Live at Newport Today: Joni Mitchell

If there is anything fun or uplifting about this video, it is hard to find.  I suppose that is to be expected, since artists sometimes find the most penetrating ways to tell unpleasant truths, like for instance, that getting old is not for sissies.  Even so, I am still looking forward, with possibly foolish wisdom, to the wind coming in from Africa, and the sea being full of sheep.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aqGjaFDTxQ

Perhaps I should have made clear that "The wind is in from Africa / The sea is full of sheep" is an allusion to Joni Mitchall's tune Carey.  She performed Carey again today, but I remember it best from this live performance in 1974.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6rq15B1Ma4

I am pleased to say I got the Carey reference in the first posting. A friend in high school introduced me to the beauty of Joni's music in 1986. I introduced her to my musician friends in college. My son recently introduced me to her first album, Song to a Seagull, produced in my birth year. I am embarrassed to admit I never knew about that album. Oh my, what a great discovery. Each song is so perfect, and The Cactus Tree is about the most beautiful Joni Mitchell song I ever heard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSHcAfalhP4