[New-Poetry] Joni Mitchell Lyrical

[Anthony Lawrence]

I agree. The Night Ride Home is brilliant. I think the lyrics to  
Amelia, in which she aligns herself, metaphorically, with Amelia  
Earhart's fatal flight
are the best she's written. Here it is.

I was driving across the burning desert
When I spotted six jet planes
Leaving six white vapor trails across the bleak terrain
It was the hexagram of the heavens
it was the strings of my guitar
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

The drone of flying engines
Is a song so wild and blue
It scrambles time and seasons if it gets thru to you
Then your life becomes a travelogue
Of picture-post-card-charms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

People will tell you where they've gone
They'll tell you where to go
But till you get there yourself you never really know
Where some have found their paradise
Other's just come to harm
Oh Amelia, it was just a false alarm

I wish that he was here tonight
It's so hard to obey
His sad request of me to kindly stay away
So this is how I hide the hurt
As the road leads cursed and charmed
I tell Amelia, it was just a false alarm

A ghost of aviation
She was swallowed by the sky
Or by the sea, like me she had a dream to fly
Like Icarus ascending
On beautiful foolish arms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

Maybe I've never really loved
I guess that is the truth
I've spent my whole life in clouds at icy altitude
And looking down on everything
I crashed into his arms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

I pulled into the Cactus Tree Motel
To shower off the dust
And I slept on the strange pillows of my wanderlust
I dreamed of 747s
Over geometric farms
Dreams, Amelia, dreams and false alarms




On 05/09/2006, at 11:34 AM, David Graham wrote:

>
> On Sep 4, 2006, at 8:12 PM, Debra Dicembre wrote:
>
>> I knew the song...the mojo/growin' old lines reached out to me.
>> Is it from the Night Ride album?
>>
> --------------
>
>
> Yes, it's from *Night Ride Home*, from 1991.  My favorite among her  
> later albums.
>
> Here are the full lyrics for anyone who hasn't heard it.  A phrase  
> like "edifying fire" isn't something I'm used to hear a lot in pop  
> music. . . .
>
>
>
> COME IN FROM THE COLD
>
> Back in 1957
> We had to dance a foot apart
> And they hawk-eyed us from the sidelines
> Holding their rulers without a heart
> And so with just a touch of our fingers
> I could make our circuitry explode
> All we ever wanted
> Was just to come in from the cold
>
> Come in
> Come in from the cold
> (we were so young)
> Oh come in
> Come in from the cold
>
> We really thought we had a purpose
> We were so anxious to achieve
> We had hope
> The world held promise
> For a slave to liberty
> Freely I slaved away for something better
> And I was bought and sold
> And all I ever wanted
> Was just to come in from the cold
>
> Come in
> Come in from the cold
> (we were so sure)
> Oh come in
> Come in from the cold
>
> I feel your leg under the table
> Leaning into mine
> I feel renewed
> I feel disabled
> By these bonfires in my spine
> I don't know who the arsonist was
> Which incendiary soul
> But all I ever wanted
> Was just to come in from the cold
>
> Come in
> Come in from the cold
> (you were so warm)
> Oh come in
> Come in from the cold
>
> I am not some stone commission
> Like a statue in a park
> I am flesh and blood and vision
> I am howling in the dark
> Long blue shadows of the jackals
> Are falling on a pay phone by the road
> Oh all they ever wanted
> Was just to come in from the cold
>
> Come in
> Come in from the cold
> (I was so low)
> Oh come in
> Come in from the cold
>
> Is this just vulgar electricity
> Is this the edifying fire
> (it was so pure)
> Does your smile's covert complicity
> Debase as it admires
> (just a flu with a temperature)
> Are you just checking out your mojo
> (oohoo)
> Or am I just fighting off growing old
> (just a high fever)
> All I ever wanted
> Was just to come in from the cold
>
> Come in
> Come in from the cold
> (it was so pure)
> Oh come in
> Come in from the cold
>
> I know we never will be perfect
> Never entirely clear
> (when the moon shines)
> We get hurt and we just panic
> And we strike out
> Out of fear
> (you were only being kind)
> I fear the sentence of this solitude
> 200 years on hold
> (for my loving crime)
> Oh and all we ever wanted
> Was just to come in from the cold
>
> Come in
> Come in from the cold
> (when the moon shines)
> Oh come in
> Come in from the cold
>
> When I thought life had some purpose
> Then I thought I had some choice
> (I was running blind)
> And I made some value judgments
> In a self-important voice
> (I was outa line)
> But then absurdity came over me
> And I longed to lose control
> (into no mind)
> Oh all I ever wanted
> Was just to come in from the cold
>
> Come in
> Come in from the cold
> (you were so kind)
> Please come in
> (so kind)
> Come in from the cold
> Come in come in
> Come in from the cold, etc.
>
> --Joni Mitchell
>
> ==========================================
> David Graham
> grahamd at ripon.edu
> Home Page:
> http://www.ripon.edu/faculty/GrahamD/index.html
> Poetry Library:
> http://www.ripon.edu/faculty/GrahamD/poetrylib.html
> ==========================================
>
>
>
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Anthony Lawrence
ajlawrence1 at bigpond.com



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