I’m 62 so I’ve been listening to Joni Mitchell since I started listening to music, she is my favorite of all time. Her music is always beautiful, always emotional and always intensely personal.
I feel there is a bit irony here. We are listening to this song from ....Both Sides Now. This was written 50+ years ago and sung originally by a young woman who hadn't had many life experiences yet. Fast forward to the year 2000 when this performance was recorded and now we see it sung by a woman who has lived life. Traveled the world. Married and divorced. We hear this song and can feel all those years in every note she sings. So if any of you haven't listened to Joni before, check out her early works. You will hear that light hearted, vibrant woman. then come back and listen to this recording again and i think you will truly see or feel what i'm saying. She does things that no other singer can do.
She did a lot more things in her first 20 years than most people. If you listen to her songs about her high school years, you'll hear what I'm talking about.
You are an amazing person, and your reaction shows us how much genuine love you have for music truly. It’s so validating to hear a professional voice the why not just the how, and to be so tuned to the humanity of art is a blessing for us watching you.
Don't normally like orchestral versions of classic songs but this is just beautiful dripping with emotion she captures the yearning and pain of the lyric with such honesty and beauty through her vocal performance.
☁️💔☁️This is hands down one of the most beautiful and painful songs ever written, ever sung. The original is a gift to the world but this version absolutely lays me out 😭 It’s so wonderful that we have her knowing yet naive original version, filled with the experience of a younger person finding perspective on disappointment, and we have this version, so heavy with the richer experience of middle age. Almost as though in the first she looks at life from above and in this she is grounded and melancholy, but so much wiser. “Something’s lost, but something’s gained”…
When Judy Collins' version came out on the radio in 1970, I was 8 yrs old, and it has been a staple on my top 50 ever since because of its melodic sentimental journey. I had no idea Joni Mitchell wrote it and recorded it first. Two days ago I asked 'Alexa' to play BOTH SIDES NOW, but by mistake I said "by Joni Mitchell"...and this version played. I'm 59 now and for the first time I listened to the lyrics... and the way Joni Mitchell sang it...wow! I cried...I am a graying old man who saw her vision, finally.
I once read (or possibly heard on TV) something from a British music journalist about Joni’s two versions of this song, I’m afraid I can’t remember who it was. Anyway the gist of what he said was that only the young Joni could have written this song but only the older Joni can perform it. I think this is very true. 23 year old Joni had wisdom and intuition beyond her years to write this, it takes the older, wiser, more care-worn Joni with a lifetime’s experience of what the song is talking about to give a performance which does it justice. I like the early version in its own right but to me the much recent version is achingly beautiful. I’m 16 years younger than Joni, I know exactly what she’s talking about. 20 year old me who bought the album “Clouds” didn’t have a clue. There are many things I should have done, but clouds got in the way.
There were a number of those types of female singers in the 90s in Canada. Amanda Marshall, Chantal Kreviazuk and Sarah McLauchlan come to mind. As a Canadian, I don’t really care about the accent, largely because there is no “Canadian accent.” Usually people mean a working class Ontario accent, which is the one with the goofy aboot stuff. Joni was from Alberta, which is quite different. East coast accents are quasi-Irish. Just watch the Trailer Park Boys. I live in British Columbia and there’s a hint of Bill and Ted in the accents here, probably from the BC Bud. I grew up on British television, mostly from the BBC, and my mother was Welsh, so I’m all over the place. Sometimes my Welsh Tourette’s kicks in and I sound almost like Anthony Hopkins meets Gareth David-Lloyd. I haven’t been able to master a Manchester or Liverpool accent, though. But Canada doesn’t have 1 accent. We’re like any other English speaking country. You’d never mistake a Trailer Park Boy for a Beachcomber or a Red Green Show cast member.
Joni is a stellar talent. Her songwriting is legendary, her vocals are completely unique and inventive, and as a record producer, she worked with many greats, like Herbie Hancock, and Charles Mingus. She can switch from Mezzosoprano to Contralto and every song is sung with deep emotion and feeling. Love her.
It's such a magnificent song -- and shockingly precocious when she wrote it. Singing it now, from the other end of her life, reveals so much about its depth.
Beth says she is "speaking at pitch" a phrase I don't understand, but this one of the things at which Beth is such a master. I can hear this song entirely differently now. There are so many people on youtube now giving "reactions" but Beth is simply the best. She just knows more and can convey it.
