JONI MITCHELL - BOTH SIDES NOW | REACTION

[@heyou702pc]

This song means so much more to me now at 62 yrs old than it did when I was 17 in 1977. It is such a timeless song. Thank you for your reaction.

[@ernestallison9880]

Yeah, same here. The wisdom of years teaches us how to look at things like this music so differently. The fact that Joni seemed to have that wisdom so young is amazing to me.

[@victorduffany7723]

Joni Mitchell is the very best of the very best. Writer, singer, painter. She is nothing if not sublimely wonderful.

[@howardstory1391]

Don’t forget pianist and guitar player. One of the best guitar players of her era.

[@polliwogs]

I've loved Joni's music since 1970 when I would listen to her Both Side Now album over and over. It really helped take my mind off of the war going on around me (Vietnam). What a multi-talented beautiful Lady! It sounds like you already have some experience with her music, but there is so much more. Don't be afraid to dive in deeper.

[@Lakeshore14]

Joni is a very versatile artist. She is a composer, singer, author and is also a painter. She painted the self portrait you are showing. She has received so many accolades including recently receiving the Kennedy Center Honors. She has also influenced many singers. Thank you for this reaction. ❤️🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

[@lynnschnekenburger7270]

From her home country, Joni received the Order of Canada. The highest honour given.🇨🇦

[@jethro1963]

What you almost never hear about is how good a guitarist she was. IIRC one poll had her quite high on the list of female guitarists.

[@lynnschnekenburger7270]

@jethro1963 -You are absolutely right.

[@markwhite8740]

Love just about everything Joni Mitchell does.🙌🙌❤

[@vickihirsch8340]

All of her music is brilliant! Younger or older versions. She is a poet, musician, artist, and icon. I dont think this is sad. It's just that we all go through both good and bad times. Sometimes things are beautiful. Sometimes we are down. It's reality.. that's my interpretation of this song.

[@stevefoulston]

Clouds She gave birth to a baby girl in February 1965. Unable to provide for the baby, she placed her daughter, Kelly Dale Anderson, for adoption. The experience remained private for most of Mitchell's career, although she alluded to it in several songs The existence of Mitchell's daughter was not publicly known until 1993, when a roommate from Mitchell's art-school days in the 1960s sold the story of the adoption to a tabloid magazine. By that time, Mitchell's daughter, renamed Kilauren Gibb, had already begun a search for her biological parents. Mitchell and her daughter met in 1997 After the reunion, Mitchell said that she lost interest in songwriting, and she later identified her daughter's birth and her inability to take care of her as the moment when her songwriting inspiration had really begun. When she could not express herself to the person she wanted to talk to, she became attuned to the whole world, and she began to write personally. Peace out

[@Hobodeluxe960]

Love Joni. She's so much a part of our music history not only with her own stuff but the stuff others created that she was the muse for. the song is melancholy as it describes how the same things can be both lovely and inspiring and yet depressing and sad.

[@glennred4830]

Joni is an all time great songwriter from CANADA. Along with The Guess Who, BTO, Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young, Anne Murray and THE BAND this group made up the great wave of Canadian writers in late 60's and 70's and beyond. Leonard Cohen appeared as did other Canadian artists, like RUSH, FIVE MAN ELECRIC BAND and so many more, made great music. Keep listening...

[@BV-nx6vq]

Joni Mitchell is perhaps the greatest female popular songwriter of the 20th century, not to mention her great canvas artistry...her best songs (like this one) are so poetic, so emotional & vulnerable...an absolutely timeless piece of music...Thanks

[@TheDivayenta]

Her “ older Joni” version of this is even more brilliant and poignant with her deep Voice. Chod- her later work is very jazz oriented- well worth reacting to! “ Coyote”, “ Help Me”, “ Hejira “ and so much more.

[@ptournas]

Definitely agree! Her recent performance of the song at Newport nearly brought me to tears knowing the difficulties she's been through, not only recently, but the polio as a child, and overcoming the difficulties it created in playing the guitar by creating her own unique guitar tunings.

[@dlmullins9054]

I am 70 and was a teen when this song came out. I always have loved it. There are some bad things about growing old, but at least i have been allowed to listen to great songs so many times.

[@moonstone1159]

Joni is an artist's artist. My all-time favorite singer-songwriter.

