November 14, 2005

• MONDAY READING

  I’ve been watching a video about Joni Mitchell (Woman of Heart and Mind, 2003) this week because I always loved her music from day one. Still have my original tattered copy of Blue. She was born only four years after I was, further north in Canada, and took that same turn in the road in the ‘60’s, following the elusive light of the counterculture down all its thorny paths. Sadly, she says she made her last album in 2002 with Travelogue. Before she added music to her talents early on, she was already a poet and painter . The whole holy trinity – words, song, color. Obviously, she’s met and worked with countless wonderful musicians along the way. But always independent, willful, inventing new levels for herself. I’m too old myself now to fantasize about what it would be like to live someone else’s life, but I’m glad I was there on the fringes as she rode on by, singing. Here is one of those early songs for Monday’s reading.

  BIG YELLOW TAXI (1970)

  They paved paradise
  And put up a parking lot
  With a pink hotel, a boutique
  And a swinging hot spot
  Don’t it always seem to go
  That you don’t know what you’ve got
  Till it’s gone
  They paved paradise
  And put up a parking lot

  They took all the trees
  Put ’em in a tree museum
  And they charged the people
  A dollar and a half just to see ’em
  Don’t it always seem to go
  That you don’t know what you’ve got
  Till it’s gone
  They paved paradise
  And put up a parking lot

  Hey farmer farmer
  Put away that d.d.t. now
  Give me spots on my apples
  But leave me the birds and the bees
  Please!
  Don’t it always seem to go
  That you don’t know what you’ve got
  Till it’s gone
  They paved paradise
  And put up a parking lot

  Late last night
  I heard the screen door slam
  And a big yellow taxi
  Took away my old man
  Don’t it always seem to go
  That you don’t know what you’ve got
  Till it’s gone
  They paved paradise
  And put up a parking lot
  

  ---

  Deep Thought: “Sometimes I think the world has gone completely mad. And then I think, “Aw, who cares?” And then I think, “Hey, what’s for supper?”
  Today I am grateful for: Authors
  Guess the Movie: “Welcome the rich man, he’s hard for you to miss. His butt keeps getting bigger, so there’s plenty there to kiss!” Answer: Spirited Away, 2001. Winner: collette_and_moi.
  Edwards’ Remarks May Nudge Others
  Potential Democratic candidates feel pressure from anti-war factions
  by Tim Funk
  Former Sen. John Edwards’ decision Sunday to so publicly repudiate his past vote authorizing the war in Iraq could help shape a Democratic race for president that’s just beginning. (Rest of article here).
  End of Day: 8:24 pm
  + = Got some bank business done – first safety deposit box of life.
  - = They give you two keys and you can’t make copies and if you lose them you pay big bucks.

  • 3:59 pm
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