Her voice is deepened, it's somewhat damaged and yet, for me this is probably the pivotal moment of her career. There's so much wisdom to that robust lower register. She may have written that sing in her 20s, but now, she has lived it. I feel like she's mother willow from Pocahontas, offering secrets of life those who would dare to listen.
I agree that the poetry and story of this song are very strong. It is quite telling about how much this song means to Joni that she revisited it later in her career, when so many of her other songs from her past are left behind. Beth, your enthusiasm and feelings for this song are fully on display. Thank you.
Simply the best... A great singer as well as a talented writer and composer. Also an interesting painter and an influential thinker. The very definition of the word artist.
Even more beautiful now than ever!!!!❤ She was a soprano, now she’s an alto. An I’m sure she doesn’t care less what anyone thinks of her musically! She’s a musical genius!!
This voice is not the result of smoking. She had a brain aneurysm some years before this and had to be taught to speak again. She taught herself how to sing again. There is also the fact that she is 80 years old when recording this.
I too started listening to Joni from when she first started. A consummate professional. What a wonderful rendition and reinterpretation. Beth be careful to let us hear the song. You only need to make a point once then let us hear that when the singer does it again. Thank you. I really enjoy your perspectives.
So interesting to focus on Joni as "a voice." Thanks for elaborating on one slice of the Joni experience. Of course, she is a post-modern Renaissance master (or, mistress?). A painter, a poetess and unique musician, a pioneer in the mixing of numerous genres of music, and a force of nature in sucking up the culture from at least the 60s-80s. I met her once at an art opening of her paintings, and saw her in concert thrice in the 70s.
Since 1966 my favorite singer songwriter. This is so achingly beautiful. To embrace the effects of time on one's voice is such a rare thing. Side by side with her earliest recording of this is a beautiful picture of the passage of time and Joni's journey through life. This is so moving.
The disillusionment, confusion, and acceptance of this song is personally important to me, as well. Her husky, almost tired tone in this performance epitomizes the mood. Excellent observations and notes on the vocal mechanics. Thanks for offering is this one!
She is never boring. She can sing the phonebook. It is what she is feeling at that moment. She doesn't need to razzle dazzle us. This is only a tiny morsel of her work. She has performed with some of the greatest artists in the world. Pat Matheny, Jaco Pastorius, Brecker Brothers. She is one of the most prolific composers. Creativity is her game.
This was a great review, incredibly insightful, Joni was reading Henderson the rain king by Saul bellow. Read it. I wonder if we ignore how much emotional experience young people can have
Your expression in the opening frame had me worried - a long time Joni Mitchell fan. Thanks for your explanation; relief. Her performance in 1974 was a best memory. When she set her dulcimer on her lap, all smiles.
If you start crying then im going to as well lol Joni Mitchell takes her time and always sang in a mature way i think because she wanted to establish that emotional connection you spoke of, and innately some of us are better at vocalizing emotion than others. She was exceptional at it. "CHELSEA MORNING", "CASEY", are a couple i really dig of her extended catalog of great music.
Thanks so much for introducing me to this moving version. I will share it with my wife, who loves JM and is a non-native speaker of English. It's kind of amazing to think that this is Joni's own 'poetry,' aside from her extraordinary vocalization, which she wrote at, what?, 18 years old.
Hello Beth from sunny Florida.. Just ran into your channel and after 3 videos I've fallen in love with you.. ;) as a garage musician, I am used to dissect songs.. but have never done it from your perspective. I am fascinated with your knowledge and sensibility.. there's so much more there to appreciate in music.. thank you 😊 💓 You put a spell on me..
Beth! I know exc 'which' emotions we are confronted with, here, in the most pleasant way, that is to say...had that goin with Joni since albums like Dog Eat Dog and that particular period of time. If you dive into this beautiful voice, your (or her?) heavy feelings and memories of past moments and lived through moments, get stuck somewhere between the stomache and those areas! And so great to see 'you' displaying these equally felt deep emo's...Joni Mitchell is 'higher category'. Great choice and well done.
Joni wrote this song, she has lived it. No one can sing it with as much soul as her. Love her voice more as she has aged. There will never be another Joni Mitchell.
