds sexist, but most women are & unapologetically so. It's a lodestar for this penile American as well. I have my own equally poetic words to capture the spirit of what she's saying. I'll never be a major recording artist, but, I don't aspire to. Stop trying to genderize what is good, wise, insightful & empathetic, you chauvinistic bigot.
❤❤❤
We play this at the bridging ceremony at school every year, it’s been seven years since the first time I attended a bridging ceremony in first grade, in seventh, it still brings tears to my eyes
This has always been a favorite of mine, and my daughter Anna, who lives in Ireland now. 3 years ago, when she was home to visit, she came outside with Circle Game playing. She surprised me and began to dance and sing this song! What Magic from 2 to 35!
One of the truest songs ever written.
A song like this transcends accolades. A quality of song of which there may be fewer than 30 in the Western world.
This is without argument the most powerful song ever written
I hope there will be some kind soul to sing this song at my wake
No song has made me cry this hard , I swear.
We sing this song at my summer camp. So beautiful.
David Crosby said it best "There's NOBODY like Joni Mitchell"
Joni. My husband used this song and made a slide show of our daughter and son-in-law with photos of them through the years. We played it at their engagement party. Thank you for such a beautiful song!
❤❤❤
I have loved this song for most of my life. When i was a young child I thought it was a beautiful song. When I was graduating highschool it hit me i was growing up. It hits you differently when you become a parent. You see your child start their place in the circle.
❤
@@ByteSizeNet I find it kind of funny that you ended up seeing this comment 2 days after I made a comment on Reddit about how I like that. This song was used in a show that I was watching
this song always brings tears to my eyes. we used to sing this song every year at camp, and i’ll never forget the way camp shaped me, and this song was spent singing around a campfire, everyone hoarse and crying, but so full of love.
I guess this song has become a summer camp classic because I also remember singing it with my friends on the last night of camp. We were all holding hands and crying because many of us had gone to that summer camp since we were 5 and now we were 17 and we had all watched each other grow up together. Sometimes, I run into some of my old camp buddies and they have kids and I smile knowing they probably sing this song to them. We go round and round and round in the circle game…
This song is beautiful I am 23 and I feel this song as I have all adult siblings and aging grandparents who are both 70 and the other 83.It's a beautiful life but its bitter sweet how fast everything goes. But Joni gives us a song too carry us throughout this circle game.
I never cry when listening to songs, but this song gets me emotional every time I listen to it
Same here.
We used to sing this song at camp, I remember bawling my eyes out on my last day there and singing this song. I had forgotten the words and I wasn't able to find it until now.
@Rory Hudson - glad you found it.
Music moves our soul
What kind of camp was it? Just curious.
This comment is a year old but.. oh well. My camp sings the circle game before we go to bed every night by the campfire. We also sing it at our closing campfire too and everyone cries :'). What's the name of the camp? It's a slim chance but I wonder if we went to the same one.
F&W?
@@UNOwen-pe1bj omg is it merrovista?? i went there
my last year of sleepaway camp got canceled because of the virus. the last year is known as the best year, all the kids look up to you. at the end of each summer, everyone gathers around the lake, and they play this song as well as some others. to all my camp friends that i will probably never see again, i wish we could have that last summer all together in another time.
I am extremely sorry to hear that. I hope you get to make it up!
@beqk Ahhhh, sweet. How old are you?
@@aducksworth7717 im 15.
I'm so sorry your camp got cancelled. I'm a camp kid too, and I'm 15 too so I know how important it is to go to camp. People really underestimate the value of summer camp in a kids life. It's the best experience ever. I hope that you stayed in contact with your camp friends, maybe you can be counselors together. Even though I'm getting older, I'm going to do whatever it takes to keep my camp in my life, even though I live 5,000 miles away. I genuinely wish you could've had that amazing last summer too ;-;
Oh and my camp also sings The Circle Game at our closing campfire too- that's why I replied. Forgot to mention that before. Next year I'll be 16 which is a circle game birthday! We love celebrating the three circle game birthdays at camp lol
I don't think there is a truer song written,, almost 66 years of life and how badly I wish I could drag my feet to slow those circles down.
