My parents used to play this song in their car a lot when I was a child. I remember lying on the backseat, putting my feet up on the window, feeling safe and loved, and not having a care in the world. Now that I have grown up and acquired a lot more life experiences and damn this song hits me so hard. What a raw and powerful rendition.
I listened to this song when Joni Mitchell played it with acoustic guitar on the Mama Cass show in 1969--Joni was a fresh-faced girl, and it was such a lovely song, but...she hadn't lived enough yet. And then, 40 years later came THIS...this most exquisite thing I've ever heard. Smoky and rich and edged with the pain and love and acceptance that comes with living into your 60s---I cried my eyes out, it was such an incredibly poignant shift. Each version is a work of art, and together, a snapshot of a human lifeline from start to finish.
This song brings me peace. I can sit and hear it, realizing I’m part of a world where I’m not alone, where we all share the same hurts and hopes. It is a beautiful statement on the fleeting state of our existence and the endless wonder of living
so much fakeness and pretenses and childishness everywhere and then you get sobered up by a blow of life and maturity like this song. It makes for a nice change amongst the memes and the selfies and how cheap people sell their dignity today. I guess theres no substitutes for a full life and its many experiences.
this is the first time I've been able to listen to this song since my son was born. because it reminds me of when we were told he was paralysed and I didn't believe it and the day after he was born It sunk in and I sat in the hospital toilets with this in my head phones in and just cried uncontrollably the pain just kept seeping out of me so badly that I just poured my heart out again hearing it again. I've healed slightly now but I dont think I ever fully will. I love my beautiful son so much.
It would be difficult to call yourself a human being and not be moved by this masterpiece. To call it "sublime" would be an understatement. It's a masterpiece of arrangement, lyrics, production and sound. Each time, I listed to it, I enter another world.
It is not just the power of the story or the beauty and truth and soul of her voice and rendition, it is also the way the orchestral accompaniment acts almost like watercolors of sound behind her voice and the whole thing becomes a music painting. So amazing!
As I face the end of my life, this song means so much to me. I've tasted so much of the song in my life, but I am content. I will miss my wife and my family, but I am at peace. Thanks, Joni!
