I wasn't expecting this, but when I saw the entrance to the Cafe au Go Go, and then the silk blouse, I almost fainted. I was at this show, and it's the last thing that I ever expected to see again. It was a Monday night, which was jam night, catch-as-catch-can, let's see who's in town. They put a couple of names in the usual publications to draw an audience. Part of one band playing with a well known musician from another band, things like that. My friends and I knew the trick for getting good seats, so we were against the wall directly opposite the stage. They announced a "new sensation" or something, and Joni walked in with the guitar, in a silk outfit. She was charisma-central. She played a few songs and they moved on. We were mightily impressed. It was definitely a highlight moment, and I was a Joni fan immediately.
Holy cow, that's amazing! I'm so envious. She is so solid in her musicianship and vocal virtuosity. Can't imagine how it would feel to be so talented. On another note, speaking as a mother I can't imagine singing a song about giving up my child as entertainment for audiences over and over. I wonder how her daughter feels about this song. It is a tall order to put your life and pain out for public consumption for all concerned.
Joni's been my fave since I was 17, I'm 72 now, & it's the 1st time I found out the story behind Green! I met her in a men's store, "Z", in L.A. maybe 10/15 years ago. I told her what a huge fan I'd been all those years, how she so completely influenced me as a person & as a singer & thanked her profusely. She was SO sweet, kind, gracious & genuine & when I was leaving this small store, she called out to me to say Goodbye. One of my favorite experiences ever! Thank you Joni!! You have blessed us all! ❤
All people are clearly not created equal. Joni has no equal. 50 years later her music still touches like no other for me. And she considers herself a painter first and musician second. One of the greatest creative minds of all time.
Agreed Arnieus - there is still no equal - lyrics that evoke deep emotional reaction - perfectly crafted poetry in musical form - melodies that stand alone over half a century later - humble in every way - when the singer songwriter genre of the 60's + 70's is discussed, she is at the top of the list
I was very lucky young girl. I grew up in the pacific northwest. I was going into 7th grade in 1968, and when other kids were listening to the teen music i met a group of people who lived in what at one time were old rum runners cabins on a place called salmon beach. It was close to the narrows bridge. They were hippies and much older, but i became friends with them. They turned me on to Joni, Jessie colin young, CSN, Jimmie, and all of the beautiful, music that was happening at the time. I inturn turned my friends on to the great music that was going on in the 60's. I will always be grateful that this community of really as they said then"far out"people took me in as a friend, little sis kind. They got me and so many others into the hippie thing that was going on. I got started early on a life long journey listening to the sounds of such talented and gifted story tellers and vocal wonders like Joni and many others. I will be forever grateful.
cool story, Karen..I'm from Saskatoon and grew up 4 city blocks away from Joni..my mother and her mother were acquaintances..and always stopped to chat at the local grocery store...she went to Aden Bowman High School which was one block from my house..she is older than me...through my teen years, I always had a serious crush on her,,,so talented..and her music and art are an incredible gift to this planet,,..!!!
Was Joni singing in high school? At coffeehouses in the area during her teen years or at high school functions? Did you actually go to the same high school? I know she was singing out in her late teens, early 20's but I wasn't sure if she actually was singing in coffeehouses (while still in high school.)
Oh Lucky I had older brother s and their friends when I was 9 to 12 and 13yrs old that were Hippies farmer s greaseball types Biker s etc they all listened to Music that was way out there mostly Jethro Tull Kinks Woodstock Led Zepplin record s after record piles of them it was like a store Joni, I didn't meet till I was in my teens cause I am a guitarist I was playing Music early cause Mom was a Musician and my other brother so I was writing early too its all a flow but yes I am glad I was introduced like you were too cool Musicians and writer s it was a Movement Did you go to Jessie Collin young concerts wow I had to find his stuff online but he was so mellow good to meet you ....1968 I was later on in the 70's but good to meet you
This version of "Little Green" was performed about 4 years BEFORE "Blue" was released. This song was part of Joni's early repertoire, but did not make it onto an album much later. The section with the melody that is different from blue is much more like her earliest songs -- for example "Urge for Going".
Yes, and she was still trying to do a Joan Baez thing with her voice in this performance. The Blue version is much more organic. She had found her real voice and now people copy her, me included. I’m a copycat. I love riding the surf of her voice but can’t fathom her musical creativity. 🤯
It's SO different. Like it's literally two chords but changes the entire mood of the song. I've never heard this version and my brain glitched at that section.
I was 17 when I first started listening to Joni. I am 70 now. She was recommended to me by a friend that owned a music store. He said, you haven’t heard the red and green song? Oh, you need to hear Joni Mitchell. So I bought her song to a seagull album and played it to death. First JM song I learned to play was Marcy, the red and green song. Then I got Blue 🤯 But I think my fav album is For the Roses. I love her alternative tunings and the way she sings all the background vocals. Her blarney blood runs hot.
I'm surprised that she mentioned her daughters given name. Kelly... Kelly (renamed Kilauren Gibbs) was known only by the delivery staff and the adoption agency and a very few close confidants until 1993 when one of her college roommates sold the story to the tabloids. They finally met in 1997 when Kilauren was 42 and Joni found she was also a Grandmother to Kilauren's son. The burning question is, would the world have had the joy of Joni's art if she had to devote her time to raising a child? Dashing around the planet and the experiences she had that influenced her would have been impossible during her personal, creative "birth". I think Joni knew what her destiny was and with much sorrow, made the heart wrenching decision to put "little green" up for adoption. The story of Little Green is on the interwebs if you just search. As is most of this talented woman's life. Biographies like the book, "Women Like Us" and others lay Joni's private life out for all to see. But it is also a good read for those that were around in the days when the beatniks turned into the hippies. Shame some have to work so hard to maintain their privacy. Like, I never knew she was stricken with polio during the epidemic of the mid 50's. Luckily, she made a full recovery. In an interview, Joni had an epiphany when she heard Bob Dylan's "Positively 4th Street". She realized that she could write songs in the first person, which except for Little Green, the Blue album and most of her songs is how she writes. What an interesting person and the stories behind her songs.
she said in a recent interview that the reason she gave her up was NOT to further her career but to give her child a better life. she was 20 and had nothing at the time.
