Mia wrote: > I alway thought that Joni was referencing a time or a place for pregnant unwed > mothers... The biggest clue that I see is the repeated reference to "rocking > chairs"... Also, the last line "we wait for you" indicates to me that the > character is just waiting out the time until the baby is born. > > This is such a lovely song, with such unique guitar fingering.
I'm with Mssr's Muller & Murphy on this one - DUH! How obvious... but only after it's been pointed out to me! Thanks for your insight, Mia. I think Andrew's interpretation is valid, too, when he says Joni is singing about an ideal lifestyle lived in an idyllic place. But I think it's very likely that this particular place is indeed a home for unwed mothers that Joni knew of, whether or not she ever lived there herself. Also, I think I know what Andrew is getting at here, but I have another take on it: > Also, the rocking chair reference doesn't quite fit the pregnancy theme > either, only because it seems to be used in rotation: "Each of us rocks his > share." Somehow the idea of a fictional world of pregnant mothers waiting in > rocking chairs for their kids to be born doesn't seem like the crux of this > song to me. If that were the case, wouldn't it be "rocks HER share?" Not necessarily - remember this was recorded in 1968, before the feminist movement of the 70's and the subsequent changes in the use of personal pronouns. In books and movies from that time, you often see "he" and "his" and "himself" used as third-person references to women. That seems archaic now, but I suspect "rocks HER share" would have sounded jarring to many people back then. Remember, Joni does say "we have a rocking chair" - she's including herself in the group, yet she still says "his", because at that time it was the accepted way of speaking. (As for using the chair in rotation, I think it's because there's only one: the lyric is "we have A rocking chair.") And I agree that this is one of the loveliest songs on the album. Counting the hours til Woman Of Heart & Mind & Lots & Lots Of Subtitles ;) Bob