It all goes by in a blink it seems, one day you turn around, the kids are grown, with lives of their own now, and they say, ah now your life begins! I would disagree, what I wouldn't give to wake up and hear , Mom what's for breakfast?! Hold on tightly to these moments in time, one day not to far from now, they will just be in your book of memories, and the Circle game goes round and round!
❤
Joni Mitchell is a true gift!
We listen to The Circle Game every day. It has changed my life. Thank you, Joni.
This song is near and dear to me.. Mom used to sing this to me before sleep as a youth. 🥰🥰
My daughter turns 16 today. Love of my life. Time, please slow down.
Check out my post from 11 months ago about my daughter!
"And they tell him take your time, it won't be long now
Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down"
😭
That's a true fact!😪
absolutely, it reminds me of my only child who died too soon at 35...love to Joni for her lyrics they help the grief come out,
Joni is simply a unique ‘one off’. Such beautiful songs coupled with really striking artwork. She has it all. Love the accompanying voices in this piece.
Joni nailed it . I'm having a bad day today and for some reason I remembered this song. I had to Google it cause I'm old but ain't senile. Ty Joni. We love you girl
Beautiful song. My favorite Joni Mitchell song.
I was introduced to this song at my fifth grade graduation. Our teachers had us sing it for the parents and at the time I thought it was just a nice song with a good melody. Now I’m 20 and listening this while I pack to move in to my new apartment and I can’t stop crying. Thank you Joni for blessing us with such beautiful songs.
❤❤❤
I came here from fuller house since loved the song they had on in the background, and I’m happy I searched it up..
It reminds me that there is still love, and that even though my great grandma isn’t here right now, she still loves us (my great grandma died 2 weeks ago)
She captures life in words and melodies.
such a poignant, eloquent way to describe the ever-shifting cyclical nature of life. no other song brings me to tears in such a short amount of time. i hope i can hold onto these emotions, i hope i always tear up when listening to this pure art, i hope it always brings me back in time. to those i've lost, i hope you know i think of you every time i listen to this song and i love you endlessly. until we meet again; let me never forget the imprints you've made on my soul. i will never stop telling others about you.
This song popped into my head while watching the episode of "This is Us" where the Pearson kids have to make a decision about caring for their ailing mother with dementia. It fits this show so beautifully as it reaches the end.
"This is Us" as well as one of the episodes of NBC's "Providence"
The did play it
I got introduced to this song for the first time on the episode "The Train" on "This is Us". I agree with Kathy, this song fit the 6 years of the show beautifully as well as a tribute to the loss of their mom at the end of that episode. It definitely made me cry.
@@neilwilson1238 that episode was phenomenal!
That scene and the Both Sides Now scene in Love Actually both tore my heart out.
Wow
About a year ago, I was driving up my long drive way. This song was playing. I thought i heard a thud, I looked in my rear view to see...to my horror a kitten that I had rescued only weeks before laying lifeless on the drive. Time stood still. She had climbed onto the frame of my truck, and jumped off while i was leaving, landing under the tire. She died instantly....thankfully.
It was only a kitten, but I remember. I'm supposed to be a tough guy. Her name was Boo Boo.
Sorry .
Wow I read your comment about your kitten Boo Boo, twice. The circle game.
I'm sorry for your loss just the same.
04.08.21
Peace and Love be with you.
✌❤🐈🙏
🇨🇦💃🐈
So beautiful. Even more moving now that I'm a mama to a precious little boy.
Can't help but weep when I listen to some of Joni Mitchell's music. This is one of those songs. Beautiful.