If the biological mother is someone who will willingly give their child up for adoption, then for sure the child is better off, and if I was Joni Mitchell’s daughter, when she reappeared I would have told her to fuck off.
Imagine the conundrum she was in back then. She had her baby in a time when it was a shameful thing to get pregnant out of wedlock. Women were sent to the other coast saying they were going to visit a relative and have their babies in places with other young girls in the same situation. Then, their babies were put up for adoption anonymously. But she had her baby and as the song says, "she signed all the papers in the family name, sad, but not ashamed". From: www.smoothradio.com/news/music/joni-mitchell-age-husband-daughter-songs-health/ ""In late 1964, Joni Mitchell discovered that she was pregnant by her ex-boyfriend Brad MacMath. She later said: "[He] left me three months pregnant in an attic room with no money and winter coming on and only a fireplace for heat. The spindles of the banister were gap-toothed-fuel for last winter's occupants." In February 1965, she gave birth to a baby girl. However, unable to provide for the baby, she placed her daughter, Kelly Dale Anderson, for adoption."" Her daughter searched for her real mother and found her in 1997. By then Joni was a Grandmother to her Kelly's (renamed Kilauren Gibb) son. The story of her pregnancy was a secret until sold to a tabloid by a former roommate in 1993. A great biography about three great women called "Women Like Us" tells about those times and is about Carly Simon, Carole King and Joni Mitchell. A great read.
Thank you sonicboy19 for finding and posting this. What an extraordinary version of this timeless song. Exquisite. Her voice is strong and pure. The words are devastatingly frank, raw and hopeful. Miss the singers who actually knew how to sing, how to phrase, how to write, how to be. Joni is just superb here. Thanks again for posting this.
Does anyone else hear that little laugh/sob that she makes at around 2:18 after singing "He went to California"? It's like she's reflecting on the song while she's singing it.
All those alternate tunings and modes and her hypnotic confessions. Nobody I can think of understood space, or silence better. Altogether it makes me wonder if women are more courageous musically. Idk.
I was only three then, but I remember all these songs from the radio. Songs stayed popular much longer then. Reminds me of my daughter Rose born in cancer.
I was adopted from Korea and my given Korean name translates to “Green Shoot” as I was born in the spring. This song has always meant a lot to me and my adoptive mom, who is a lifelong Joni Mitchell fan.
I disagree that this isn't her "iconic vocal style'. She had an incredible range and after her first very high and lyrical albums she sang in this more sultry lower range most often. .Al;so her continued smoking also took it's toll and contributed to the lower ranges.
Per Rolling Stone's 1971 review of Blue and, specifically, commenting on Little Green: "The pretty, 'poetic' lyric is dressed up in such cryptic references that it passeth all understanding." Huh? What's so cryptic about, "Child with a child pretending/weary of lies you are sending home/so you sign all the papers for the family name/you're sad and you're sorry, but you're not ashamed/little green/have a happy ending." The song is either about another young mother having to give up her baby for adoption to avoid scandal, or it's about Joni Mitchell herself. As we all know now, it's the latter. How much credit should Rolling Stone music reviews get when one of its journalists wrote something that stupid about this great song?
+George08ful I think she remained sad and sorry, but not ashamed. It wasn't a planned pregnancy, and t think she continued to believe it was the right thing to do given her circumstances at the time, including no consistent source of income, and no sign of fame and fortune on the horizon. She was 20 when she became pregnant, and 21 when she gave birth. She didn't record until 1968, and by then she was 27 years old.
The biblical phrase "A peace that (Passeth all understanding)" is not exactly a perjorative assessment of the lyrics. It refers to the gift of faith in the face of the uncertainty of the world. Do you think the song is only valid if you knew the exact details of her contemporary narrative? Poetry is a not tell-all memoir, and give the reviewer a little credit he wasn't exactly pushing tabloid fodder.
I think all periods of Joni are terrific; but I'm glad she kept evolving. Here she really belts it, in spots. And she's still using vibrato in the way that many female folk singers did at the time (also in spots). I'm glad the version on Blue, 3 years later, is more vulnerable, and less stylized. Then she was no longer 'being a folk singer'; she was really settling into her own way of singing. But it's fantastic to have this early version as a comparison!
When I heard this song in 1972 I thought, hmm, Joni Mitchell had a baby and put it up for adoption. Years later it became headline news that she had given up a baby to be adopted and I’m like, what? This isn’t news. She may have hidden it from her mother, but she wrote about it in some pretty explicit detail on her Blue album. She named her Kelly as in Kelly green.