Beth, you have such wisdom for one so young- old soul, girlfriend! Love your reactions. ❤ Joni’s pacing of her lyrics is so unique and engaging. You’ve reacted to Help Me, right? She is a phenomenal jazz singer.
When this originally came out there were a huge number of hits, on the charts ,with the Beatles ,,the FUNK BROTHERS OF MOTOWN ,, and she was always there... STAR
If it was not this actual this concert, I did see her when she was on this tour. She was amazing.~ I think this was the concert, I believe. She was wearing the same dress, and was with members of the National Symphony Orchestra.
Maybe it's something in the water...? Three of the greatest songwriters of the 2nd half of the twentieth century (Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot and Leonard Cohen) are Canadian...whew. Wow, they are all great. Love, love, how Joni and her voice have matured, it's really something. A great song, a great lady, a great rendition/interpretation, absolutely fabulous! Who could ask for more?
Joni is the best--although she is fading a bit-but she is getting a old-she invented a new sound for herself. Seeing her still gets me a little emotional. I have been a life long fan. Brian P. Birch Thanks for your positive reaction
I have to agree with you extremely strongly. Her younger voice was just so sweet, pure, and extraordinarily beautiful but as she aged, cigarettes or not, Joni’s voice matured as did the intensity of her music, delivery and exploration of different genres. My personal favourites during this later time are ‘Night Ride Home’...you couldn’t help but pick up just how in love she was, and it’s such an immense shame it didn’t work out for them as I feel it literally broke her spirit. I maybe right off in saying that, but she adored Larry Klein and was always beaming widely with love towards him. I saw them live way back in the eighties and the chemistry between the two was absolutely electric and just beautiful to witness. My all time more mature other favourite Joni album is ‘Turbulent Indigo’. The depth, remorse, empathy, sense of loss and pure power of that album is mind blowing. In her younger days there were obviously gems too especially ‘Blue’. Another favourite ‘Court and Spark’. Yes, it definitely was more successful commercially but when your eighteen your just out to have a time of happiness and not to be weighed down too heavily, at least I was after recently meeting my now husband of thirty ahem years. I too am in my early sixties and out of the plethora of amazingly talented, spellbinding groups and artists of every genre that we were SO lucky to have experienced (the list is endless) in earlier decades or even seen live, Joni will always remain my all time favourite. Just to finish, I wonder if it’s because she can so successfully verbalise what we found difficult in our early years due to society’s expectations of women. Just a thought. Take care now and stay well.
Went and listened to your podcast with Morgan James. I'm somewhat sorry you missed the opportunity to discuss her alter ego videos where she displays a wicked sense of humor. The podcast itself was outstanding and I appreciate your arranging Morgan to be on it. I was surprised at her emotional conflicts of interests. I was on the same page with her in the assessment of singers wanting to spew all their vocal skills at once like it's an athletic event. One of the things I am impressed with from singers like Haley Reinhart, Floor Jansen and Diana Ankudinova. Would be great if you could get Floor on the podcast. I think her skills immense.
Me and Joni are from the same town. I only met her once. I was 10yrs old. Joni's high school teacher introduced me to her. We were doing the local theatre production of Oklahoma. Joni came back stage - pulling a smoke. Joni's old teacher introduced me to her (I did not know her) saying that Joni is "a very good singer." I simply put out my hand and shook hers. Joni said to me, "Thank you Love." That handshake and chat mean more to me. AND - Joni Mitchell said she loves me.! Hah Fun story. Hope you like it :)
For the ultimate Joni Mitchell experience, try her live version of "Coyote" recorded during her jazz time when she was touring with Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorious, David Becker, and other jazz giants.
Might also check out Judy Collins with Both Sides Now But my favorite from Judy would be Send in The Clowns if you never heard Judy might give her a listen. TY
Judy Collins is an incredible folk singer. I was lucky to see her live last February before the world fell apart. She was 80 years old and her headvoice was still so piercing and controlled. I love her song The Blizzard
Have you ever heard another Canadian singer, Loreena McKennitt?? I know you'd love her singing. She plays kind of celtic ethereal stuff.... Not to detract from Joni who needs no comment. 🇨🇦❤️
You talked right over the most beautiful part of the song : Oh, but now old friends they're acting strange And they shake their heads, they say I've changed Well something's lost, but something's gained In living every day!!!! The real voice coach here is Joni Mitchell.