I remember first hearing this song at 18 years old, when I graduated high school. I had never heard of Joni Mitchell before, but her voice and the lyrics brought up so many emotions of nostalgia I had never felt before, and this song immediately touched my soul. My school played it as we walked to get our diplomas, and it hit me that I was transitioning to a new chapter and phase of my life, and that I would never forget the fond memories of childhood up to that point that would stay in my heart forever. The line - we can't return we can only look behind from where we came - is a bittersweet way to describe those lingering moments where we feel time passing and our lives changing. It feels like magic to not know what's ahead of you, while at the same time it can feel heavy to know that you are moving away from everything in the past.
Joni played this song (and mang more!) live just this past Sunday, her first live performance in nearly a decade ❤️❤️❤️
I listen to this beautiful and wonderfully truthful song and think of my children and now their children , my grandchildren . Every word conjuring up amazing pictures of life and all its reality . It makes me smile and at the same time sad at wondering why does life pass up by so seemingly quickly when time is a constant...Joni Mitchell , an amazing and talented observer of life..
My mum sang this to me and now I'm singing this to my baby. I'm not crying.
Struck my heart as soon as I heard it. I'm watching my father, who is a Professor Emeritus, struggle in and out of the descending dementia-I have to go to a place in my soul of acceptance and peace or the torment of it would drive me mad. This was not my choice, my sibling forced it through the court. I visit some days at the facility because he doesn't want to leave and I am surrounded by those "in wait." I feel the pang of a selfish need to escape back to life when sometimes there doesn't seem to be any there. Just bodies in wing-back chairs sitting quietly or noisily vying for attention from health care aides who have built their own wall of defense. This song means so so much but mostly for me it is acceptance.
Sending you strength.
@@danaseymour9213 Wow, thank you so much. Your kind words mean more than you know.
I am five months too late, but I truly hope you can find peace in your father's struggles. You are stronger than you could ever even imagine. I don't know if your father has passed now, or if he's about to, but I know you're hurting. It's okay to sulk. People always say to "Be strong for your relatives", but it's not always the answer. Everyone grieves differently. Take care.
I remember the music teacher playing this on the first day of 8th grade during the whole-school assembly as my class welcomed the new first graders to our school. I never forgot that chorus. I never will forget it. How could I? This is a beautiful song that's tied to a beautiful memory of mine.
It always amazing to me that she wrote this song at such a young age. This isa song that resonates so much more as you get older. She is a genius songwriter and singer and no mistake.
How So Very True No words Could Ever Say It Better absolutely Beautiful JONI ❤️❤️xx
a beautiful song now richer at 25 my sister had a baby he's almost 1yr old . Joni Mitchell really captures life so beautifully in her music
Joni writes her own songs, songs her own songs and painted her own album covers (some, not all). I love Joan Baez, but rt now it would be Joni that I chose to love the most❤.
❤
I chose both
I created videos about Linda Ronstadt, and I was pleasantly surprised by the high number of views and comments they received.
As this gem of a song belies, Joni was/is one of the world’s youngest Old Souls. But more than that, her extraordinary gifts of music and visual arts, remind us her Old Soul understood/understands, the true artist continues to create and share and thrive with her audiences.
As Beethoven charged we poets, “You must maintain both the spirit of The gypsy and the discipline of the soldier.”
No stronger artistic representation of such than “The Circle Game.” Thank You Joni.
my favorite album by joni!
up their with blue, hejira, the first two albums (always amazed at how "clouds" hold up)....
I love this song. Truly it is just perfect. Thank you Joni 💓xx
joni mitchell put your music back on spotify challenge. but seriously i understand why she took it off but i miss it so much
Hope things get better for our adult children and Grandaughter we are older.
Magnificent and pure. Timeless.
Aloha Joni, this song has brought me out of slumps, depression, confusion & anger on many many occasions! It's helped me to shift gears & get into a better & higher frequency when I needed it!! For your genius in creating this incredible love & peace inducing song, I thank you from the deepest part of myself!! Today I've had this song playing in loop mode for hours & for days on end in the past! Wishing you all the best, Joni!! Mahalo nui loa & Aloha nui/Much love!!
