Art and “blue” by Joni Mitchell
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Blue, songs are like tattoos
You know Ive been to sea before
Crown and anchor me
Or let me sail away
Hey Blue, there is a song for you
Ink on a pin
Underneath the skin
An empty space to fill in
Well therere so many sinking now
Youve got to keep thinking
You can make it through these waves
Acid, booze, and ass
Needles, guns, and grass
Lots of laughs, lots of laughs
Everybodys saying that hells the hippest way to go
Well I dont think so
But Im gonna take a look around it though
Blue, I love you.
Blue, here is a shell for you
Inside youll hear a sound
A foggy lullaby
There is your song from me.
(“Blue”, Joni Mitchell)
As an act of creation, writing a song or playing a passage of music is a development for the artist, a birth. Intercourse begins the artistic cycle, allowing the artist to take into herself the experiences necessary for creation. With time and through tribulations, the artists carried experiences takes shape. The crescendo climaxes with the pain of birth and the creation of art. This view reveals a lot about the nature of art. For one, art is not created in a vacuum; art draws off of experiences in the artists life. Art also takes time, and involves some pain. The most important and difficult concept for any parent to accept is that child, once outside of the womb, will develop into his or her own person. In this same way, once art is produced, it will have interactions with people other than its creator that are far beyond the scope of what was originally intended. “Blue,” by Joni Mitchell, is no exception, as it is art. It will always have an intimate relationship to Joni Mitchell, but is also capable of provoking emotion in other people, such as myself.
Born November 7, 1943 in Fort McLeod, Alberta, Canada, Joni Mitchell is one of Canadas most prominent celebrities. I dont quite know what experiences she draws on to create blue; all I know are what experiences I draw on when listening to it. “Blue, song are like tattoos.” With this line I get a feeling of the power of music in general. Tattoos are permanent, just like music is permanent. I cant help but be changed by a song after I listen to it, because it is part of the nature of song. As I implied above, it is important to realize that these statements hold true about the artist as well as the audience. However, it is also important to note that the truth derived from any line of song is not necessarily the literal meaning of the words, and is thus highly subjective. This makes sense in regards to the next line, “You know Ive been to sea before.” I have never been to sea before, does that mean that I can no longer find any value in the text? Obviously, this is not true, the meaning is just different than the literal meaning.
I read this entire song as an apostrophe to Blue. Who Blue is is the most important part of interpreting this piece. I believe that Blue can change depending on who is listening to the song, or even when and where the song is being listened to. Meaning of any piece of art is based on experience of the audience, but also on the context of the audience. Ive listened to this song on good days and bad days, on sunny days and on sad days, and I view it differently every time. For example, I obtained the CD “Blue” from a friend, and listened to it while driving home. I know that I really wanted to like it, even before I listened to it, just because of who had given me the CD. However, even though I do enjoy the CD now, it wasnt because I really wanted to. There was a much better chance, because of who gave it to me, that I would like it because, as a friend, we have similar taste in music. If, on the other hand, I had gotten a CD from someone that I like less, there would have been less of a chance of not only liking the CD, but also actually giving it a chance. So, already, even before I had listened to it, the music of Joni Mitchell had all sorts of experiences tied to it. Driving home, listening for the first time, if I had been asked for the identity of Blue, without really paying attention to the lyrics, just basing my answer on the pre-listening experiences of the day, I would have given an answer dull happiness. This would have been a response based entirely on my emotions about receiving the CD. On another day though, when I was disappointed by some friends not coming through for me, and I had almost died in a car accident, I listened to “Blue” a little differently. “Acid, booze and ass/Needles, guns and grass/Lots of laughs, lots of laughs,” was perhaps the most bitter line I had ever heard. Already feeling badly, I took comfort in the awful sarcasm that Joni seemed to have. Blue would have to be that feeling of sadness, present in everyones life, that Joni speaks to.
In my mind, this brings up two points. The first is that both the pleasant and unpleasant interpretation used the music as nothing more than a catalyst. If i am feeling a certain way, that will affect my interpretations. I will see in the music no more than what I want to