Joni Mitchell wrote the song, in her 20's no less, but forever after she becomes an interpreter of the song, as do many others, including of course, Judy Collins; and her performance should be evaluated accordingly. "Both Sides Now" is an "illusion" because there is a third side. Sometimes, we need to strip away the emotion, and look for the cold, hard, objective truth, and stand firm thereupon.
Love Joni Mitchell. Brandi Carlile actually performed Joni's entire "Blue" album in front of Joni, Elton John and other celebrities last fall. Brandi's cover of "A Case of You" is phenomenal and would be a great song to react to.
Joni has two videos on her song “Two Grey Rooms.” One is with vowels and the other has lyrics. When she was writing the song She explains how she didn’t have lyrics for the strong piano music but she used vowels. But the vowels were sung more in a French syllabication. Very interesting and worth a listen. It’s a lovely song as well. ruclips.net/video/O_dY2cy0E2I/видео.html
Lamar Savage I completely agree, she’s lived and learned through a lifetime of experiencing what the song is talking about, and it shows in this later version.
This song gets better and better as she gets older. It sounds like some very hard-learned lessons after decades, not a 25-year-old's revelations after less than a decade of adulthood.
kamelot lunched 2 live videos. KAMELOT ft. Alissa White-Gluz and Elize Ryd - Sacrimony (Official Live Video) | Napalm Records and KAMELOT - Phantom Divine (Shadow Empire) ft. Lauren Hart (Official Live Video) | Napalm Records
I love both ages of this song but this version is by a person who has lived their life to the full , I have to stop and listen to this every time I hear this , thanks for doing this Beth Can you do Cold December by Counting Crows some time
You probably know this but Going to California by Led Zeppelin has a Joni Mitchell reference. There is a girl with flowers in her hair...that was Joni Mitchell they were singing about.
Age takes its toll and changes us all physically and emotionally. Of course Joni's presentation is so different than it was 50 years ago. Great song with a more "mature" interpretation by a fabulous artist.
Joni went jazzy with her vocals awhile back. It's a natural progression from her earlier style which was always unique and unconventional. I like it and would not want her to go back if that were possible to her previous way of singing.
This version is so emotional and never fails to make me tear up. Joni Mitchell is such an amazing artist...
I’m 62 so I’ve been listening to Joni Mitchell since I started listening to music, she is my favorite of all time. Her music is always beautiful, always emotional and always intensely personal.
'Intensely personal' is so true.
Dido! Fav singer. I'm a soprano, so I sing all her songs. lo.
Joni makes me cry. Her song River has pulled me through dark times
I feel there is a bit irony here. We are listening to this song from ....Both Sides Now. This was written 50+ years ago and sung originally by a young woman who hadn't had many life experiences yet.
Fast forward to the year 2000 when this performance was recorded and now we see it sung by a woman who has lived life. Traveled the world. Married and divorced. We hear this song and can feel all those years in every note she sings. So if any of you haven't listened to Joni before, check out her early works. You will hear that light hearted, vibrant woman. then come back and listen to this recording again and i think you will truly see or feel what i'm saying. She does things that no other singer can do.
She did a lot more things in her first 20 years than most people. If you listen to her songs about her high school years, you'll hear what I'm talking about.
Spot on. Genius songwriter, musical leader and collaborator, and thinker.
I attended on of her concerts45 years ago ,incomparable excellence .
You are an amazing person, and your reaction shows us how much genuine love you have for music truly. It’s so validating to hear a professional voice the why not just the how, and to be so tuned to the humanity of art is a blessing for us watching you.
I have always wanted to meet Joni Mitchell but I think now that I would just burst into tears ……she is an absolute WONDER 🤩
Don't normally like orchestral versions of classic songs but this is just beautiful dripping with emotion she captures the yearning and pain of the lyric with such honesty and beauty through her vocal performance.
