Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-cnmwb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-21T22:18:26.787Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Searching for ghosts: fluidity and temporal expansion in Joni Mitchell's first five albums (1968–1972)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2019

Charles Ford
Charles Ford*
Affiliation:
Independent researcher E-mail: cc_ford@live.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Having first raised questions of musical evaluation, and introduced my analytical approach, I proceed to an empirical, in the sense of more-or-less objective, analysis of the metric and melodic aspects of the songs on those five LPs that constitute Joni Mitchell's early style: Song to a Seagull (1968), Clouds (1969), Ladies of the Canyon (1970), Blue (1971) and For the Roses (1972). The results of this style analysis are then summarised. Next I proceed to a more phenomenologically inclined examination of ethereal, since evanescent or ‘ghostly’, ‘haunting’ characteristics of musical fluidity and expansion in Mitchell's music. Such passages of ‘stretched’ musical time arise from several properties: regulated yet ambiguous metric irregularity, swinging around the beat and melodic flow. The essay concludes with close examinations of the longest and most fluid musical properties of ‘Willy’ (Ladies of the Canyon) and ‘Case of You’ (Blue).

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , October 2019 , pp. 399 - 422
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Adorno, T. W. Prisms, 1967. Translation by S. and S. Weber (MIT Press, Massachusetts, 1982)Google Scholar
Benninghof, J. 2010. The Words and Music of Joni Mitchell (Praeger PABC-CLIO/Greenwood)Google Scholar
Bernstein, J. 1996. Joni Mitchell Songbook (Winona, MN, Alfred)Google Scholar
Ford, C. 1996 ‘“Gently tender”: the Incredible String Band's first five albums’, Popular Music, 14/2, pp. 175–83Google Scholar
Ford, C. 1998. ‘Robert Johnson's rhythms’, Popular Music, 17/1, pp. 71–93Google Scholar
Ford, C. 2007. ‘Martin Carthy's rhythms’, Popular Music History, 2/3, pp. 285–307Google Scholar
Ford, C. 2012. ‘Bob Dylan's rhythmic sense I: the times they were a'changin’, in Hawkins, S. (ed.), Critical Musicological Reflections: Essays in Honour of Derek Scott (Farnham, Ashgate)Google Scholar
Frith, S. 1998. Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music (Harvard MA, Harvard University Press)Google Scholar
Goehr, L. 1992. The Imaginary Museum of Musical Works (Oxford, Oxford University Press)Google Scholar
Griffiths, D. 1999. ‘The High Analysis of Low Music’, Music Analysis, 18/3, pp. 389–435Google Scholar
Hartman, C.O. 1977. ‘Analysis of a song: Joni Mitchell's “Michael from Mountains”’, The Centennial Review, 21/4, pp. 401–13Google Scholar
Hinton, B. 1996. Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now (Oxford, Oxford University Press)Google Scholar
Kramer, L. 1991. ‘Music criticism and the postmodernist turn in contrary motion with Gary Tomlinson’, in Current Musicology, 53, pp. 18–40Google Scholar
Lerdahl, F., and Jackendoff, R. 1981. ‘On the theory of grouping and metre’, Musical Quarterly, 67/4, pp. 479–506Google Scholar
Marom, M. 2014. Joni Mitchell in her Own Words (Toronto, ECW Press)Google Scholar
Mercer, M. 2009. Will you Take Me as I Am, Joni Mitchell's Blue Period (Backbeat Books)Google Scholar
Meyer, L.B. 1967. Music the Arts and Ideas (Chicago, IL, Chicago University Press)Google Scholar
Monk, K. 2012. Joni: The Creative Journey of Joni Mitchell (British Columbia, Greystone Books)Google Scholar
Moore, A. 2012. Song Means (Farnham, Ashgate)Google Scholar
Negus, K. 2008. Bob Dylan (Sheffield, Equinox)Google Scholar
O'Brien, K. 2002. Shadows and Light, Joni Mitchell, The Definitive Biography (London, Penguin Books)Google Scholar
Ruhlmann, W. 2000. ‘Joni Mitchell: from blue to indigo’ in Luftig, S. (ed.), Joni Mitchell Companion: Four Decades of Commentary (New York, Schirmer), pp. 21–40Google Scholar
Schuller, G. 1968. Early Jazz (Oxford, Oxford University Press)Google Scholar
Sonnenberg, D. 2003. ‘Who in the world might she be’: A Contextual and Stylistic Approach to the Early Music of Joni Mitchell’, D.M.A. dissertation, City University, New YorkGoogle Scholar
Valentine, P. 2000. ‘Exclusive interview (1972)’ in Luftig, S. (ed.), Joni Mitchell Companion: Four Decades of Commentary (New York, Schirmer), pp. 45–55Google Scholar
Whitesell, L. 2008. The Music of Joni Mitchell (Oxford, Oxford University Press)Google Scholar

Discography, Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell, Blue. Reprise LP K44128. 1971Google Scholar
Joni Mitchell, Clouds. Reprise, CD 7599-274446-2. 1969Google Scholar
Joni Mitchell, For the Roses. Elektra/Asylum CD 7559-60624-2. 1972Google Scholar
Joni Mitchell, Joni Mitchell Live at the Second Fret 1966. All Records AACD0120. 1966Google Scholar
Joni Mitchell, Joni Mitchell live at the Newport Folk Festival. Keyhole KHCD9038. 1969Google Scholar
Joni Mitchell, Ladies of the Canyon. Reprise LP 44085. 1970Google Scholar
Joni Mitchell, Miles of Aisles. Elektra/Asylum 7559-60539-2. 1975Google Scholar
Joni Mitchell, Refuge of the Roads. Shout! Factory DVD 30352Google Scholar
Joni Mitchell, Shadows and Light. Elektra/Asylum 7559-60590. 1980Google Scholar
Joni Mitchell, Song to a Seagull. Reprise LP RS 6293. 1968Google Scholar
Joni Mitchell, The Hissing of Summer Lawns. Asylum 7559-60332-2. 1975Google Scholar
Joni Mitchell and James Taylor, The Circle Game, Royal Albert Hall, 1970. Woodstock Tapes 5110. 1970Google Scholar

Other artists

Bob Dylan, Bringing it all Back Home. CBS LP BPG 62515. 1965Google Scholar
Bob Dylan, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. CBS LP BPG 62193. 1963Google Scholar
The Bee Gees, The Very Best of the Bee Gees. LP 847 339-1. 1990Google Scholar