Tyler Hewitt wrote: "We are all aware I'm sure of Joni's reputation for writing confessional lyrics. But, do we know for sure that her songs are true and/or about her own life experiences? I may be way off base here, but it seems to me that Joni would be perfectly capable of writing fictional songs. A lot of discussion has centered around who a particular song is about. When I read these posts, I always think 'how do we know they are about anyone?'
Is there a definitive source for this? Has Joni mentioned in interviews that particular songs are based on real people and experiences? If not, how can we be sure they are 'true', or at the very least, not composites of several events/persons?" I don't doubt for a moment that Joni is capable of writing "fictional" songs, or at the very least, basing her work on composites in her life. And I'm sure she's done both. But it also seems to me that an artist's own life can make him or her more sensitive to certain nuances or issues, so that his/her work may end up having a distinct autobiographical slant to it, even if no such thing was intended. It's all a matter of the prism through which one sees the world. Case in point: two nights ago, I sat down to pay bills to the sounds of "Song to A Seagull" (or "Joni Mitchell": take your pick!). This is an album I first heard nearly twenty-five years ago, and thought I knew well. However, something about listening to it on that particular night, in the stillness of my apartment, and knowing what I now know about what Joni was experiencing at the approximate time those songs were written made me see her lonely, unplanned pregnancy and the relinquishment of Kilauren splashed all over this CD. "Marcie's sorrow needs a man. . . Think back to summer and hear how he tells her, 'Wait for me' " --"Marcie" "Another man reached out his hand, Another hand reached out for more" --"Nathan LaFraneer" "A dream that you love someone A dream that the wars are done A dream that you tell no one but the grey sea They'll say that you're crazy And a dream of a baby. . ." --"The Dawntreader" "I call to the seagull Who dives to the waters And catches his silver fine Dinner alone Crying, where are the footprints That danced on these beaches And the hands that cast wishes That sunk, like a stone?" --"Song to a Seagull" It just about ripped my heart out. Mary P.
