Aloha Friday Motivation | Joni Mitchell Edition | #265
Happy Aloha Friday,
Things are heavy right now. I want to acknowledge that. But that is all I will really say about it, because others who are more qualified and passionate and articulate can ponder on THOSE life mysteries.
Me, well, I want to share with you about the first time I heard Joni Mitchell . I was en route to Boston with my father, brother and sister, the latter of the three about to graduate her senior year and head off into the collegiate abyss and this was her northeast college tour. It was fall, if I remember correctly, late 90's and the autumnal brush had been waived across the Berkshire Mountain landscape, spreading brilliant waves of amber, red, and orange cascading as we traversed down I90 towards Amherst MA.
I was in the back seat of the car, mind wandering, when the first chords of "All I Want" came crashing from the speakers and infiltrated my brainscape. Do you know that moment, that unique moment when you have heard a certain piece of music for the first time and you knew, you simply knew you LOVED it? Love at first listen, I suppose. My 16 year old love affair that very moment with Joni's music. I craved it. I listened to Blue on repeat on my discman between stops and forced the entire car to listen to the album between schools. "Carey ," "Blue ," "A Case of You, " "California ," you name it, each one hit the cochlea in my inner ear, reverberated through my brain and immediately traversed its own highway through my body straight to my heart; the hairs of my body standing on end as the music played in a truly visceral reaction.
By the end of the trip, leaving Boston proper, my sister's heart seemingly set on Boston College, my heart belonged to Joni. I knew the words to each song like I had written and sung them myself thousands of times. To this day, the reaction I have to hearing her music remains the same. The love affair is alive and well. Here are the Top Joni Mitchell songs of all time !
To Joni, Happy Birthday, "oh, make me feel good rock 'n roll band, i'm your biggest fan!"