I grew up there! And until I was a college kid in the mid '90s, almost everything was still there - Cafe a Go Go, Cafe What?, The Back Fence, Kim's Video, Trash and Vaudeville, Bowl and Board, St Mark's Comics, Cappuccino and Tattoo, the entire 30,000+ strong population of Ukrainians along East 7th Street with the Ukrainian school, church and museum as well as the store for Ukrainian goods - the kistkys and beeswax cakes I bought every Orthodox Easter in order to blow the insides out of dozens of fresh eggs before digging the different sizes of kistkys, warmed over the candle, into the beeswax to start the process of dyeing Easter eggs in the Ukrainian style... Little India (Bangladesh, as I have spent much time in India and understand enough Hindi and Punjabi to know they're mostly Bangladeshi Muslims, some Pakistani)... The ENTIRETY OF EAST 6th STREET was wall to wall and corner to corner "Indian" restaurants and, among or above them, the real jewels - the Bollywood film rental places and the spice shops, cosmetic shops etc... Henna and moist, stacked and plastic wrapped ready-to-heat & eat Papadums - jars of ALL KINDS OF ACHARS (spicy Indian "pickles")... Real kajal eyeliner and henna for the hair as well as henna and equipment for the hands and feet - a mixture of both Indian red henna and Moroccan black henna and the "pastry tube" type of equipment for application once you mixed your personal formula. Saris and shalwar kameez, jeweled as well as plain bindis of every shape and size, even little toddler sizes of boy's and girl's pyjama wear! Everyone obsessively collecting albums at the rare record stores there - Bleeker Bob's and Generation and Second Coming, then the YEARS spent as a Greenwich Village teenager in the little Chess shops further along McDougall Street from this filming location by 2 storefronts to 2 blocks... Paying our 2 dollars for the seat and the rental of the chess set and clock... Playing until we knew our parents were going to be pissed because we were late! Grabbing a hot cocoa at the Washington Square Diner for the chilly walk home through the Washington Square Park oval, stopping under the "punk tree/goth tree/skater/raver/hippie/Rastafarian/geek/folk musician/hip hop, slam and other poetry trees" - different groups had different trees and you could just move around as it strikes your fancy... Be a little bit of EVERYTHING. High School lunch (same school as the Rosenberg kids, Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary, and Angela Davis, the female Black Panthers' leader) was anywhere we could get to and back in the 90 minutes we had at the Little Red Schoolhouse - Cafe Reggio and the famous Mahmoun's Falafel, Yatagan's amazing Turkish shaved lamb Diner Kebabs & Üludag soda, or the special occasion Village greats like Ennio & Michael's on LaGuardia Place in the heart of the old Italian Greenwich Village. Rizzoli and Shakespeare & Co were popular bookstores when Barnes and Noble was a TINY HUT on West 8th Street!
@Jayne Eyre Yes, a very different world then. I was a teenage mum and thankfully I had him in 1982 not the 1960's. But whenever I hear this song, and it is my favorite, I think of other young girls who were forced to give up their wanted babies. As much as some family members would have liked me to have him adopted out, my own mother, who hadn't stood up to my dad in all their years of marriage, told my father she would divorce him if he kicked me out or made me give my son away. And this worked out brilliantly in the long run as my 41 year old mother got to have another baby to care for while I finished school and got a job. My mother died of breast cancer shortly after she turned 63, but my son was 21 then and she had seen him grow up. Of course she loved all her grandchildren, but she had seen my son born and been the first one that held him as I was in a bad way after the delivery. They had a bond from the get go, this ginger headed, blue eyed baby looking up at the ginger hair and the blue eyes. Still makes me tear up over it all those years later! I'm glad that Joni and her daughter AND grandson have a relationship today.
@Jayne Eyre Just to clarify her parent weren't "back in Canada? she was living in Canada at the time as were her parents just many miles from each other provinces apart. She was in Toronto at the time.
That's Nina Simone and also, I believe, Al 'Blind Owl' Wilson from Canned heat in the crowd at the beginning. She is speaking to someone important (Basie?) and it looks like some other noted musicians hanging about.
Call her green for the “children” who have made her. Too young to be a single mother, however Joni made the right choice b/c it was hers alone & her daughter was raised in a good loving home with both parents :)
Tim Hardin. He was famous for his song "If I Were a Carpenter". Died from a heroin o.d. in 1980. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't influence Joni with his jazzy style.
John did a darned fine copy of her, as Joni darned well knows. She should be flattered most truly, as I spoke to him after a performance near the Colonel Brooks' Tavern in D.C., all those glorious years ago. Anything to keep your candle trimmed and burning, Ms. Mitchell. Glad you finally found your "Green". Still looking for my source, of course. But bless you for this beautiful song.
wow. I went to a couple of Kelly's shows in Manhattan. I'm so grateful for Joni, and really glad my wife and I got to see John do his impersonation of Joni. Spectacular performance that went on, almost without recognition. I'm so glad you mentioned his performances. Listening to a lot of Joni lately...
I think the bass drum behind Mitch says "Blues Project"... rock and folk shared their audiences back then. Certainly would have been a night to remember....
And she STILL found a way to improve the song for the album with a more refined chord progression and the action-reaction between the guitar and vocals is also more obvious, but that's probably due to the recording here. Really a stunning song and not played live very often, sadly.
Heartbreaking and triumphant song about her daughter who she gave up for adoption. So happy there was a happy ending when they found each other when "little Green" grew up. Too bad the audio isn't quality, but watching her sing and play is priceless.
When all is said and done, she will always be known as one of the best singer-songwriters of our generation. Genius like hers is once in a lifetime and I, for one, am grateful to have lived in her time.
I have five years on you! On the Mount Rushmore of Singer-Songwriters, she has a definite place. In my mind ... Joni, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and then there's an arm wrestling match between a few others.
I am adoptive parent and this is my favorite quote “ a child born to another woman calls me mother, the magnitude of that tragedy , and the depth of that privilege are not lost on me. “
I'm from Italy, and this song, and the full album "Blue", and Joni are and always will be in my personal pantheon of music. I have a reprint of "Blue" on CD bought in New York some years ago. The first edition I bought, in Italy - when I was very young, was on tape. Thus my infinite passion for the USA began. Love & Respect for All of You.
Man, as much as I would like to claim her, Joni is Canadian, BUT, you are still welcome to have a passion for USA. I know its tough sometimes, but some of us are really kick ass awesome to know as I'm sure you are!
