Hmmmmm..... Zsa Zsa's got her diamonds, Minnie's got her chickens to go, I've got my corporations, I'm a capitalistic so-and-so.
This is a Joni Mitchell self-assessment - if it doesn't scan as well as the lyrics for Court and Spark or Hejira, it was written on the fly for a magazine interview in, I think, 1974. In his wonderful review of Shadows and Light, Stephen Holden wrote: "Perhaps more directly than anyone except Mick Jagger, Joni Mitchell has always acknowledged the inseparability of sexual curiosity and rock music." I wonder how many songwriters or rock music figures have also addressed the issue of money as frequently and consistently as Joni has. It goes at least as far back as "For Free," in which she seems to feel uncomfortable with her financial success. The Hissing of Summer Lawns is almost all about the conflict between material success and an uneasy bohemianism. "Even on the scuffle the cleaner's crease was in my jeans/And any eye for detail caught a little lace along the seams..." On Hejira, she states outright: "W.C. Handy I'm rich and I'm fey," assuming that the one condition presupposes the other. We've always admired Joni for protecting the ownership of her songs, and rightly so: she was a pioneer. But she had to set up a corporation or two to do that, and when it comes to her wealth, she was more than ready to let Eliot Roberts invest her earnings in real estate which may still account for much of her income. So Joni's a capitalistic so-and-so. She's said as much in interviews, and she's proved herself relentless in litigation (in her own words, she's had to "grow claws" to protect her wealth). And good for her, she helped not only herself but some other musicians, less celebrated than she, recoup money that was unjustly taken from them by the IRS. So Joni's a capitalistic so-and-so. For years she struggled and languished in obscurity, but instead of "going back to women's wear" she stuck it out and became Joni Mitchell. IMHO, she deserves everything she has. Finally, the word "corporation" is nothing but a noun in the English language. There is nothing intrinsically wrong or right about it. It's all in the application.... I've blathered on too long. Love to all, Roberto > > >>A corporation is a legal entity. One thing that is wrong with >corporations >is that the people running them can make bad, illegal or rapacious >decisions, and the can hide behind the shield of protection a corporation >provides. They are not personally liable.<<< > >This works in good ways too...my husband set up a corporation for the work >he does as an inventor, to protect me & our home from anything that might >happen if someone decides to sue him for some reason (he's as honest & >ethical as it comes so its not about doing bad & getting away with it). _________________________________________________________________ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com
