My introduction to Joni Mitchell came in (arguably) the greatest rockumentary ever, Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz. There's nothing particularly special about Mitchell's performance--she was one superstar among many on the stage that night. But what was particularly special was the song itself" "Coyote." And what really made it stand out was how little hoopla it received--Mitchell is announced, The Band performs behind her, and everyone let the song stand on strictly its merit. And believe me, it stood taller than tall.
Joni Mitchell began performing in 1962 in her native Canada and has been recording and touring ever since. While her heyday was in the 70's, she has remained a seminal influence on women and songwriters. She has won 9 Grammy Awards, is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and her album Blue was #30 on Rolling Stone's list of the greatest five hundred albums of all-time. Oddly enough, though, she's never really become a household name in the way that say, Aretha Franklin is. This may be due (my opinion), in part, to her foray into jazz in the late seventies--jazz is a wonderful musical style but has never really caught on with the masses in America. I'd also venture that part of it is the inherent sexism in America--Mitchell is as good of a songwriter and her career output is easily the match of say, Bob Dylan, but I'd bet a whole hell of a lot more people have heard of Bob Dylan than Joni Mitchell (and yes, she's that good,,,)--men are front and center even in rock and roll.
Released on her Hejira (loosely translated as "journey" in Arabic--Mitchell wrote all of the album's songs while traveling by car from Maine to California) LP, "Coyote" is kind of a different song to feature for a pop music lover like me. While there is a chorus ("You just picked up a hitcher/A prisoner of the white lines of the freeway"), it's not featured prominently and the song is more of a story than your typical pop song. It's basically a song about a one night stand--it's been conjectured that the song is autobiographical and that the male protagonist is playwright/actor Sam Shepherd, but Mitchell has never confirmed it. It's also to a degree about the difficulty of having a normal life within the musical world, what with late night recording sessions and constant touring.
"Coyote" was the first single released from Hejira, but it never charted (no bullets this week!).
There are three things to note about the song (in no particular order): 1) Mitchell's songwriting is incredible always, but especially so on this song--it is almost like a short story and she uses subtle imagery that isn't used often in pop songs ("And with this flame/You put here in this Eskimo") 2) Mitchell's vocals--as is often the case on Jukebox songs--are just as incredible, moving from questioning to playful to soul searching with an ease not often seen in pop songs 3) The instrumentation is the final piece and it's a joy to behold--between Mitchell's incredibly catchy acoustic guitar and the fretless bass (many people noted this, and while you can't miss the bass in the song, I have no idea there was such a thing as a fretless bass or what it even looks like) played by jazz virtuoso Jaco Pastorius. It all comes together to form one of the most perfect songs ever written--at least to an old literary fart like me.
Fascinating fact: Mitchell had polio as a child and as a result her left hand would not let her play notes and chords like most guitar players--as a result she came up with numerous different tunings that would match both her ability and her vocals.
Lyric sheet: "No regrets coyote..."
Enjoy:
Peace,
emaycee
