SLS: The First Thing That I Heard

Posted on by

 

Jim has given us a fairly long list of prompt words for today’s Song Lyric Sunday, as you can see from his post – Parts Of A Day. Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to play a  song that incorporates any, some or all of the words night, evening, dusk, twilight, day, sunrise, daybreak, dawn. This was a suggestion by Di of the pensitivity101 blog – well worth a visit if you don’t know her. Not wanting Jim to self-destruct within the next five seconds I have chosen to accept the mission, though slimming it down to just a few songs wasn’t an easy task. I did think of just playing The Moody Blues’ Days Of Future Passed album in its entirety, but thought that might have been deemed to be extracting the proverbial, so I’ve given it some thought and have come up with three favourite songs: they are markedly different in nature, and true to my form one of them doesn’t mention any of the key words, but its time setting is pretty clear!

Lets start with something cheerful, as befits the time of day it is about:

That was, of course, the fabulous Joni Mitchell with her song Chelsea Morning. The video dates back to 1969 so is a little bit grainy, but her performance more than makes up for that. The lyrics, if you need them, go like this:

Woke up, it was a Chelsea morningAnd the first thing that I heardWas a song outside my windowAnd the traffic wrote the wordsIt came ringin’ up like Christmas bellsAnd rappin’ up like pipes and drums
 
Oh, won’t you stay? We’ll put on the dayAnd we’ll wear it ’til the night comes
 
Woke up, it was a Chelsea morningAnd the first thing that I sawWas the sun through yellow curtainsAnd a rainbow on the wallBlue, red, green and gold to welcome youCrimson crystal beads to beckon
 
Oh, won’t you stay? We’ll put on the dayThere’s a sun show every second
 
Now the curtain opens on a portrait of todayAnd the streets are paved with passersbyAnd pigeons fly and papers lieWaiting to blow away
 
Woke up, it was a Chelsea morningAnd the first thing that I knewThere was milk and toast and honeyAnd a bowl of oranges tooAnd the light poured in like butterscotchAnd stuck to all my senses
 
Oh, won’t you stay? We’ll put on the dayAnd we’ll talk in present tenses
 
When the curtain closes and the rainbow runs awayI will bring you incense owls by nightBy candlelight, by jewel-light, if only you will stayPretty baby, won’t you-Wake up, it’s a Chelsea morning
 
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Joni Mitchell
Chelsea Morning lyrics © Reservoir Media Music, Crazy Crow Music, Crazy Crow Music/diverse Titlar
 

Chelsea Morning was released on Joni’s second album, Clouds, in May 1969, which reached #31 in the US and #22 in her native Canada, and went Gold in both countries. It also achieved that here in the UK even though it didn’t make our chart – long term sales, I guess. This was the only track from it to be taken as a single, but it didn’t make the charts anywhere, as far as I can tell. Being of limited knowledge at the time I first thought this was about the Chelsea in London, but then learned that it was the one in New York which she was writing about. As I absolutely detest the Chelsea football team this was a pleasant realisation for me: why should that bunch of scumbags have a song about them, anyway!  Joni actually write the song a couple of years before recording it herself: it had already been recorded by others – notably Judy Collins and Fairport Convention – so she held off until those had had their day. Wikipedia tells us that the inspiration for the first verse comes partly from the distinct décor of her apartment. While she had been in Philadelphia, she and some friends had made a mobile from shards of coloured glass they had found in the street, with some wire coat hangers, which filtered the light coming into her room through the window and created the “rainbow on the wall.” effect. During coffeehouse performances of this song in the late 1960s, she explained that the stained glass had been rescued from the salvaged windows of a demolished home for unwed mothers – it seems that even then the US Government was closing down support facilities. Plus ça change…

Joni had a background training in the visual arts and the lyrics reflect that in several places, with some lovely imagery. The album sleeve pictured above is her own design, a self portrait with a red flower: a prairie lily, the provincial flower of Saskatchewan.

I said I’d be playing three songs today which are different in nature. Try this one for size:

A song about a troubled night and relationship, though it is the one which doesn’t mention any of the prompt words. Who needs them anyway – the song is clear enough! Matchbox Twenty (or Matchbox 20, take your pick) released 3AM on their debut album, Yourself or Someone Like You, in October 1996. As debuts go this was a pretty successful one: it got to #5 in the US, #1 in Australia, #3 in New Zealand, #11 in Canada and #50 in the UK. It has gone 12x Platinum in the US for 12m sales, 10x Platinum in Australia, 8x Platinum in Canada, 5x Platinum in New Zealand, and even managed Gold in the UK. Impressive, or what! I bought this at the time, no doubt having heard some of its tracks on Whispering Bob’s excellent late night radio show, and loved it. I have all of their albums, and Rob Thomas’s distinctive voice is always a pleasure to hear – he was the guy who sang on the Santana hit Smooth, if you didn’t know. Again from Wikipedia, according to Rob the album’s title was originally going to be Woodshed Diaries. However, that changed when he and the band’s drummer, Paul Doucette, were at a show at the Café Largo nightclub when the singer said “this song is for you, or someone like you”. They loved the phrase so much that they insisted on changing the album’s title, despite the fact that 3,500 copies with the original one had already been made. Their labels agreed; however, the name change resulted in the album’s release being delayed. That doesn’t appear to have done it any harm, does it!

I’m sticking to the playbook for my final song for today, another night one:

I’m sure you will have recognised Bob Seger and his Night Moves – in my view you can never have too much Bob Seger. This was the title track of his ninth studio album, which was the first to credit the Silver Bullet Band, though they only played on five of the nine tracks: the others were covered by the famous Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. It was released in October 1976 and reached #8 in the US and #12 in Canada, going 6x and 3x Platinum respectively. It wasn’t a chart hit in the UK – he had to wait until his next album, 1978’s Stranger In Town, before breaking through here. This was the first single from the album, in November 1976, and it did well too, peaking at #4 in the US, #5 in Canada and sneaking into the UK Singles chart at #45. This video wasn’t made until 1994, which might explain the presence of a very young Matt LeBlanc getting to grips with an earlier friend. You might also recognise Daphne Zuniga, as the dark haired beauty.

So that’s my three for today, and as always I hope you enjoyed them and give my thanks to Jim for hosting the show. See you again for Tuesday Tunes? Hope so! Stay well 😊🎶

 

50 thoughts on “SLS: The First Thing That I Heard”

  1. Pingback: Farewell March | Take It Easy

  8. I did not really notice Joni Mitchell when I was a teenager, too wrapped up in our local boy pop idols. Now hearing radio programmes and reading blogs like yours, I am catching up with the talents I missed. she certainly had a unique voice.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  10. Out of these, Night Moves really hits me. That is an epic song to me, it’s almost like a mini movie with a lot of imagery. That clip of Mitchell is off the Dick Cavett Show…I have that episode…I’m a huge Dick Cavett fan.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • It’s a great song, isn’t it.

      I’ve heard of Dick Cavett but I’m not sure if he was ever shown here. I have a very vague memory of his show, but could be confusing him with someone else!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • To me it’s up there with huge songs like Layla, A Day In the Life, etc….
        He was Johnny Carson’s only real competetion in the early seventies. He was and is an intellectual and named dropped some but the man had great taste in guests. Clive he didn’t interview people…he had conversations with them. On one show he had Janis Joplin, Gloria Swanson, and Raquel Welch….that was an interesting show!

        Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you, Jim, I’m pleased you liked them. I’m less a fan of Joni’s jazz offerings – not really a fan of the genre – but her lyrics are still pure poetry whatever the style.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  16. Good morning, Clive! At least, I hope it still will be when I tell you I’m not a huge fan of Joni Mitchell. While her compositions are gorgeous, I prefer when someone else sings them. Now Rob Thomas and Bob Seger? That’s more my style and I enjoy both immensely. Excellent choices.
    As an aside, I thought for a few seconds that the advert at the end was one of yours so I watched the whole bloody thing only to find out it wasn’t!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • We can’t all like the same thing! Just please tell me that you don’t prefer Judy Collins to Joni. Judy has a beautiful, crystal clear voice but I’ve yet to find something by her that has any heart and feeling in it!

      Glad the others were more up your street.

      I guess the ad you got would be different from what I see. I get one for a robotic bunny rabbit toy – ‘ideal gift for Easter.’ But consider it your penance for not liking Joni 🤣

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

    • Thank you, Darlene, I’m pleased you enjoyed them. I think she is – she has managed to pick it up again after her brain aneurysm and has returned to performing too. Still a star in her eighties!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Please leave a reply, I'd like to know what you think