☁️💔☁️This is hands down one of the most beautiful and painful songs ever written, ever sung. The original is a gift to the world but this version absolutely lays me out 😭 It’s so wonderful that we have her knowing yet naive original version, filled with the experience of a younger person finding perspective on disappointment, and we have this version, so heavy with the richer experience of middle age. Almost as though in the first she looks at life from above and in this she is grounded and melancholy, but so much wiser. “Something’s lost, but something’s gained”…
When Judy Collins' version came out on the radio in 1970, I was 8 yrs old, and it has been a staple on my top 50 ever since because of its melodic sentimental journey. I had no idea Joni Mitchell wrote it and recorded it first. Two days ago I asked 'Alexa' to play BOTH SIDES NOW, but by mistake I said "by Joni Mitchell"...and this version played. I'm 59 now and for the first time I listened to the lyrics... and the way Joni Mitchell sang it...wow! I cried...I am a graying old man who saw her vision, finally.
I once read (or possibly heard on TV) something from a British music journalist about Joni’s two versions of this song, I’m afraid I can’t remember who it was. Anyway the gist of what he said was that only the young Joni could have written this song but only the older Joni can perform it. I think this is very true. 23 year old Joni had wisdom and intuition beyond her years to write this, it takes the older, wiser, more care-worn Joni with a lifetime’s experience of what the song is talking about to give a performance which does it justice. I like the early version in its own right but to me the much recent version is achingly beautiful. I’m 16 years younger than Joni, I know exactly what she’s talking about. 20 year old me who bought the album “Clouds” didn’t have a clue. There are many things I should have done, but clouds got in the way.
Same artist. Same lyrics. Two wholly different songs. This version is just mind-blowing
Some of those words like “day” are pronounced like they are because Joni is Canadian!
Joni Mitchell has always proudly maintained her Canadian accent as a singer unlike many modern Canadian performers.
There were a number of those types of female singers in the 90s in Canada. Amanda Marshall, Chantal Kreviazuk and Sarah McLauchlan come to mind. As a Canadian, I don’t really care about the accent, largely because there is no “Canadian accent.” Usually people mean a working class Ontario accent, which is the one with the goofy aboot stuff. Joni was from Alberta, which is quite different. East coast accents are quasi-Irish. Just watch the Trailer Park Boys. I live in British Columbia and there’s a hint of Bill and Ted in the accents here, probably from the BC Bud. I grew up on British television, mostly from the BBC, and my mother was Welsh, so I’m all over the place. Sometimes my Welsh Tourette’s kicks in and I sound almost like Anthony Hopkins meets Gareth David-Lloyd. I haven’t been able to master a Manchester or Liverpool accent, though. But Canada doesn’t have 1 accent. We’re like any other English speaking country. You’d never mistake a Trailer Park Boy for a Beachcomber or a Red Green Show cast member.
Joni is a stellar talent. Her songwriting is legendary, her vocals are completely unique and inventive, and as a record producer, she worked with many greats, like Herbie Hancock, and Charles Mingus. She can switch from Mezzosoprano to Contralto and every song is sung with deep emotion and feeling. Love her.
It's such a magnificent song -- and shockingly precocious when she wrote it. Singing it now, from the other end of her life, reveals so much about its depth.
For me, the greatest song written in my lifetime. And this version is from the downhill side. Reflective not expectant.
Beth says she is "speaking at pitch" a phrase I don't understand, but this one of the things at which Beth is such a master. I can hear this song entirely differently now. There are so many people on youtube now giving "reactions" but Beth is simply the best. She just knows more and can convey it.
Very interesting and emotional comments on Joni’s performance. This song is so good! I love Joni!
Her voice is deepened, it's somewhat damaged and yet, for me this is probably the pivotal moment of her career. There's so much wisdom to that robust lower register. She may have written that sing in her 20s, but now, she has lived it. I feel like she's mother willow from Pocahontas, offering secrets of life those who would dare to listen.
I agree that the poetry and story of this song are very strong. It is quite telling about how much this song means to Joni that she revisited it later in her career, when so many of her other songs from her past are left behind. Beth, your enthusiasm and feelings for this song are fully on display. Thank you.
Simply the best... A great singer as well as a talented writer and composer. Also an interesting painter and an influential thinker. The very definition of the word artist.
That hit you so much it was beautiful I guess it really strikes everyone’s vulnerability and fragility
What I like about Joni singing her young songs as an older woman is that she seems to really understand them now
Beautiful, beautiful!
I cried with you too.
Even more beautiful now than ever!!!!❤ She was a soprano, now she’s an alto. An I’m sure she doesn’t care less what anyone thinks of her musically! She’s a musical genius!!
