joni mitchell - "you turn me on i'm a radio" (from the for the roses lp, available for purchase here.)

i don't remember liking this song at all.

yes, v. well, but then why post it? i was talking to a friend; the hour was getting late; i had nothing lined up for this evening. i asked her to select a song at random and i would post it. this was what she said. i couldn't say no to the girl. (don't worry, dear, it's all about to get better.)

i've never been a fan of just joni and her guitar. ("i had a king" is a notable exception, as it seems to have been delivered from another world entirely.) i much more prefer the jazz-fusion type shite, which is odd b/c i tend to despise jazz-fusion type shite. this, though, has at least one of the hallmarks of what i consider her best work, viz. her uncanny, unnatural melodicism. it bends, shakes, and stretches out; it finds an unlikely spot and tarries there awhile. those who know this song better than i do are probably thinking of the "wiiiiildflower" line, w/ those wild backing vocals in the left channel, beamed in from an a.m. station on jupiter.

i'd still consider it a minor work--oh, i only said it'd get better; not a lot better. but it is significant for being her first major hit, which cleared the way for so much of the music of hers that i like best. i understand that in interviews she said she was consciously trying for a hit w/ this song. it's a mark, then, of her untrammeled ability that, even at her most commercial, she couldn't help but be herself.