I love this kind of crowd unlike today, no cameras, no distractions, just the moment. The experience is preserved through your senses. I think that is such a rare and pure thing to have...
I may sound like a parrot - but the album Blue WAS one of Joni Mitchell's most spectacular best of her creative powers. The fluctuations of the octaves and melody within a melody - truly unique only to her abilities and delivery. Long may you rain Lady Joni! You were and are a true musician who knows music, knows her own music, and makes the music that we love listening too
Jackson Catlett Not actually a key change...it’s the flat III chord in the key of C#, which would be E, then she moves up to F#, the IV chord. Use of flat III and flat VII chords in passing is not uncommon in Western music. It gives songs a unique flavor. Got to love early Joni!
Lyrics: Born with the moon in cancer Choose her a name she will answer to Call her green and the winters cannot fade her Call her green for the children who've made her Little green, be a gypsy dancer He went to california Hearing that everything's warmer there So you write him a letter and say, "her eyes are blue." He sends you a poem and she's lost to you Little green, he's a non-conformer Just a little green Like the color when the spring is born There'll be crocuses to bring to school tomorrow Just a little green Like the nights when the northern lights perform There'll be icicles and birthday clothes And sometimes there'll be sorrow Child with a child pretending Weary of lies you are sending home So you sign all the papers in the family name You're sad and you're sorry, but you're not ashamed Little green, have a happy ending Just a little green Like the color when the spring is born There'll be crocuses to bring to school tomorrow Just a little green Like the nights when the northern lights perform There'll be icicles and birthday clothes And sometimes there'll be sorrow
I wasn't expecting this, but when I saw the entrance to the Cafe au Go Go, and then the silk blouse, I almost fainted. I was at this show, and it's the last thing that I ever expected to see again. It was a Monday night, which was jam night, catch-as-catch-can, let's see who's in town. They put a couple of names in the usual publications to draw an audience. Part of one band playing with a well known musician from another band, things like that. My friends and I knew the trick for getting good seats, so we were against the wall directly opposite the stage. They announced a "new sensation" or something, and Joni walked in with the guitar, in a silk outfit. She was charisma-central. She played a few songs and they moved on. We were mightily impressed. It was definitely a highlight moment, and I was a Joni fan immediately.
Isn't life strange and precious ???
Beautiful story !
Holy cow, that's amazing! I'm so envious. She is so solid in her musicianship and vocal virtuosity. Can't imagine how it would feel to be so talented. On another note, speaking as a mother I can't imagine singing a song about giving up my child as entertainment for audiences over and over. I wonder how her daughter feels about this song. It is a tall order to put your life and pain out for public consumption for all concerned.
What a story!
Fred thank you how I wish that I could have seen her on stage I love her too its her birthday today lets party with her 😘
Que privilegio!!!!!!; te felicito
Joni's been my fave since I was 17, I'm 72 now, & it's the 1st time I found out the story behind Green!
I met her in a men's store, "Z", in L.A. maybe 10/15 years ago. I told her what a huge fan I'd been all those years, how she so completely influenced me as a person & as a singer & thanked her profusely. She was SO sweet, kind, gracious & genuine & when I was leaving this small store, she called out to me to say Goodbye. One of my favorite experiences ever! Thank you Joni!! You have blessed us all! ❤
beautiful thank u for sharing
All people are clearly not created equal. Joni has no equal. 50 years later her music still touches like no other for me. And she considers herself a painter first and musician second. One of the greatest creative minds of all time.
Agreed Arnieus - there is still no equal - lyrics that evoke deep emotional reaction - perfectly crafted poetry in musical form - melodies that stand alone over half a century later - humble in every way - when the singer songwriter genre of the 60's + 70's is discussed, she is at the top of the list
Agree also. Gender not relevant. No one comes close.
@@arnieus866 also her earlier albums Song to a Seagull, Clouds, and Ladies of the Canyon are well worth a listen.
BUT, very Joan Baez influenced.
@@caesarsmith4711 similar, on different tracks
I was very lucky young girl. I grew up in the pacific northwest. I was going into 7th grade in 1968, and when other kids were listening to the teen music i met a group of people who lived in what at one time were old rum runners cabins on a place called salmon beach. It was close to the narrows bridge. They were hippies and much older, but i became friends with them. They turned me on to Joni, Jessie colin young, CSN, Jimmie, and all of the beautiful, music that was happening at the time. I inturn turned my friends on to the great music that was going on in the 60's. I will always be grateful that this community of really as they said then"far out"people took me in as a friend, little sis kind. They got me and so many others into the hippie thing that was going on. I got started early on a life long journey listening to the sounds of such talented and gifted story tellers and vocal wonders like Joni and many others. I will be forever grateful.
Aww that's very beautiful and you are very lucky to experience that time in history!
cool story, Karen..I'm from Saskatoon and grew up 4 city blocks away from Joni..my mother and her mother were acquaintances..and always stopped to chat at the local grocery store...she went to Aden Bowman High School which was one block from my house..she is older than me...through my teen years, I always had a serious crush on her,,,so talented..and her music and art are an incredible gift to this planet,,..!!!
Was Joni singing in high school? At coffeehouses in the area during her teen years or at high school functions? Did you actually go to the same high school? I know she was singing out in her late teens, early 20's but I wasn't sure if she actually was singing in coffeehouses (while still in high school.)
