Joni Mitchell - Carey (Live London 1983)

[@blakesbunker]

Joni broke the mold for the traditional tuning of stringed instruments. She created her own cords to fit her vocal range and lyrics. Her voice was the lead instrument, every thing else was backup.

[@TroyCroom]

How can anyone blend such trance-like, astonishingly original music with such a hopeful/desperate, delicious vocal about the hunger for escape via heroin or death, and turn it all into dream that sounds like what I imagine heroin feels like? Jesus. Complex as a nightmare. Simple as a sigh. All in a day's work for Miss M. We're not worthy.

[@tommckinnon1005]

Joni doesn't do anything the way it's "supposed" to be done, the melodies go instantly from top to bottom of her range, the lyrics are quixotic and capricious, her persona is vulnerable and self deprecating, which makes her a real national treasure.

[@JudgeJulieLit]

* global, intergalactic, interdimensional

[@dorkadezso5826]

@@JudgeJulieLit In my humble opinion your adoration is a little bit over the top. I would write that she belongs in the league of Gregory Isakov, Zélia Duncan, Amadeus and Franz Schubert.

[@jamesdolan4042]

National or international. She looks so Norwegian in this performance. She is so multi-talented.

[@wynnhorn9259]

She is Canadian.

[@michaelshepherd4664]

Have loved her since the 1960s! I s till have all her albums, still love her! Am 71, how sad is that?!

[@deborahstewart3647]

I think this has been my favourite Joni Mitchell song since the first time I heard it. The tune ... the story ... the sentiment .. I loved it all. I could almost feel the African wind every time this song plays.

[@SamHarrisonMusic]

Matla's in Crete! and the cafe's still there! One day I'm going to take a pilgrimage :D

[@paulgibby6932]

I was on Crete and this was my first thought -- to go to those caves, that place, feel the wind from Africa. But it is a big island. Maybe another trip :)

[@christopherneary2315]

Agreed just great

[@RobertJohnSimpson]

When I wae 21 on my way overland to India I heard her song Carey and spent 3 months of my life on the south shore of Crete looking for the Mermaid Cafe. Lost youth...when I retired in 2009 I returned to Crete and they really built it up. I did walk down the Samaris gotge at 60 years old.

[@LauraFarinaHoya]

Mine too! Have you ever heard Cyndi Lauper's cover?

[@seaturtle7777]

Joni is magnificent. This performance is a great example of that magnificence.

[@kenhymes4900]

I love Dylan's work (the man is a difficult public figure, undoubtedly)... but Mitchell STILL isn't getting her due. She towers over everyone else lyrically, stands with Dylan for sure in her level of verbal artistry, at her best exceeds him... and in her expansion of the forms available to songwriters she simply has no equal in the history of western culture besides Lennon and McCartney, and even those geniuses can feel like reworkers and aggregators rather than sculptors of high and new forms, when one really digs into the music Mitchell purveys, behind the overwhelming vocal personality and technique, and the stories... her harmonic and melodic artistry is just staggering, so much of the time it's the unexpected and original choice that feels like it could never have been otherwise (this she shares with Dylan in her phrasing for sure). Anyways, there's not enough to say about Mitchell's importance especially to women in songwriting. The Pulitzer shoulda gone to her.

[@fossseseptique]

Thank you God for giving us Joni Mitchell ❤

[@allyngoldstein5849]

She is one of the biggest Legends that ever lived. Glad she's well and out there on the road. Thought she might have died a few years ago when she was really sick with that aneurysm go. Joni

[@marciap.9169]

Happy 78th birthday Joni - November 7, 2021.

[@ginakleinejaeger4997]

I have been binging Joni Mitchell for days now. I LOVED her 50 years ago, now I’m revisiting my favorite JM songs and those I don’t know. Watching interviews. She is absolutely amazing. A genius. Just an unbelievable artist. Talented in so many ways. Her lyrics, melodies, art…How many instruments does she play? She is a treasure. ❤

[@patrickgroll2046]

I don't care how much of a hardass you are. Joni Mitchell is such an incandescent talent that it just shuts down any and all objections. Period.

[@sonicboy19]

It's true. I actually feel a little bit sorry for people who aren't into her. All that tells me is either they've never listened to enough of her music to be able to appreciate the full scope of her talent, or that they lack the emotional and/or musical depth to connect with her work. Either way, it's their loss.

[@vudu8ball]

This came on the radio as I drove through the night with my family long ago. My wife and I started sing along. My youngest son remembers it to this day and I remember that moment every time I hear this song.

[@paulamiles9559]

Joni is so sweet she says maybe you will know this. Then she begins the introduction and everyone goes nuts.

[@Beemerboy324]

There was, is, and will ever be only ONE Joni Mitchell.

