I was going to say that another dreary week has begun, but the temperatures will be in the mid-70s (F) here today, and I didn’t wear a jacket to work for the first time this year. Still, many tasks remain on the road to the Big Nap.
To cheer myself up, here are two wonderful cuts from the Martin Scorsese movie “The Last Waltz,” perhaps the greatest rock movie ever made. (“Stop Making Sense” is a close second.) I’m sure I’ve posted the Joni Mitchell clip before (she sings on both cuts here, actually), but, as Mehitabel the cat said, “wotthehell”.
Joni Mitchell is, to my mind, the greatest female singer-songwriter of the last fifty years (I’ll put up her male contender tomorrow). This isn’t one of her earliest great hits, but this live performance, with her signature open-tuned guitar, is stunning. She is, of course, backed by The Band. It’s hard to believe that this performance took place 37 years ago.
Wikipedia’s notes give some background; I in fact saw Mitchell with the Rolling Thunder Revue (once at the Harvard Square Theater, and a few nights later in Hartford, Connecticut with my friend Kenny King; the cast included Bob Dylan, Roger McGuinn, Allen Ginsburg, and other luminaries). It was the musical highlight of my grad-school years.
Lyrically, “Coyote” is concerned with the difficulty of establishing any sort of connection with people who come from “different sets of circumstance” (as the song has it). In particular it describes an encounter (which turns into a one night stand) between the narrator (possibly meant to be Mitchell herself as there is a reference in the lyrics to her coming home from the studio) and “Coyote”, a ranch worker. In Chris O’Dell’s 2009 autobiography Miss O’Dell she details an affair she had with married playwright Sam Shepard and states that Shepard then cheated on her with Joni Mitchell. O’Dell claims that “Coyote” is written about Sam Shepard. Coyote represents nature contrasted with the narrator’s big city (presumably LA) life where “pills and powders” are necessary to “get them through this passion play”. The aforementioned line is also a reference to Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue, which Mitchell was a part of in the fall of 1975.
And, of course, Neil:
Thanks for the nod to Canada! 🙂 I have an idea about your age, now. (mine, I’d say)
Perfect way to start the week.
“Evangeline” with Emmylou Harris is another great song from the Last Waltz — filmed separately in a studio. I don’t think her schedule allowed her to attend their final concert, but it’s still a great take.
Absolutely!
+1
Love this whole concert. Have it in VHS, but with all my VCRs having gone to meet their Maker, methinks I’ll need to pick up a digital version.
Thanks Jerry. My Monday feels much better now.
Back in the day when Walkmen were the way to go, I would play the cassette of Hejira almost daily. That album begins with the Coyote track.
Excellent choice of greatest female singer-songwriter of the last 50 yrs. Her songs opened up the world of music to me.
I agree that she is an excellent choice for greatest female singer-songwriter of the last 50 yrs. But if the male award goes to anyone other than Dylan, I demand a recount and a psychiatric evaluation for our host! (kidding, don’t take it personally JAC).
Great, great movie. The concert album is one of my all-time favorites. What an amazing lineup of performers. I don’t think you could get all that talent on one stage anymore without the weight of all the egos coalescing into a black hole! My favorites from the movie, besides ‘Coyote,’ are The Band doing ‘Stagefright’ and ‘It Makes No Difference,’ and, because his appearance is so unexpected, Neil Diamond singing ‘Dry Your Eyes.’ But it’s all terrific.
No comment on the music, but I love the picture of Krazy Kat at the bottom. I try to read a little Krazy Kat each night before going to bed (I like to think it gives me sweet dreams), and waking up to that image just made my day–thanks!
That’s not Krazy Kat, but Mehitabel.
You learn something new every day! It looks a lot like Krazy, and it’s obviously a Herriman drawing, but I’d never heard of Mehitabel, so I looked it up, and sure enough…
http://www.amazon.com/The-Lives-Times-Archy-Mehitabel/dp/B000OLZQ86
More fun stuff to read–cool!!!
Dang! I did NOT mean to embed that picture!
Sorry ’bout that!
It looks so familiar! That’s the edition I have!
Jerry,
Well, The Beatles were never my favourite (too acceptable to the older generation I guess), though I purchased four of their best albums (Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sargeant Pepper, and Abbey Road) after listening to your selections here recently, but I thoroughly agree with your choice of best female singer songwriter. Joni Mitchell, the most orignal and best by a long margin.
Best albums: Hejira, The Hissing of Summer Lawns, Court and Spark, and Wild Things Run Fast (my wife’s favourite).
Best songs: California, Same Situation, Just Like This Train, Furry Sings The Blues, Black Crow (live version), Edith and The Kingpin, Night Ride Home, The Sire of Sorrow.
Interesting. I much preferred her earlier albums, and for her best songs, I would only have included California and Black Crow from your list. I think that means she is great in multiple dimensions.
Not that you need any encouragement from me, Jerry, but do please feel free to post as much music as your heart desires!
b&
I agree maybe a whole post devoted to Leonard Cohen’s over-covered masterpiece Hallelujah, and how even atheists can appreciate it; not that I’m telling you what to post or anything; I’m just saying is all.
The Last Waltz is one of my favorite films and records (“records” being black oversized CD-shaped thingies…) The camaraderie and mutual admiration flowed from the screen… it was such a celebration. I totally fell in love with Robbie Robertson after seeing it.
The Harvard Square Theater was a great concert venue before they carved it up into a multiplex. I saw Bonnie Raitt there back in 1974. The opening act for that show was some tough guy from Asbury Park nobody had ever heard of — yet.
First saw Joni when she opened for!! Arlo Guthrie at the Mississippi River Festival in the early 70’s.
I’ve mentioned on a previous WEIT post that Joni Mitchell is the favorite pop songwriter of classical music/opera sopranos Renee Fleming and Dawn Upshaw. Fleming has recorded a couple of Mitchell’s numbers in a way that some will enjoy and others will not. Fleming was apparently starstruck when she met Mitchell as recounted in this review of RF’s performance of “Mitchell” recounted here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/21/arts/music/21rene.html?_r=0
Now on a lighter note, here’s the (apparent) meaningful coincidence of the month.
The weekend before last, I both went to a stage performance of Sam Shepard’s “Fool for Love” and hiked the “Coyote trail” at one of our local open space preserves. Now Jerry Coyne posts a song called “Coyote” which might be about…Sam Shepard. Coincidence?? Uh, well, probably yes, I guess!! 🙂
PS Another great rock movie is Led Zeppelin’s “The Song Remains the Same” but they might be too mystical for many readers of this website.
I’d say The Song Remains the Same is a terrible movie with some great live music scenes mixed in. Jimmy Page wasn’t such a big fan either: “The Song Remains The Same is not a great film, but there’s no point in making excuses. It’s just a reasonably honest statement of where we were at that particular time. It’s very difficult for me to watch it now, but I’d like to see it in a year’s time just to see how it stands up.”
Joni is such a class act, so amazingly creative and original.
A couple of years ago when I was driving across the Canadian prairies, I was listening to both Joni and Neil Young. Somehow their music fits the landscape, but then I’m a child of the prairies too, so maybe it’s just me.