Hell wrote: "I was thinking the other day about Joni's lyrics, and how she uses phrases or words that probably wouldn't occur to other artists."
Yes, I think about this alot. It's one of great joys of Joni. The unexpected word or phrase or rhyme. Like in Otis & Marlena: "Like it's her opera box All those Pagliacci summer frocks" Love that rhyme! Or, also in O&M: "The golden dive, the fatted flake". Now, I have no idea what 'fatted flake' really means. But it somehow beautifully conveys the self-indulgent vanity being discussed. And it is, of course, also an example of Joni's love of alliteration, of which, most of the time, she is a master (once in a while it gets the better of her though). A great example of her alliterative skill is also in O&M. Watch the p and b: "Always the grand Parades of cellulite Jiggling to her golden Pools Through flock and cuPid colonnades They jiggle into surgery HoPefully Beneath the Blade" The p's drive the lines until the softer p in hopefully, when the b's take over. And she is not at all a show-off with her language. I love the opening to Paprika Plains for its plain speaking so artfully put together that you can see, hear and smell the scene: "It fell from midnight skies It drummed on the galvanized In the washroom women tracked the rain Up to the makeup mirror Liquid soap and grass And Jungle Gardenia crash On Pine-Sol and beer" I mean...skies and galvanized! Love that! Has she ever discussed the nuts and bolts of her lyric writing? It seems to me that for this kind of precision she must go through many re-writes. It is too carefully constructed to just 'happen' in one take. Bruce