[@joepimentel306]

Angelic voice

[@northstar7694]

Her song "a case of you" is so great. Gets me everytime, few artists do it so effortlessly.

[@roberormonde]

She was an amazing singer when she was young

[@josephscally6270]

I think listening to both versions of this song just adds so much additional meaning to it. To hear the version from a mature woman who has actually lived a lifetime, smoked a million cigarettes, loved and lost just totally blows me away.

[@andersgranstrom7128]

Joni is something else - unique, amazing and loveable!! My favorite-album is "Turbulent Indigo".

[@philipdickey6460]

Big Yellow Taxi is another big hit from Joni, A beautiful legend and voice

[@samuellord8576]

Yes!!!

[@jennifergriswold6240]

The song is a little sad but she's being an optimist here. She says how she used to feel about things and then how she feels after she experienced it all. However, as she says at the end of each experience (clouds, love & life) it's the illusions she recalls not the actual down and dirty stuff. And since she wrote this at the age of 24 she says "I really don't know.... at all."

[@joerogers3999]

Come on people, she is a musical genius and a gift to us. This song is up there with one of the greatest that’s ever been written.

[@darrellhickey1990]

Thumbs up to Joni.

[@danlum304]

Good for you young people to be exposed to the value of classic lyrical content that is thoughtful, whimsical, ethereal, and clarifying. Songs like this stand the test of time and generations.

[@bobdelp2023]

CLOUDS, LOVE AND LIFE YOU GUYS!!!😊ABSOLUTE BEAUTIFULLLLL, TIMELESS CLASSIC!

[@celtglen]

I didn't think you would like her work. She is a genius, a word Goddess, thanks to Mr. Katz. Volume control she probably got from years of Cafe singing. Thank you for entering the Joni world. Check out her work with Mingus or Tom Scott and the LA Express, she was Prince's hero.

[@3John16]

Y'all are family to me! Keep being absolutely 100% honest that's all anyone could ask for. Love you guys!

[@cindyfalstrom7231]

I have loved Joni for years, but this is the first time I have heard her sing this tune. Was only familiar with the Judy Collins (another great singer) cover. Both versions are beautifully sung, but there is something about Joni's that is somehow more heatfelt to me. I love the way she pauses slightly to hold a note, then moves ahead. Also the guitar added something special in this version. Joni, Judy, Carly and Carol King were THE great female singers of my youth.

[@cuebj]

I'll add my favourite at the time, Emmylou Harris. There were also some slightly lesser lights, eg Melanie - her version of Ruby Tuesday and the LP, Candles in the Rain. Buffy St Marie - listen to Soldier Blue. In UK, Joan Armatrading, Sandy Denny.

[@macmachine]

Better? No. Different. Yes. One a fresh sunny folk ingenue. The other a life-lived wiser older woman Equally powerful.

[@cindyphifer970]

Love this song. The slower version is my favorite

[@Brien84]

I have loved the older version since she recorded it especially since it has that large band in the background.

[@gzucc]

Joni pulls you in with her lyrical Canadian sensibility. She draws you in and then blasts you with reality. 'Freeman in Paris' is a verbatim retelling of David Geffen's experiences as a gay man cruising for gay sex in Paris and then worrying about his day job as Joni's agent.

[@johndowney8774]

One of the best artists in any art form of the last 100 years. This woman understands the human condition.

[@bsananda0]

She wrote this when she was 23 ! like in the other version that is her self portrait on the cover ! (she was a painter)

[@justmeonly986]

She is a poet who painted her life in words and notes. She unashamedly got to her core and reaches and teaches us.

[@cheryla7480]

This is Joni’s reflection on life from the point of an older woman. You should listen to her version as a young woman to see how her perspective changed over the years

[@nathans3241]

I'm glad people your age are listening to the music I grew up with. I think most of the Rock and Pop music from the 60's and 70's are the best recordings. You'll want to check out a song from Elton John called, 'Where To Now St. Peter' on his Tumbleweed Connection album (1970). Elton John was new to America at the time.

[@alanconrad8490]

amazing song

[@chrisalldis3375]

The one u need to watch is Jon's live version with big yellow taxi & both sides now

[@custardflan]

The biggest radio hit of this song was done by Judy Collins, who may be most famous today as the subject of Suite:Judy Blue Eyes by Crosby Stills and Nash, but was a great singer in her day.