[@billastell3753]

Still love you Joni after all these years! Thank you for making our lives richer.

[@TedsHoldOver]

So authentic. Reminds me of my childhood. The 8-track in the "harvest orange" Ford Pinto.

[@mr.deedsgoestotown6155]

A standout singer/songwriter in a time where there were many of them. She's extraordinary.

[@Soviless99]

joni mitchell is so cool. Just started listening to her 2 weeks ago almost non stop due to my fascination with her and the nostalgia i get listening to these songs. My mom used to play them in the house when i was like around 6. Two decades later now... She was a true artist, able to paint and paint a picture with words. I also admire and would like to venture like her and so many others at some point soon and obtain heightened sense of my place in this world. What an amazing experience it must have been, her time on matala.

[@mel3004]

She really is cool, a timeless class act. I've always loved that she was able to transform the seemingly mundane into art.

[@rayray6570]

Soviless99 very good explore her music you won't be disappointed

[@cockeyedoptimista]

Soviless99 Traveling always widens one's horizons, I hope you have gone or go wherever.

[@lucykennedy7991]

This is mine and my grandad’s favourite song, I remember when we used too dance around the living room, enjoying the music. Love you grandad and Joni ❤️

[@hockeycamp]

I LOVE this song! She is so beautiful.

[@bigwille11]

hockeycamp yes she is 👩‍🦰

[@massimogaraventa86]

When my daughter was five, six, months old, l used to dance with her listening this song

[@tuskedbeast]

WOW Carey in 1983?? Amazing to hear her sing this in her (self-described) "natural" voice, and just to think of her revisiting it after all her deep jazz explorations- well, just wow. Also love her mistakes and acknowledgement of them in her facial expressions; seeing her trying to remember the words and then remembering- "what I'm feeling is always written on my face" indeed. Love her so much, think healing thoughts for Joni.

[@JaimeRayon]

tuskedbeast It really was not her natural voice. She was or is a 4 pack a day habit ravaging her vocal chords. By this point, she had lost her upper range.

[@midnitesky]

@@JaimeRayon Not yet. Her voice was lowering but the high register was still there in the 80s.

[@mac-rv5jw]

I hate cigarette addiction.

[@tuskedbeast]

@@mac-rv5jw Me too. But as far as Joni goes, it's nice to know she was finally able to quit (though it took near total incapacitation in hospital!).

[@leemarks9489]

I went to Matala in 1985 because of this song. I met the daughter of the original owner of the Mermaid Cafe. It wasn't there anymore.

[@karenvav501]

Welcome to Matala, Lee. Today is life. Tomorrow never come.

[@neilbenson5307]

I was there on my pilgrimage in 1978 and the cafe was not there either. Nobody knew anything about it then. Language barrier perhaps.

[@JudgeJulieLit]

Did they "put up a parking lot"?

[@brebuck59]

@@JudgeJulieLit, Yes, and a Big Yellow Taxi was parked in the first spot.

[@pocahon8460]

@@brebuck59 THE BUCK OWENS!!?,

[@albertklassen6055]

Greatest female artist to come out of Canada. Beyond marvelous. And so beautiful.

[@sugarmaple60]

We also have Celine Dion,KD Lang,Alana Morrisette and many more but Joni is a genius. They say Blue is the best album produced in the world! Still love our guys though Leonard Cohen and Neil Young to name but two. Proud to be Canadian!

[@leekosmin8788]

@@sugarmaple60 And 4 of the 5 guys in The Band

[@anniegibson7734]

Especially Robbie Robertson.

[@anniegibson7734]

Best female artist in the world!

[@suzannelight1951]

.A very special lady! So very happy i got to experience you in my lifetime! ❤❤❤

[@jszisson]

Never gets old, only better.

[@DavidThompson-rx3jz]

Joni, you are still “out of sight”!!

[@johnparr5879]

A truly musical. and gifted..... Individual..... Soul*

[@DavidThompson-rx3jz]

Joni give the boot 🥾 and forget the naysayers 🙅🏼❗️I live near Saskatoon. Every time I hear you play, you bring a feeling of freedom from cares that beautiful music brings❣️

[@timothysullivan6783]

Heard this when I was around 11 and loved it. Heard it tonight and made me cry remembering how I felt hearing it 50 + years ago.

[@dennistarpein1653]

Love this song and that sweet lady

[@37BopCity]

All these years later that incredible voice still knocks me out, both when she talks and sings

[@charlestehuia9263]

Man I love this awesome song by this incredible lady

[@bernardelias976]

I always loved her humility! She is so wonderful!

[@michaelsheridan2748]

What a Giant Talent!!!!

[@yoshishigekoyama2140]

いつでもジョニ・ミッチェルは美しい

[@philexile0]

An angel sent down to earth to show us all what beauty is. That's Joni.