This voice is not the result of smoking. She had a brain aneurysm some years before this and had to be taught to speak again. She taught herself how to sing again. There is also the fact that she is 80 years old when recording this.
Written and origional hit over 50 years prior to this .
Tears flowed when I first heard this version
I too started listening to Joni from when she first started. A consummate professional. What a wonderful rendition and reinterpretation. Beth be careful to let us hear the song. You only need to make a point once then let us hear that when the singer does it again. Thank you. I really enjoy your perspectives.
So interesting to focus on Joni as "a voice." Thanks for elaborating on one slice of the Joni experience.
Of course, she is a post-modern Renaissance master (or, mistress?). A painter, a poetess and unique musician, a pioneer in the mixing of numerous genres of music, and a force of nature in sucking up the culture from at least the 60s-80s. I met her once at an art opening of her paintings, and saw her in concert thrice in the 70s.
Joni stabs me in my heart. She genius. Too much for a "poor boy" like me.
Since 1966 my favorite singer songwriter. This is so achingly beautiful. To embrace the effects of time on one's voice is such a rare thing. Side by side with her earliest recording of this is a beautiful picture of the passage of time and Joni's journey through life. This is so moving.
The disillusionment, confusion, and acceptance of this song is personally important to me, as well. Her husky, almost tired tone in this performance epitomizes the mood.
Excellent observations and notes on the vocal mechanics. Thanks for offering is this one!
Thanks for another great analysis of one of my long-time favorite singers and composers!
She is never boring. She can sing the phonebook. It is what she is feeling at that moment. She doesn't need to razzle dazzle us. This is only a tiny morsel of her work. She has performed with some of the greatest artists in the world. Pat Matheny, Jaco Pastorius, Brecker Brothers. She is one of the most prolific composers. Creativity is her game.
Sometimes you cannot find the words to describe this performance. It’s perfect in its imperfection
This was a great review, incredibly insightful, Joni was reading Henderson the rain king by Saul bellow. Read it.
I wonder if we ignore how much emotional experience young people can have
So right Beth - it makes me feel very emotional too! x
Your expression in the opening frame had me worried - a long time Joni Mitchell fan. Thanks for your explanation; relief.
Her performance in 1974 was a best memory. When she set her dulcimer on her lap, all smiles.
If you start crying then im going to as well lol Joni Mitchell takes her time and always sang in a mature way i think because she wanted to establish that emotional connection you spoke of, and innately some of us are better at vocalizing emotion than others. She was exceptional at it. "CHELSEA MORNING", "CASEY", are a couple i really dig of her extended catalog of great music.
Joni performed a really touching rendition of this last night on the Grammy's!
I just love Joni. She is a Canadian treasure. ❤️🇨🇦
Too, too much! At the end she is back where she(I) began. Love always, Richard.
Thanks so much for introducing me to this moving version. I will share it with my wife, who loves JM and is a non-native speaker of English. It's kind of amazing to think that this is Joni's own 'poetry,' aside from her extraordinary vocalization, which she wrote at, what?, 18 years old.
I loved your reaction here so much that I emailed the link to a friend.
I could see just how much this singer means to you. Great reaction/explanation!
Thank you for this Beth.
This has always been one of my favorite songs ❤️
Hello Beth from sunny Florida..
Just ran into your channel and after 3 videos I've fallen in love with you.. ;) as a garage musician, I am used to dissect songs.. but have never done it from your perspective. I am fascinated with your knowledge and sensibility.. there's so much more there to appreciate in music.. thank you 😊 💓
You put a spell on me..
Beth! I know exc 'which' emotions we are confronted with, here, in the most pleasant way, that is to say...had that goin with Joni since albums like Dog Eat Dog and that particular period of time. If you dive into this beautiful voice, your (or her?) heavy feelings and memories of past moments and lived through moments, get stuck somewhere between the stomache and those areas! And so great to see 'you' displaying these equally felt deep emo's...Joni Mitchell is 'higher category'. Great choice and well done.
her voice became like aged wine. so much more complex and beautiful.
used to think "nice song" that everyone raves about. this version- gives me goosebumps. I heard the earlier version. this one, I feel...
Joni wrote this song, she has lived it. No one can sing it with as much soul as her. Love her voice more as she has aged. There will never be another Joni Mitchell.