[@vanessa4u4evr]

The later version does it for me. So much more maturity in her voice with the passage of time. So much more evolved emotions and feelings.

[@johnthegreek5836]

Joni Mitchell is a great singer songwriter, her music is timeless and beautiful, all her songs are great that I could never pick a favorite

[@parissimons6385]

Thanks for this reaction, and your shared enthusiasm for so much music. Given your jazz background, hope you would enjoy Joni's 1980 live album, Shadows and Light (also on video), with her band being Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, Michael Brecker, Lyle Mays, and Don Alias on drums.

[@patches1589]

Listen to Judy Collins cover and see what you think. I think Judy Collins has such a beautiful voice, kind of like a bell. I can't explain it.

[@richardhornbostel3958]

Joni hated Judy’s version

[@jameswiglesworth5004]

its good we all have different tastes, for me Judy Collins tempo is all wrong and compared to Joni Mitchell it is a soulless interpretation

[@richardbailey1295]

Joni Mitchell live w/Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius song: 'Shadows and Light' or 'Amelia' (and the rest of the video Shadows and Light)

[@mark-be9mq]

Judy Collins did a beautiful recording of Both Sides Now that was released before Joni's ( who wrote it). It was more orchestral and a big hit in the U.S. & Canada, and later featured in movies and TV. Both beautiful but Joni didn't like the arrangement, but I must admit I love Judy Collins a bit more.

[@MB-mw1xr]

Neil Diamond does a beautiful version of this on his live album “Gold”.

[@rk41gator]

It is not only 'mic' control but voice control. She has an amazing voice. Technically, perfect. 'Amelia' would be another great listen.

[@jethro1963]

Amelia is one of my favourites

[@andrewcolicchio766]

I wish you could watch her video from 1970 live at ENGLAND , BBC playing grand piano and singing her famous Woodstock song, it's awesome 👍

[@jamesmcintyre2008]

I was at that recording I was 16 ....treasured memory.......the BBC sent tickets to our youth club...that's how they made up audiences

[@realbser1956]

None better than Joni, a North American treasure. Great song guys.

[@rk41gator]

Genius.

[@owl-gd6ce]

i feel you.

[@brockmiles1606]

She was just a kid when she recorded this version, which is amazing BUT my favorite version is the one she did in a televised Joni Mitchell tribute in 2006(?). It's on KZbin

[@terminallumbago6465]

I recommend the version she did at the Newport Folk Festival in 2022 (her first performance after a near-fatal aneurysm). Or her recent performance of the song at the Grammys a few weeks ago.

[@danielkesselring9172]

Nice.. thanks 😎🎸🇨🇦

[@custardflan]

It's not a gloomy song. It's self-reflective. She came out of the folk movement. Plus she's Canadian, which is kind of gloomy, I guess. :) My favorite Joni Mitchell song is Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire. Rolling Stone named her one of the greatest women guitarists ever and you definitely hear on that song. You can pick that up here as well.

[@gm6099]

My favourite song too

[@amyk9175]

Yes- she uses clouds as a metaphor for love and life. The first half of a verse is playful and positive (ice cream castles in the air and feather canyons everywhere), but the second half fills you in there is a darker side to clouds (and love and life.)

[@swtp32]

Listen to California, Both Sides Now Live versions, and Case of You will break your heart. My Old Man also so sweet and clever, and Big Yellow Taxi will sound familiar, but she wrote it (Counting Crows redid it in 1990’s).

[@sealdrup]

Angelic, with thought provoking lyrics.

[@oystercamau]

older version hands down, you can feel the experience of her life as she telling her journey

[@1960rlv]

Diversity in music makes you a bigger person. Great reaction, always glad I’m subbed

[@marymargaretmoore9034]

❤❤❤ Joni You guys need to hear her album "Blue", the whole album.

[@Inferno_Song]

Is that the Bessborough hotel in Saskatoon Saskatchewan Canada behind her. I've been on that spot 1000 times before I knew that. I've always loved the music the Prairies made.

[@ArchieGe]

Since you asked for a female singer how about the female Prince of the 80s :) Teena Marie; Singer, Songwriter, Multi-Instrumentalist, Producer and Music Industry Trailblazer (The Brockert Initiative) and a white woman in a "black music" world the main reason why Berry Gordy didn't want her face on her debut album Wild & Peacefull from Deja Vu, Square Bizz, Portuguese love, Fire & Desire Duet with Rick James, Casanova Brown, out on A limb, My Dear Mr Gaye and so on This is one of my favorites If i were a Bell kzbin.info/www/bejne/oKeyfnmknMupe7s or Dear Lover : kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZmHSimmLjcmoh9k

[@ArchieGe]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/p5e0kKxsic10g9E

[@toddpittman1502]

She’s also an amazing painter. Joni painted nearly all of her album covers, including this self portrait. For something completely different, check out her song, The Drycleaner From Des Moines, live, featuring legendary jazz bassist, Jaco Pastorius.

[@TheColdrush22]

Love you guys.

[@glenndespres5317]

The purity of that young voice… damn. Definitely a melancholy vibe but it just fits the growing pains she is describing. Joni is a national treasure. Artist on so many levels. I was so disappointed when she chose to pull all her material from Spotify (but for her own good personal reasons). Hard for me to direct you without it but check out the Court and Spark album and Hejera.

[@bruceolie8644]

Canada's golden girl!

[@gregjones861]

Okay, now this is an artist to watch develop. Listening to her ultimate masterpiece album called Blue and songs like A Case Of You, California and the chillingly timeless River will make you want to check out her whole catalog - and I say go for it.

[@johnharkness7114]

Joni recently published a short insightful piece about romantic love

[@flutesong5527]

It was such an era for great female vocalists, Judy Collins, Joan Baez, Etta James, Bobby Gentry and so many more.....There is no shortage of talent in the arts ever ever ever...... I envy how young you both are to be on this journey

[@dt1064]

Linda Ronstadt, Grace Slick, and Stevie Nicks.

[@roberormonde]

You guys have a good gig

[@TerryYelmene]

It's hard... Talking about perhaps one of two greatest bard poets' of all time (with Bob Dylan), and about her all-time greatest song as it was presented when it found its place in history... (this version) as compared to the unprecedented and extremely hard-won magic that happened over 40 years of life that enabled a whole level up sensitivity as presented in the Love Actually version... it's worse than hard... it's impossible... to compare or even fairly evaluate one 'perfect' perfection to another 'perfect' perfection... ya.. it's so incredibly hard.

[@suzanneprock7286]

You should listen to Judy Collin's "Both Sides Now", this is the version I grew up with and I personally think it's the best. It's more upbeat and a little faster pace.

[@trufflehund]

Song for Sharon by Joni is as good as Tangled Up In Blue and TUIB is for me the greatest song about America I have heard.

[@daviddemar8749]

Check out her Blue album.make sure you have a box of Kleenex nearby amelia is another great song from the jazz influenced Hejira album.

[@musicairplanes4884]

Melancholy.

[@ddhartma]

I think the older version has more feeling (as she has more life behind it).

[@joehaller5155]

perfect analogy of great singers. Beth Hart is the perfect example.

[@machoward6443]

Ah yes, Joni - known as every thinking girl's best friend. Have you checked out her Canadian male counterpart - Leonard Cohen? My favourie song "Sisters of Mercy".

[@alanaltimont9007]

Somewhere I saw that someone said Joni Mitchell writes music for grown-ups.

[@rhwinner]

Sounds like she's using standard tuning on this song. A lot of songs she's using Joni tuning, which only Joni knows - it's not any kind of tuning that I'm familiar with. 😊❤️

[@garyarnett1220]

Like the older version better, but this is beautiful. Can't go wrong with her.

[@111oooo]

I am not a music critic or expert by any means but I know what I like 😁. For me personally there are few albums I would call great. Joni's Blue is one of them

[@ontherun9510]

Wilburn, check the latest version at the Newport Folk Festival a few weeks ago. Joni had an aneurysm few years ago and was totally absent from public scene. She had to relearn everything after the stroke. She even played a bit of guitar that day and mentioned in an interview that she watched video of herself on youtube to see how she was placing her fingers to play. She is old but the joy to still have her with us is out of this world. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oKnMnaiGiNJ0fJo

[@Shadow74342]

The lyrics are awesome....I must admit to liking the Glen Campbell version best.....his version was so haunting

[@paul2862]

Guys: The music audio comes through very clearly, but your voices are muffled. You either need a better mic, or need to reposition the one you have.