We sang this song at day camp and I did not the significance of the song then but now I have a deeper appreciation of the song. God bless Joni Mitchell.
I haven't heard this in ages.
Thanks Joni
At 58, I want to know who keeps speeding up the carousel! 😂 Beautiful, timeless song.
A lovely, lovely song. A once a week listen for me.
The Anthem for my children and our Grandkids ! What a lucky man I am ! ❤️🦋🌅☮️✌️
I sing this to my kids at night. That’s a tough playlist to crack. But this? No brainer.
Like Frank Sinatra was a great, one of a kind during my parents young adulthood, Joni Mitchell is to our Generation. One of a kind, love her music, talent, and spirit. Thank you Joni Mitchell. 💜💜💜
Just Thanks Joni Thanks
I recently moved schools and this was the first song I learned
Because of this song, I always visualize the annual calendar of months as a big circle that just goes around and around. So beautiful and yet so gut wrenching because it's so true.
All of my Age in one poem. Everything we dreamed for a better world we dreamed. Unsuccesfully.
70 years old now. The song still relates to any age.
69 and sobbing. Lost my best friend who had a Joni Mitchell voice and she always sang this. It came out when we were 15 in 1970.
Joni Mitchell's "The Circle Game" is a poignant song about life cycles, and my reflections on it speak to a profound truth: the importance of self-acceptance and living life on my terms.
My life's journey mirrors the lyrics. Like the child in the song, I started with a sense of wonder and possibility. But somewhere along the way, society's expectations ("Words like when you're older must appease him") and the desire to please others derailed me. We all made choices out of obligation or fear of judgment instead of following our hearts. Those regrets-especially from my time in Vietnam-stay with me or haunt me at times.
Yet, I've reached a place of clarity. At 72, I realize external validation is fleeting. True satisfaction lies in staying true to yourself, even if it took a lifetime to learn this lesson. As the song continues, the boy grows into a man. His youthful dreams may have faded, but a poignant wisdom replaces them. He understands that while time keeps spinning ("the seasons they go round and round") and we're locked within this cycle ("captive on the carousel of time"), there's beauty in the journey.
My closing words about those "new dreams, maybe better dreams" reflect this. There's a quiet determination in my voice. I'm not resigned to fading away but instead, choose to view life's inevitable turns as opportunities for a different kind of fulfillment. This resonates deeply with the song's imagery and my own story. (Mike Archer)
That’s beautiful.
I have always loved this classic by our treasures,Joni Mitchell. It is the theme song for the company that I work for. How ironical. It is a company that works with seniors.
Thank you Joni. Love and Prayers from Ontario Canada 🇨🇦❤️🕊✝️✌️📻🎵
And that's not the Circle Fame‼️So for this reason is sincerely beautiful! Love, Joni❤️
Maybe we keep living a life over and over again until whatever
needs to be changed by us as we do things differently. It is something to
think about. Have you ever had deja vu? It might explain it.
doing my mother daughter dance with my mom at my wedding to this song next year :')
I hope that was as lovely as it sounds!!!!! ❤❤❤
This fantastic Joni Mitchell song is the song the company I work for uses. I've always loved it. Joni Mitchell is a very gifted Canadian.
Music and her painting, what beautiful gifts. Thank you Joni Mitchell from an Ontario Canadian fan 🙏🕊
I remember going through a brutal breakup when I was 19 and hearing this song for the first time and it brought so much comfort knowing I was still extremely young and the heartbreak I was feeling was temporary for the long life I had ahead me, I'm almost 27 now and just moved my long time girlfriend up to College 7 hours from here where she'll be for two years I'm feeling a lot of the feeling of being separated from someone you love a lot but Joni and her music have continued to remind me that life will go on and thing's will be ok
beautiful song
Life is like a circle.
Voice of an angel. A real one. ❤
Joni wrote this for Neil Young and in direct response to Neil's first single after Buffalo Springfield Sugar Mountain.
The main song at my funeral..totally beautiful...