Beth, you have such wisdom for one so young- old soul, girlfriend! Love your reactions. ❤ Joni’s pacing of her lyrics is so unique and engaging. You’ve reacted to Help Me, right? She is a phenomenal jazz singer.
Joni Mitchell is a jewel
Each song has a beautiful meaning a differente story she's a music genius
Love the version, very similar, in "Love Actually" very sad situation.
When this originally came out there were a huge number of hits, on the charts ,with the Beatles ,,the FUNK BROTHERS OF MOTOWN ,, and she was always there... STAR
If it was not this actual this concert, I did see her when she was on this tour. She was amazing.~ I think this was the concert, I believe. She was wearing the same dress, and was with members of the National Symphony Orchestra.
Maybe it's something in the water...? Three of the greatest songwriters of the 2nd half of the twentieth century (Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot and Leonard Cohen) are Canadian...whew. Wow, they are all great. Love, love, how Joni and her voice have matured, it's really something. A great song, a great lady, a great rendition/interpretation, absolutely fabulous! Who could ask for more?
Joni is the best--although she is fading a bit-but she is getting a old-she invented a new sound for herself. Seeing her still gets me a little emotional. I have been a life long fan. Brian P. Birch Thanks for your positive reaction
I love all of Joni's work but I really like her voice as she matured.
I have to agree with you extremely strongly. Her younger voice was just so sweet, pure, and extraordinarily beautiful but as she aged, cigarettes or not, Joni’s voice matured as did the intensity of her music, delivery and exploration of different genres. My personal favourites during this later time are ‘Night Ride Home’...you couldn’t help but pick up just how in love she was, and it’s such an immense shame it didn’t work out for them as I feel it literally broke her spirit. I maybe right off in saying that, but she adored Larry Klein and was always beaming widely with love towards him. I saw them live way back in the eighties and the chemistry between the two was absolutely electric and just beautiful to witness. My all time more mature other favourite Joni album is ‘Turbulent Indigo’. The depth, remorse, empathy, sense of loss and pure power of that album is mind blowing. In her younger days there were obviously gems too especially ‘Blue’. Another favourite ‘Court and Spark’. Yes, it definitely was more successful commercially but when your eighteen your just out to have a time of happiness and not to be weighed down too heavily, at least I was after recently meeting my now husband of thirty ahem years. I too am in my early sixties and out of the plethora of amazingly talented, spellbinding groups and artists of every genre that we were SO lucky to have experienced (the list is endless) in earlier decades or even seen live, Joni will always remain my all time favourite. Just to finish, I wonder if it’s because she can so successfully verbalise what we found difficult in our early years due to society’s expectations of women. Just a thought. Take care now and stay well.
Loved this Beth. You are the consummate reactor now. Well done 👏👏😢
GR8 reactions Beth 👍👍👍
beth is extremely cute and beautiful
FACTS
Outside category
She doesn't have an only fans. THOU SHALT NOT SIMP!
Went and listened to your podcast with Morgan James. I'm somewhat sorry you missed the opportunity to discuss her alter ego videos where she displays a wicked sense of humor. The podcast itself was outstanding and I appreciate your arranging Morgan to be on it. I was surprised at her emotional conflicts of interests. I was on the same page with her in the assessment of singers wanting to spew all their vocal skills at once like it's an athletic event. One of the things I am impressed with from singers like Haley Reinhart, Floor Jansen and Diana Ankudinova. Would be great if you could get Floor on the podcast. I think her skills immense.
Jeez Beth, your voice!!❤
Me and Joni are from the same town. I only met her once. I was 10yrs old. Joni's high school teacher introduced me to her. We were doing the local theatre production of Oklahoma. Joni came back stage - pulling a smoke.
Joni's old teacher introduced me to her (I did not know her) saying that Joni is "a very good singer." I simply put out my hand and shook hers. Joni said to me, "Thank you Love."
That handshake and chat mean more to me. AND - Joni Mitchell said she loves me.! Hah
Fun story. Hope you like it :)
It doesn’t just make me want to cry.
For the ultimate Joni Mitchell experience, try her live version of "Coyote" recorded during her jazz time when she was touring with Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorious, David Becker, and other jazz giants.
lovely song choice..