[@temporarystranger95]

Honestly, I prefer the orchestral version from the 2000’s. There’s just something about Joni’s mature voice singing these beautiful lyrics that give the song more resonance.

[@bsananda0]

Joni is exactly right. It is illusions we recall, because we do not know what a single thing IS ! but she is wrong about both sides there are more than 2 there is an infinite number The scientific description of light as an appearance characterized by both "particles" and "waves" is further explained (and unified) if light is understood (and observed) to be always in a spiral (or helix) form-like the material form of DNA (which is, itself, a direct materialization of the structure of light). If a spiral-form is seen at its point of rotation (or its crossover joint), it is observable as a "particle"-and if the same spiral-form is seen with reference to its limbs of rotation (before or after its point of rotation, or its crossover joint), it is observable as a "wave". So, also, light is observable as both "particle" and "wave"-depending on which phase of its process is observed by attention (or "point of view", or ego-"I") in time and space. A vibrating string can be seen to demonstrate the same spiraliform gait as any mode of observable light-and, so, as a kind of poetic inspiration, modern scientists have proposed numerous "string theories", in their search for the "knowledge" that will "explain everything". Nevertheless, whether light is observed (and, thus, understood) as a "particle" or as a "wave" or as a "string", that observation (or understanding) is, itself, an act of "perspectival objectification", wherein and whereby Reality Itself is reduced-by the very act of observation, or understanding, or mental fabrication-to a relation (and, thus, a subordinate) of attention, or "point of view", or ego-"I". The ancient and modern perspectival "objectification" of Reality Itself as either "Deity", or "self", or "world" has historically extended the naive illusion (or naive "realism", or ego-based illusionism) of separateness, relatedness, otherness, and "difference" that is inherent to the space-time "self"-locatedness of attention, or "point of view", or ego-"I".

[@paddysworld3978]

You can definitely hear her influence on artists like Taylor Swift!

[@johnbrowne3950]

The older verson is better because it matches the theme of the song.

[@OldBoiler62]

You should give a listen to the new remake of this by Jackie Evancho. It's on her new album that comes out next month and is entirely devoted to selections from the Joni Mitchell songbook.

[@dougthePogingguitarist]

can you do a reaction to Song for Rufus by Bob Seger System

[@glennromano28]

After Joni, my fav cover of this song is “Clouds” by Dave Van Ronk

[@dagmar.6954]

Joni Mitchell is a great Canadian-American singer-songwriter. She covers a lot of genres of music including folk, pop, rock, classical & jazz. She has had so many hits especially in the 60's-80's such as "Chelsea Morning", "Help Me", "The Circle Game", "Big Yellow Taxi", "Woodstock", "Raised On Robbery", "Free Man In Paris" etc.

[@anthonyattard6726]

Try Ian Dury and The Blockheads, the song Hit Me With Your Rythm Stick

[@markgallemore8856]

When Paul McCartney says take a sad song and make it better Judy Collins took this song both sides now and made it a lot better

[@mikemiller3069]

I've always thought that music is one of the most powerful forces on earth. Certain songs can bring you from normal to crying in 3 minutes. Few movie scenes would be as powerful without the background music adding to the mood or the anticipation. Music can make you feel closer to God or more patriotic or more enthusiastic about your school. They use it to calm inmates in prisons and to make people buy more in the grocery store. It even works on animals. I've been a musician for 50+ years and it is always an honor to play or sing while being a lot of fun at the same time. Does it get any better?

[@SanJoseBob]

Yes, Please expose Dee to the Young vs Older Style Video and she will see what Experience, Age, Wisdom, Relevancy do to a song. Same Writer, same Singer, different Time. I myself prefer the Older Style, but than, I’m Older sooooo?….. SanJoséBob

[@sjmccafferey4437]

Listen to Judy Collins cover version. The Collins cover sounds more cohesive and easier to follow. It’s devoid of the open tuning.

[@userpal]

you should have reacted to both versions back to back, juat my opinion

[@evanhughes1510]

I will never understand the love of YT reactors for doing second and third rate live performances, or remakes of songs, instead of just doing the original recording…

[@bobmessier5215]

I love Joni's music, but I prefer her original version.

[@bobmessier5215]

LOL This was the version I preferred. It's the jazz version I wasn't crazy about.