Oh Lucky I had older brother s and their friends when I was 9 to 12 and 13yrs old that were Hippies farmer s greaseball types Biker s etc they all listened to Music that was way out there mostly Jethro Tull Kinks Woodstock Led Zepplin record s after record piles of them it was like a store
Joni, I didn't meet till I was in my teens cause I am a guitarist I was playing Music early cause Mom was a Musician and my other brother
so I was writing early too its all a flow but yes I am glad I was introduced like you were too cool Musicians and writer s
it was a Movement
Did you go to Jessie Collin young concerts wow I had to find his stuff online but he was so mellow good to meet you ....1968 I was later on in the 70's but good to meet you
Karen Meloche You are so lucky ❤️such a beautiful experience to carry with you all this live long life🌻
This version of "Little Green" was performed about 4 years BEFORE "Blue" was released. This song was part of Joni's early repertoire, but did not make it onto an album much later. The section with the melody that is different from blue is much more like her earliest songs -- for example "Urge for Going".
Yes, and she was still trying to do a Joan Baez thing with her voice in this performance. The Blue version is much more organic. She had found her real voice and now people copy her, me included. I’m a copycat. I love riding the surf of her voice but can’t fathom her musical creativity. 🤯
It's SO different. Like it's literally two chords but changes the entire mood of the song. I've never heard this version and my brain glitched at that section.
I was 17 when I first started listening to Joni. I am 70 now. She was recommended to me by a friend that owned a music store. He said, you haven’t heard the red and green song? Oh, you need to hear Joni Mitchell. So I bought her song to a seagull album and played it to death. First JM song I learned to play was Marcy, the red and green song. Then I got Blue 🤯
But I think my fav album is For the Roses. I love her alternative tunings and the way she sings all the background vocals. Her blarney blood runs hot.
I love how she sings "be a non-conformer" and not the line that appears on the cd version, "he's a non-conformer"
I'll be performing this tomorrow. Trying to decide which to sing.
@@RebeccaLynnMusic ..in this climate..
@@RebeccaLynnMusic It is a song she wrote to the daughter she gave up for adoption. If that helps.
@@snarkysue5991 I'm aware of that! Bittersweet.
Wow little green a mothers cry for a daughter she couldn't raise but always thought off,so beautiful...so heartwrenching😢💞love you joni
I'm surprised that she mentioned her daughters given name. Kelly... Kelly (renamed Kilauren Gibbs) was known only by the delivery staff and the adoption agency and a very few close confidants until 1993 when one of her college roommates sold the story to the tabloids.
They finally met in 1997 when Kilauren was 42 and Joni found she was also a Grandmother to Kilauren's son.
The burning question is, would the world have had the joy of Joni's art if she had to devote her time to raising a child? Dashing around the planet and the experiences she had that influenced her would have been impossible during her personal, creative "birth".
I think Joni knew what her destiny was and with much sorrow, made the heart wrenching decision to put "little green" up for adoption. The story of Little Green is on the interwebs if you just search. As is most of this talented woman's life. Biographies like the book, "Women Like Us" and others lay Joni's private life out for all to see. But it is also a good read for those that were around in the days when the beatniks turned into the hippies.
Shame some have to work so hard to maintain their privacy. Like, I never knew she was stricken with polio during the epidemic of the mid 50's. Luckily, she made a full recovery.
In an interview, Joni had an epiphany when she heard Bob Dylan's "Positively 4th Street". She realized that she could write songs in the first person, which except for Little Green, the Blue album and most of her songs is how she writes. What an interesting person and the stories behind her songs.
she said in a recent interview that the reason she gave her up was NOT to further her career but to give her child a better life. she was 20 and had nothing at the time.
If the biological mother is someone who will willingly give their child up for adoption, then for sure the child is better off, and if I was Joni Mitchell’s daughter, when she reappeared I would have told her to fuck off.
I fell in love with her at age 17. Still in love at 60. She is a timeless talent.
Joni was a perfectionist, to our eternal benefit. Hail Joni !!!!! Thou art the best, way over the rest. Genius. Genius.
Only Joni could write a song about mother's pain for the child she never raised. A very personal song into a masterpiece.
Well, she put her baby up for adoption.
Her daughter’s name was Kelly. There is a happy ending to this though, they have reunited. She wrote this song about her daughter.
Imagine the conundrum she was in back then. She had her baby in a time when it was a shameful thing to get pregnant out of wedlock. Women were sent to the other coast saying they were going to visit a relative and have their babies in places with other young girls in the same situation. Then, their babies were put up for adoption anonymously. But she had her baby and as the song says, "she signed all the papers in the family name, sad, but not ashamed".
From: www.smoothradio.com/news/music/joni-mitchell-age-husband-daughter-songs-health/
""In late 1964, Joni Mitchell discovered that she was pregnant by her ex-boyfriend Brad MacMath.
She later said: "[He] left me three months pregnant in an attic room with no money and winter coming on and only a fireplace for heat. The spindles of the banister were gap-toothed-fuel for last winter's occupants."
In February 1965, she gave birth to a baby girl. However, unable to provide for the baby, she placed her daughter, Kelly Dale Anderson, for adoption.""
Her daughter searched for her real mother and found her in 1997. By then Joni was a Grandmother to her Kelly's (renamed Kilauren Gibb) son. The story of her pregnancy was a secret until sold to a tabloid by a former roommate in 1993.
A great biography about three great women called "Women Like Us" tells about those times and is about Carly Simon, Carole King and Joni Mitchell. A great read.
@@skineyemin4276 Society expects most of the time that the responsibility of children is fundamental and exclusive to women. That's it..
The daughters name is Kilauren.
Hijera is my favorite album of hers. It got me thru the 1970s. "Amelia" is pure genius and aesthetic perfection.
When you overlay the back story on to this song, you can feel the pain come out of every note and word.
still touched by this song.. the saddest song. can relate to this song too well, still miss my kids
Many years ago I first heard this song and it was immediately my secret favorite. In this version I hear more, and differently, and I really like it
Thank you sonicboy19 for finding and posting this. What an extraordinary version of this timeless song. Exquisite. Her voice is strong and pure. The words are devastatingly frank, raw and hopeful. Miss the singers who actually knew how to sing, how to phrase, how to write, how to be. Joni is just superb here. Thanks again for posting this.
