>From what I've gathred over the years, I think Joni is a religious person to
some degree, but probably keeps it private. First, I saw on a TV interview
that she was healed of polio, and seemed to attribute it partly to when she
sang Christmas carols while layed up in bed (My mother sings praise songs to
God when she is ill and has been healed from all kinds of things without the
help of medicine). I read that she had some kind of born-again experience in
either the sixties or the seventies at some event. Then I saw on an
interview where she prayed and asked God to send her a man who could play
pinball, and soon after that she met Larry Klien, who played pinball with
her. Also, some of her songs are very inspiring, like Passion Play (When all
the slaves are free). In case there's anyone out there that doesn't know,
there's a play held once every ten years in Ober-Ammergau, Germany where the
death and resurrection of Christ is reinacted, because back in the middle
ages everyone in that area was dying of the black plague, and they made a vow
to God that if he would heal them, they would enact this play every year to
remember what he did. Now it's every ten years in modern times. Anyway,
knowing the background to that story, I've always seen this song as one of my
favorites, because she almost narrates it like a play: "Enter the multitudes
in Exon Blue, In Radiation Rose..." It's like directions you would read on a
script for a play. Once I read an article this guy wrote in the paper
criticizing this song and acting like it was all about the environment, but
think about it. In plays, the characters usually where brighter colors than
they would in ordinary life. Sure, there may be a hint in the choice of
"exon" but to me the message of the song is clear, and I find it very
inspirational. As for Job's Song of Sorrows, Job was very bitter for most of
that story, so for Joni to write that song that way doesn't necessarily
suggest that she is bitter at God, only that Job was. Another great by her
is "Love" on WTRF. I definitely think she has some kind of spiritual life,
but probably keeps the details of it to herself.
Abby
