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Joni Mitchell

 She quickly sets the scene:

 

Sitting in a park in Paris, France—

Reading the news, and it sure looks bad.

They won’t give peace a chance; that was just a dream some of us had.

Still a lot to see—but I wouldn’t want to stay here.

It’s too old and cold and set in its ways here.

 

She is already poking fun at herself; she is both hungry to see more of France and irritated by a European “coldness and oldness.”

 

Met a redneck on a Grecian Isle;

He did the goat dance very well.

He gave me back my smile…

But he kept my camera to sell.

Oh, the rogue, the red, red rogue….

He cooked good omelets and stews—and I might have stayed on with him—

But my heart cried out for you, California….

 

Again, there is some difficulty with decision-making: “The rogue….I might have stayed on with him….” Also, we jump from one country to another with just a single word.

 

I caught a train to Spain…

Went to a party down a red dirt road…

There were lots of pretty people there, reading ROLLING STONE, reading VOGUE…

They said, How long can you hang around?

I said, A week. Maybe two. Just until my skin turns brown…

Then I’m coming home to you, California….

 

Joni is Dorothy in Oz, walking down a red (dirt) road. She is also a faithless lover, and she is writing to her patient spouse, who happens to be the state of California. “Will you take me as I am—strung out on another man? California, I’m coming home.”

 

It’s easy enough to trust the writer because she seems to speak the truth; she acknowledges what a mess she is, and she laughs about it. (“When I think of your kisses, my mind see-saws.”) Ambivalence is a guiding light: “He gave me my smile, but kept my camera.” “I hate you some, I love you some.” “I’m so hard to handle; I’m selfish and I’m sad. I wish I had a river I could skate away on…..”

 

“I’ve looked at life from both sides now….”

 

Specific and universal, and seemingly effortless—over and over again.

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