Beauty and talent
Let's face it, Joni is a Mozart
...and Picasso and Shakespeare.
@@noregretcoyote1808 Good one!
this hits me ...raw to the bone. xxoo to the daughter of music , Joni, you are a human star
50 years ago. Boy, that's gone fast.
50 years?? christ tell me it's not true?
christ almighty. what an absolute gem of an artist. thank you joni
Does anyone else hear that little laugh/sob that she makes at around 2:18 after singing "He went to California"? It's like she's reflecting on the song while she's singing it.
What a woman. A painful song but she's a story teller through and through.
All those alternate tunings and modes and her hypnotic confessions. Nobody I can think of understood space, or silence better. Altogether it makes me wonder if women are more courageous musically. Idk.
Amazing song; it has brought me to tears just by singing it.
I already loved this song for years, but I recently learned the back story. Now I think it may be the greatest sad song ever written.
God's angel of music.
A million percent perfect!
I was only three then, but I remember all these songs from the radio. Songs stayed popular much longer then. Reminds me of my daughter Rose born in cancer.
a beautiful song from one of my all time top 10 albums, "Blue" will always remain in my heart & soul
Joni Mitchell the greates singer songwriter poet from Canada
Love her
Perhaps the greatest in the world
I was adopted from Korea and my given Korean name translates to “Green Shoot” as I was born in the spring. This song has always meant a lot to me and my adoptive mom, who is a lifelong Joni Mitchell fan.
Fantastic singer, fantastic song writer but her playing is always SPOT ON too.
They'll never be another.
First Joni bootleg cassette I got was this whole show 🔥❤👌💚I was hooked
Thank you, yet again, Sonicboy. You're a Joni Diviner!
This is so beautiful 🌻
God can use anyone for to balance the world , someone with the will to live and give God's gift
A free soul on her own pathway with plenty of depth
Joan Thank You
I love Of my favorite albums (Blue)
Grew up with her music… No one quite like her.
Fine bit of archiving there "sonicboy19"; hadn't know there were any live versions of this.
indeed!
You can tell she hadn't yet found her iconic vocal style here. Her voice is angelic nonetheless.
I disagree that this isn't her "iconic vocal style'. She had an incredible range and after her first very high and lyrical albums she sang in this more sultry lower range most often. .Al;so her continued smoking also took it's toll and contributed to the lower ranges.
Exactly. Couldn't agree more. Truth is not a 'vocal style.' This is a level of pain and reflection and honesty that few could ever understand.
Oh man what were you listening to.
Per Rolling Stone's 1971 review of Blue and, specifically, commenting on Little Green: "The pretty, 'poetic' lyric is dressed up in such cryptic references that it passeth all understanding." Huh? What's so cryptic about, "Child with a child pretending/weary of lies you are sending home/so you sign all the papers for the family name/you're sad and you're sorry, but you're not ashamed/little green/have a happy ending." The song is either about another young mother having to give up her baby for adoption to avoid scandal, or it's about Joni Mitchell herself. As we all know now, it's the latter. How much credit should Rolling Stone music reviews get when one of its journalists wrote something that stupid about this great song?
+hannjenn My exact thoughts when I read the Wikipedia article about the song!
+hannjenn - I'd bet she wishes she hadn't given up her kid. In spite of all the subsequent fame and fortune.
+George08ful I think she remained sad and sorry, but not ashamed. It wasn't a planned pregnancy, and t think she continued to believe it was the right thing to do given her circumstances at the time, including no consistent source of income, and no sign of fame and fortune on the horizon. She was 20 when she became pregnant, and 21 when she gave birth. She didn't record until 1968, and by then she was 27 years old.
The biblical phrase "A peace that (Passeth all understanding)" is not exactly a perjorative assessment of the lyrics. It refers to the gift of faith in the face of the uncertainty of the world. Do you think the song is only valid if you knew the exact details of her contemporary narrative? Poetry is a not tell-all memoir, and give the reviewer a little credit he wasn't exactly pushing tabloid fodder.
thszntatst The Rolling Stone music critic merely exploited that biblical phrase. You're filling in what you want the critic to have meant.
All people are created equal. Joni Mitchell is a brilliant artist but she is no better a person than anyone else.
Her speaking voice reminds me of Veronica Lake !!
I think all periods of Joni are terrific; but I'm glad she kept evolving. Here she really belts it, in spots. And she's still using vibrato in the way that many female folk singers did at the time (also in spots). I'm glad the version on Blue, 3 years later, is more vulnerable, and less stylized. Then she was no longer 'being a folk singer'; she was really settling into her own way of singing. But it's fantastic to have this early version as a comparison!
Eu amo essa música ❤🇧🇷
💚
Nicht von dieser Welt
Großartig 🧜🏿♀️✊🏾
My God~from JoniMitchell to TaylorSwift~
exponential entropy~
When I heard this song in 1972 I thought, hmm, Joni Mitchell had a baby and put it up for adoption. Years later it became headline news that she had given up a baby to be adopted and I’m like, what? This isn’t news. She may have hidden it from her mother, but she wrote about it in some pretty explicit detail on her Blue album. She named her Kelly as in Kelly green.