Thank you for doing this, so interesting! I just covered this song and wish I had watched this before I did 🙊
Love Joni
Lo que aprecié del vídeo es la tristeza 🥀 de mi pequitas con esa voz de la cantante que en algunas veses. sonaba. muy potente 👏👏🍀🍀
Might also check out Judy Collins with
Both Sides Now
But my favorite from Judy would be
Send in The Clowns if you never heard Judy might give her a listen. TY
Judy Collins is an incredible folk singer. I was lucky to see her live last February before the world fell apart. She was 80 years old and her headvoice was still so piercing and controlled. I love her song The Blizzard
Pop Land first time hearing her was 1969 just graduated high school and heading to Palm Springs for weekend. Never had chance to see her.
Beautiful performance. I still lean towards her young self performing this with a guitar.
Have you ever heard another Canadian singer, Loreena McKennitt?? I know you'd love her singing. She plays kind of celtic ethereal stuff.... Not to detract from Joni who needs no comment. 🇨🇦❤️
You talked right over the most beautiful part of the song :
Oh, but now old friends they're acting strange
And they shake their heads, they say I've changed
Well something's lost, but something's gained
In living every day!!!!
The real voice coach here is Joni Mitchell.
I've gota say Beth, your voice is beautiful too
Have you thought about doing shadows and light? The choir gospel at the end of the concert
Your reaction is as beautiful as Joni’s voice
I cried.
Love that muffled trumpet!
I grew up with this ringing in my ears. I didn't understand it them, can only barely grasp it now. Joni is a priestess of life.
Joni Mitchell wrote the song, in her 20's no less, but forever after she becomes an interpreter of the song, as do many others, including of course, Judy Collins; and her performance should be evaluated accordingly. "Both Sides Now" is an "illusion" because there is a third side. Sometimes, we need to strip away the emotion, and look for the cold, hard, objective truth, and stand firm thereupon.
me encantan tus reacciones a canciones . saludos desde argentina 🇦🇷❤️
Love Joni Mitchell. Brandi Carlile actually performed Joni's entire "Blue" album in front of Joni, Elton John and other celebrities last fall. Brandi's cover of "A Case of You" is phenomenal and would be a great song to react to.
I love the instrumental
The french horns playing too! :D These days folk aren't even going for technique.
Joni has two videos on her song “Two Grey Rooms.” One is with vowels and the other has lyrics. When she was writing the song She explains how she didn’t have lyrics for the strong piano music but she used vowels. But the vowels were sung more in a French syllabication. Very interesting and worth a listen. It’s a lovely song as well.
ruclips.net/video/O_dY2cy0E2I/видео.html
Awww Beth you really are lovely haha
I've been listening to her for over 50 years - and this version is VASTLY superior to her earlier version!
Lamar Savage I completely agree, she’s lived and learned through a lifetime of experiencing what the song is talking about, and it shows in this later version.
When you write the song, live the song and own the song❤️
This song gets better and better as she gets older. It sounds like some very hard-learned lessons after decades, not a 25-year-old's revelations after less than a decade of adulthood.
kamelot lunched 2 live videos. KAMELOT ft. Alissa White-Gluz and Elize Ryd - Sacrimony (Official Live Video) | Napalm Records and KAMELOT - Phantom Divine (Shadow Empire) ft. Lauren Hart (Official Live Video) | Napalm Records
I love both ages of this song but this version is by a person who has lived their life to the full , I have to stop and listen to this every time I hear this , thanks for doing this Beth
Can you do Cold December by Counting Crows some time
You are right, on 1984 she sung Case Of You one tone lower than on 1974
Sleep Token - Bloodsport (From The Room Below Version) is a must listen! I'd love to hear how you break down his haunting vocals ❤
You probably know this but Going to California by Led Zeppelin has a Joni Mitchell reference. There is a girl with flowers in her hair...that was Joni Mitchell they were singing about.
joni is pure vocal expression
Age takes its toll and changes us all physically and emotionally. Of course Joni's presentation is so different than it was 50 years ago. Great song with a more "mature" interpretation by a fabulous artist.
Maybe it's just more mature listening/understanding on the listener's part. .
what version is this, wow, are you for real, wish I had my own reaction videos, would pick the right videos!
Joni went jazzy with her vocals awhile back. It's a natural progression from her earlier style which was always unique and unconventional. I like it and would not want her to go back if that were possible to her previous way of singing.
Yeah, I suppose 1974 is a while back . . . . it did slip away pretty swiftly . .