I'm a method actress in my songs, which is why it's hard to sing them. Joni Mitchell More Quotes by Joni Mitchell More Quotes From Joni Mitchell The Blue album, there’s hardly a dishonest note in the vocals. At that period of my life, I had no personal defenses. I felt like a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes. I felt like I had absolutely no secrets from the world and I couldn’t pretend in my life to be strong. Or to be happy. But the advantage of it in the music was that there were no defenses there, either. Joni Mitchell strong secret blue The thing that gave me the most pain in life, psychologically, and it gave me tremendous pain psychologically, is man's disrespect for nature. Joni Mitchell pain hippie men To enjoy my music, you need depth and emotionality. Joni Mitchell enjoy depth needs Rationally I have no hope, irrationally I believe in miracles. Joni Mitchell no-hope miracle believe You've got to shake your fists at lightning now, you've got to roar like forest fire You've got to spread your light like blazes all across the sky They're going to aim the hoses on you, show 'em you won't expire Not till you burn up every passion, not even when you die Come on now, you've got to try, if you're feeling contempt, well then you tell it If you're tired of the silent night, Jesus, well then you yell it Condemned to wires and hammers, strike every chord that you feel That broken trees and elephant ivories conceal Joni Mitchell tired passion jesus I was demanding of myself a deeper and greater honesty, more and more revelation in my work in order to give it back to the people where it goes into their lives and nourishes them and changes their direction and makes light bulbs go off in their head and makes them feel. And it isn't vague, it strikes against the very nerves of their life and in order to do that you have to strike against the very nerves of your own. Joni Mitchell honesty light order Innocence is drowned in anarchy. The best lack conviction given time to think, and the worst are full of passion without mercy. Joni Mitchell passion reality thinking If you're smart or rich or lucky Joni Mitchell smart law men My childhood was very difficult. I had every childhood disease and then some, but my parents didnt mollycoddle me. They left me to fight those battles on my own. I guess that was very Canadian, very stoic. But its good. I had to become a warrior. I had to give up hope and find a substitute for hope that would be far more stable. Joni Mitchell warrior giving-up fighting Oh, the jealousy, the greed is the unraveling. It's the unraveling and it undoes all the joy that could be. Joni Mitchell jealousy greed joy Land of snap decisions, land of short attention spans, nothing is savored long enough to really understand. Joni Mitchell land decision long I thrive on change. That's probably why my chord changes are weird, because chords depict emotions. They'll be going along on one key and I'll drop off a cliff, and suddenly they will go into a whole other key signature. That will drive some people crazy, but that's how my life is. Joni Mitchell crazy keys people Whatever it was that I felt was the weak link in my previous project gave me inspiration for the next one. Joni Mitchell the-next-one inspiration links Lord, there's danger in this land, you get witch hunts and wars when church and state hold hands. Joni Mitchell land war hands I am a woman of heart and mind, looking for affection and respect, a little passion. Joni Mitchell passion mind heart The only thing I have to give to make you smile, to win you with, are all the mornings still to live. Joni Mitchell winning morning romantic I loved Debussy, Stravinsky, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, anything with romantic melodies, especially the nocturnes. Nietzsche was a hero, especially with Thus Spoke Zarathustra. He gets a bad rap; hes very misunderstood. Hes a maker of individuals, and he was a teacher of teachers. Joni Mitchell rap hero teacher They won't give peace a chance, that's just a dream some of us had Joni Mitchell hippie dream giving I don't know who I am but you know, life is for learning. Joni Mitchell knowing-who-you-are who-i-am life-is I wanna be strong, I wanna laugh along, I wanna belong to the living. Alive, alive, I wanna get up and jive, Wanna wreck my stockings in some jukebox dive. Joni Mitchell jukebox strong laughing
