Questions for Lyrics by Joni Mitchell
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Questions for Lyrics by Joni Mitchell
Group members’ names:
Instructions:
Elect someone in your group to be “secretary.” That person will type summaries of the group’s responses to each question below. Feel free to disagree with each other!
When done, the secretary should save the file and send a copy to each person in the group. You’ll then each post it to your BB Thurs. thread for the week of Oct. 26th.
Please post a copy in our Blackboard Discussion Board as well. I’ve created a thread there titled, “Group Worksheet on Joni Mitchell.”
1) How do early Mitchell songs such as “Chelsea Morning” and "Songs to Aging Children Come" compare to later pieces such as "The Last Time I Saw Richard," "People's Parties," and "The Same Situation"? Consider language style, subject, and tone of voice.
2) Look carefully at “Woman of Heart and Mind.”
a) What might be the social significance of the title?
b) How would you describe the relationship depicted in the lyric? Provide a few details to support your response.
c) How do the speaker’s relationships seem to fail her?
3) Look carefully at “Down to You.”
a) What exactly is meant by the title? And what thematic connections can be drawn between this lyric and John Lennon’s early solo work?
b) Paraphrase the lyric’s first 6 lines. (Re-state them in your own words.)
c) What do you make of such contradictions as, “You’re a brute—you’re an angel too/You can crawl—you can fly too”?
4) Write a reaction to “The Same Situation,” commenting on what it appears to be about and what basic problem is being articulated.
5) Joni Mitchell has been noted for her relatively “poetic” song lyrics. What is probably meant by such an assertion?
6) She has also been noted for her verbal wit—wry, insightful, compressed articulations. Quote at least two examples of this sort of wit.
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7) How would you characterize Mitchell’s lyrics overall? What is her primary mode, what are her chief concerns, and what characterizes her style? How are her lyrics different from ones we’ve examined so far?
8) How are Mitchell’s lyrics “feminine” in a traditional sense? What are some recent arguments in the culture and in academia about “feminine” vs. “masculine” modes of communicating?
9) Why have we examined so few female artists up to this point in 226?
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