I grew up there! And until I was a college kid in the mid '90s, almost everything was still there - Cafe a Go Go, Cafe What?, The Back Fence, Kim's Video, Trash and Vaudeville, Bowl and Board, St Mark's Comics, Cappuccino and Tattoo, the entire 30,000+ strong population of Ukrainians along East 7th Street with the Ukrainian school, church and museum as well as the store for Ukrainian goods - the kistkys and beeswax cakes I bought every Orthodox Easter in order to blow the insides out of dozens of fresh eggs before digging the different sizes of kistkys, warmed over the candle, into the beeswax to start the process of dyeing Easter eggs in the Ukrainian style... Little India (Bangladesh, as I have spent much time in India and understand enough Hindi and Punjabi to know they're mostly Bangladeshi Muslims, some Pakistani)... The ENTIRETY OF EAST 6th STREET was wall to wall and corner to corner "Indian" restaurants and, among or above them, the real jewels - the Bollywood film rental places and the spice shops, cosmetic shops etc... Henna and moist, stacked and plastic wrapped ready-to-heat & eat Papadums - jars of ALL KINDS OF ACHARS (spicy Indian "pickles")... Real kajal eyeliner and henna for the hair as well as henna and equipment for the hands and feet - a mixture of both Indian red henna and Moroccan black henna and the "pastry tube" type of equipment for application once you mixed your personal formula. Saris and shalwar kameez, jeweled as well as plain bindis of every shape and size, even little toddler sizes of boy's and girl's pyjama wear! Everyone obsessively collecting albums at the rare record stores there - Bleeker Bob's and Generation and Second Coming, then the YEARS spent as a Greenwich Village teenager in the little Chess shops further along McDougall Street from this filming location by 2 storefronts to 2 blocks... Paying our 2 dollars for the seat and the rental of the chess set and clock... Playing until we knew our parents were going to be pissed because we were late! Grabbing a hot cocoa at the Washington Square Diner for the chilly walk home through the Washington Square Park oval, stopping under the "punk tree/goth tree/skater/raver/hippie/Rastafarian/geek/folk musician/hip hop, slam and other poetry trees" - different groups had different trees and you could just move around as it strikes your fancy... Be a little bit of EVERYTHING. High School lunch (same school as the Rosenberg kids, Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary, and Angela Davis, the female Black Panthers' leader) was anywhere we could get to and back in the 90 minutes we had at the Little Red Schoolhouse - Cafe Reggio and the famous Mahmoun's Falafel, Yatagan's amazing Turkish shaved lamb Diner Kebabs & Üludag soda, or the special occasion Village greats like Ennio & Michael's on LaGuardia Place in the heart of the old Italian Greenwich Village. Rizzoli and Shakespeare & Co were popular bookstores when Barnes and Noble was a TINY HUT on West 8th Street!
this song is about her daughter who she gave up for adoption
+michael renovich That is quite true. A painful story. But I think we need not go there. Joni's life is, after all, her own.
Yes, they were reunited. Read the story in the wonderful book, "Girls Like Us" which also contains bios of Carole King and Carly Simon.
Jenna West she's been pretty open about it in interviews
@Jayne Eyre Yes, a very different world then. I was a teenage mum and thankfully I had him in 1982 not the 1960's. But whenever I hear this song, and it is my favorite, I think of other young girls who were forced to give up their wanted babies. As much as some family members would have liked me to have him adopted out, my own mother, who hadn't stood up to my dad in all their years of marriage, told my father she would divorce him if he kicked me out or made me give my son away. And this worked out brilliantly in the long run as my 41 year old mother got to have another baby to care for while I finished school and got a job. My mother died of breast cancer shortly after she turned 63, but my son was 21 then and she had seen him grow up. Of course she loved all her grandchildren, but she had seen my son born and been the first one that held him as I was in a bad way after the delivery. They had a bond from the get go, this ginger headed, blue eyed baby looking up at the ginger hair and the blue eyes. Still makes me tear up over it all those years later! I'm glad that Joni and her daughter AND grandson have a relationship today.
@Jayne Eyre Just to clarify her parent weren't "back in Canada? she was living in Canada at the time as were her parents just many miles from each other provinces apart. She was in Toronto at the time.
That's what I'm talking about!
0:08 Hey, that's Nina Simone.
I thought so as well, what song is it?
Is that Otis Redding talking to her?
That's Nina Simone and also, I believe, Al 'Blind Owl' Wilson from Canned heat in the crowd at the beginning. She is speaking to someone important (Basie?) and it looks like some other noted musicians hanging about.
Curious that this song didn’t make it on an album until Blue (where it fits perfectly, so perhaps that’s why...)
The name of her child
Be a non-conformer 💚
This is the most devastating song ever written; it's about the baby she gave up for adoption when she was 20 yrs old.
omg the first 20 seconds is totally me... and people try to stop you
Song starts at 1:30.
日本語の字幕が出てきますが、この映像の元になった商品名をご存知の方がいらっしゃいましたら教えてください。
Call her green for the “children” who have made her. Too young to be a single mother, however Joni made the right choice b/c it was hers alone & her daughter was raised in a good loving home with both parents :)
Blue came out in 71. So that can't be a live performance from 67.
It is, and she started performing it in 66. Baby Kelly was born in February 65.
if this is about her daughter, was the father/poet, leonard cohen? or did he come later?
it was a student from her university, her first time (as the story goes)
@@SimonAriastv I've known that now for a while. Thanks.
Esa canción le sacó un lagrimón a Steve Jobs, por qué?
I wonder why it took her so long to record it
anybody know whose singing during the opening comments by joni?
Who cares?! It was annoying and out of place !
Tim Hardin. He was famous for his song "If I Were a Carpenter". Died from a heroin o.d. in 1980. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't influence Joni with his jazzy style.
@@yazooboy1000 Tim Hardin also wrote Reason To Believe made famous by Rod Stewart Beautiful song Listen to Tim sing it sometime
"Kelly Green" seems to predict the coming of Joni impersonator John Kelly.
Kelly was the name she gave her daughter - the song is about having to give her up for adoption.
