Music Monday – All I Really Want
For the past two weeks or so I’ve been listening to a lot of Joni Mitchell. I remember discovering her “Blue” album when I was 19. It was recomended to me by an ex-roommate (and one of the few ex-friends from college that I actually regret alienating) and I fell in love with it. Typically I can’t easily listen to music that brings back associations from college. It usually triggers some brooding self analysis resulting in an overflow of shame and regret so for the sake of my mental health I avoid most of the music I listened to in school. Fortunately there is a repository of fantastic music that went untainted by my final years in school: Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews, Phish, Foo Fighters, and several others as well. Lucky for me, most of the negative associations I have are with music that was usually played in frat house basements. When I started listening to Joni Mitchell again I was worried. The first thing that came to mind was the horrible rendition of “A Case of You” that my ex-roommate used to sing while we were driving the back roads of Purchase Line and Shelocta. But to my surprise, rather than regret, I was able to hold onto the fun, the carefree feeling of whizzing through the night in my green Pontiac Sunfire (or sometimes her dusty rose colored Chevy if she felt like driving) and smoking too many cigarettes while we sang at the top of our lungs on a weekday night. So I’ve been listening to a lot of Joni lately, especially because CB has a paltry collection of Joan Baez and my music is floating somewhere in the extra hard drive but we have yet to figure out where exactly. There are a lot of songs that I could use today, but I picked this one because the lyrics are the most true to my life right now. I couldn’t even find Joni singing this one anywhere on video so I’m putting up a cover of it by Holly Brook.
All I Really Want by Joni Mitchell
I am on a lonely road and I am traveling
Traveling, traveling, traveling
Looking for something, what can it be
Oh I hate you some, I hate you some
I love you some
Oh I love you when I forget about me
I want to be strong I want to laugh along
I want to belong to the living
Alive, alive, I want to get up and jive
I want to wreck my stockings in some juke box dive
Do you want – do you want – do you want
To dance with me baby
Do you want to take a chance
On maybe finding some sweet romance with me baby
Well, come onAll I really really want our love to do
Is to bring out the best in me and in you too
All I really really want our love to do
Is to bring out the best in me and in you
I want to talk to you, I want to shampoo you
I want to renew you again and again
Applause, applause – life is our cause
When I think of your kisses
My mind see-saws
Do you see – do you see – do you see
How you hurt me baby
So I hurt you too
Then we both get so blueI am on a lonely road and I am traveling
Looking for the key to set me free
Oh the jealousy, the greed is the unraveling
It’s the unraveling
And it undoes all the joy that could be
I want to have fun, I want to shine like the sun
I want to be the one that you want to see
I want to knit you a sweater
Want to write you a love letter
I want to make you feel better
I want to make you feel free
Hmm, Hmm, Hmm, Hmm,
Want to make you feel free
I want to make you feel free
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I have some songs like that from the past that just make me too depressed to listen to them even if they’re happy songs because they remind of things I’d rather not think about. Found you from 42.
Oh, I love Joni Mitchell. I first discovered her when I was 13; I was babysitting for some aging hippies in Lake Tahoe. Still can’t get enough.
I was watching the Grammys with my husband and Joni Mitchell came up (album of her songs by Herbie Hancock won record of the year or something). He had never heard of her. Really. He’s a bit younger, but still. Joni is an icon. He is no longer in the dark. Silly boy.
Thanks so much for making music!! I loved your story. I haven’t listened to much Joni Mitchell. What I loved best about this post though was your line “one of the few ex-friends from college that I actually regret alienating”. It wasn’t the point of the piece but made me smile and nod with understanding.
This is one of my all-time favorite songs. I got Miles of Aisles as a sophomore in high school and I listened to it so much that I actually wore the grooves out on the record. I have the CD now.
i have never heard any joni mitchell until this point, that i know of. niiiice.
Hi Korie,
good luck tomorrow!!!!!
Big hug
Kim and Rune xxx