John did a darned fine copy of her, as Joni darned well knows. She should be flattered most truly, as I spoke to him after a performance near the Colonel Brooks' Tavern in D.C., all those glorious years ago. Anything to keep your candle trimmed and burning, Ms. Mitchell. Glad you finally found your "Green". Still looking for my source, of course. But bless you for this beautiful song.
wow. I went to a couple of Kelly's shows in Manhattan. I'm so grateful for Joni, and really glad my wife and I got to see John do his impersonation of Joni. Spectacular performance that went on, almost without recognition. I'm so glad you mentioned his performances.
Listening to a lot of Joni lately...
Not sure she is of this world.
I think the bass drum behind Mitch says "Blues Project"... rock and folk shared their audiences back then. Certainly would have been a night to remember....
Blue. One of the best albums is music history. unparalleled expression of raw emotions...what talent!
When Dylan wrote Tangled Up in Blue for Blood on the Tracks, I think he'd been enmeshed in one of the best albums in music history.
Brilliant album. Love every track on it.
If you listen to any Joni song with your eyes closed you can see it all . she's a genius.
The album "Blue" should be heard by everyone alive today.
Achingly beautiful and straightforward. Impeccable phrasing. God, she had it all.
+thelex001 Enough said.
And she STILL found a way to improve the song for the album with a more refined chord progression and the action-reaction between the guitar and vocals is also more obvious, but that's probably due to the recording here. Really a stunning song and not played live very often, sadly.
Heartbreaking and triumphant song about her daughter who she gave up for adoption. So happy there was a happy ending when they found each other when "little Green" grew up. Too bad the audio isn't quality, but watching her sing and play is priceless.
When all is said and done, she will always be known as one of the best singer-songwriters of our generation. Genius like hers is once in a lifetime and I, for one, am grateful to have lived in her time.
Me too
I'm 64
I have five years on you! On the Mount Rushmore of Singer-Songwriters, she has a definite place. In my mind ... Joni, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and then there's an arm wrestling match between a few others.
This particular song resonates with me still since I had my “Little Green” in 1968.
Dear JP Duncan, may I ask you how you feel about her now?
I am adoptive parent and this is my favorite quote “ a child born to another woman calls me mother, the magnitude of that tragedy , and the depth of that privilege are not lost on me. “
I had my son in 1968, i was 17. I couldnt find him & have carried this pain but also hope that someday i will.
I'm from Italy, and this song, and the full album "Blue", and Joni are and always will be in my personal pantheon of music. I have a reprint of "Blue" on CD bought in New York some years ago. The first edition I bought, in Italy - when I was very young, was on tape. Thus my infinite passion for the USA began. Love & Respect for All of You.
I still have the album without a scratch!
Man, as much as I would like to claim her, Joni is Canadian, BUT, you are still welcome to have a passion for USA. I know its tough sometimes, but some of us are really kick ass awesome to know as I'm sure you are!
I love this kind of crowd unlike today, no cameras, no distractions, just the moment. The experience is preserved through your senses. I think that is such a rare and pure thing to have...
There was at least one camera
I may sound like a parrot - but the album Blue WAS one of Joni Mitchell's most spectacular best of her creative powers. The fluctuations of the octaves and melody within a melody - truly unique only to her abilities and delivery. Long may you rain Lady Joni! You were and are a true musician who knows music, knows her own music, and makes the music that we love listening too
Rain Lady? Is that something would call her?
Best songwriter. Sorry, Bob.
Kelly Green, be a gypsy dancer. She even exposed the name of her daughter...
I am happy she did...even though I already researched and knew green stood for Kelly. And Joan is color tuned to life.
Good Lord, thank you for the upload.
The phrases when she stays minor chord and doesn't go to the major which is what is I know. She's the best.
The early 70s was a time when a lot off classic albums appeared. None better than Blue.
That was Nina Simone in that tall white hat at the beginning!
I found myself in NY 1967. Amazing!
This whole album is pure perfection
Great, great song, ah, Joni in her folk music days.
She is using a Guild guitar, I wonder if that was what she used on her first album?? I always thought it was a Martin.
Not sure about the first, but the next few were a Martin she was given by a soldier at Fort Bragg
The pre-chorus where she changes key in this performance caught me off guard.
As this was pre "Blue" ... sounds like she tinkered with the melody.
Jackson Catlett Not actually a key change...it’s the flat III chord in the key of C#, which would be E, then she moves up to F#, the IV chord. Use of flat III and flat VII chords in passing is not uncommon in Western music. It gives songs a unique flavor. Got to love early Joni!
Amazing song and performance. "Smelly Cat" remains my favorite of hers though.
🤣
😂😂😂
Excellent
Actually it was her father who wrote it, "sleepy girl sleepy girl"
Lyrics:
Born with the moon in cancer
Choose her a name she will answer to
Call her green and the winters cannot fade her
Call her green for the children who've made her
Little green, be a gypsy dancer
He went to california
Hearing that everything's warmer there
So you write him a letter and say, "her eyes are blue."
He sends you a poem and she's lost to you
Little green, he's a non-conformer
Just a little green
Like the color when the spring is born
There'll be crocuses to bring to school tomorrow
Just a little green
Like the nights when the northern lights perform
There'll be icicles and birthday clothes
And sometimes there'll be sorrow
Child with a child pretending
Weary of lies you are sending home
So you sign all the papers in the family name
You're sad and you're sorry, but you're not ashamed
Little green, have a happy ending
Just a little green
Like the color when the spring is born
There'll be crocuses to bring to school tomorrow
Just a little green
Like the nights when the northern lights perform
There'll be icicles and birthday clothes
And sometimes there'll be sorrow
Wow..so awesome...from the heart...Joni sings...
On the goosebumps scale, this song is right up at the top.
Joni is exploring different styles of singing here quite amazing