[@johnphelan7403]

My words are redundant when considering the beauty of those of Joni Mitchell.

[@jessicaturner7196]

This is my favorite song she does. I play it at home and dance around like crazy person.

[@shevetlevi2821]

For me this song sings of the yin and yang of living wild and on the loose and then returning to a more constrained civilized life while eventually yearning to return to the wild again. She is SOOO good at creating an entire story and entire setting within a 3 to 4 minute song.

[@rebeccasinclair1720]

she is such a legend!

[@gangoffour6690]

ALMOST KNOCKED ME OVER. GLAD I WAS SITTING DOWN. JONI IS AWESOME. I WAS GLAD TO BE THERE BACK IN THE DAY TO SEE HER LIVE.

[@AlwaysHalloween000]

i bet of the 84,000 that watched this only 100 actually had beach tar on their feet..i had it since i was a kid..Thanks Joni for being the only person in history to write about *Beach Tar*

[@Echnaton1954]

I knew Carey myself - his real name was Charos, he was an old fishersman who broke his leg on his fishing boat among all those fishes and needed a cane - early in the morning his sons and me were out fishing and in the evening his wife and me sold everything in the harbours market - When I left Matala Charos gave me a little dog to take care of which Spanish tourists left on the beach - Pepe !!!

[@lizzabbott]

No must be different. Cary ( how his name is actually spelled). Is Amercan.

[@liamardo007]

Susanne Rydvald its about a red haired american she met in Matala Crete called Carey Raditz..

[@1MollieM]

I grew up at a beach in Rhode Island. I worked there in the 70s and always had beach tar everywhere! Great days.

[@judilutz-woods3825]

We all had it in Mattala

[@edwardwright278]

Im 59 and I fell in love with this lady and her dulcimer at 11. My older brother was a big influence.

[@liamardo007]

me my mum and little brother lived in the Matala caves in 1979.. mamas cafe was still there and the Delphini. plenty of dramas with the law and locals whom hated us. crazy dreams sleeping on those tombs.. would have been great to meet Carey Raditz.. my hippie mum .. catching the tail end of someone else's story.... think she stalked Leonard Cohen on Hydra after that..

[@cockeyedoptimista]

liamardo007 Wow. Wow! What a childhood.

[@clivet3846]

Even with the mistakes its magnificent.

[@lindanorris2455]

SHE'S JUST GREAT!

[@kendee4421]

Love this song. It conjures up images in my head. I can imagine Carey and Joni at the Mermaid Cafe. Sadness about leaving and thinking of things like renting a grand piano to take the edge off that sadness.

[@stevensmith7323]

Excellent. A classic.

[@stephenyates3085]

Let’s be clear, this lady is the finest singer songwriter who ever walked this planet and there have been some others who are pretty damn good as well. Her absolute mastery of a variety of instruments and vocal range and key changes set her apart from us mere mortals . We can but wonder at her genius and I certainly do on many occasions! And do you know what .....this lady is a fantastic painter as well! Where does it all end!!

[@chuckbecker4983]

Was chief mate on a freighter bound from Rotterdam to Haifa to New York. When I relieved the third mate at 0315, back in the chart house he'd play this on a cassette as we discussed the turnover: weather, traffic, the ship, route, calls, etc. I can still feel that wind coming in from Africa and dreams of partying in Rome.

[@jiml.bridger112]

Thank you for this version! I have listened about 638 times :)

[@Nautilus1972]

God I love this woman. Be well, Joni. X

[@danielvanness6936]

I just finished reading the story of the "real" Carey and Joni's incorporating real life circumstances into this magical testament of a relationship and a place. What a time! What a place! What a great summing up of that moment! Joni Mitchell is a genius and Carey is one cool guy.

[@lnl3237]

That article about "Cary" (Joni misspelled his name) is what brought me here, too. In '69, I was just a kid growing up in the suburbs ala the "Wonder Years," rooting for the "Miracle Mets." Aside from just the miraculous beauty of Joni Mitchell's artistry, I am just struck how miraculous it is that she is still here! Started smoking at nine. Nomadic lifestyle. Living in a cave with someone she hardly knew. Her luck and ours that she lived to write and sing and paint. For me, her gift was in capturing "the minutia" of life and

[@lnl3237]

...and the people and places that filled those moments. Can't wait to get a glimpse of her on the broadcast of this year's Kennedy Center Honors ceremony. Well-deserved and long overdue.

[@pepmodolpifarre7320]

Impossible d'oblidar, gràcies Joni.

[@Chilliam13]

Her voice and her songs always remind me of summer. Except for one.

[@rolldeepNASA]

PERFECT

[@jakehixon4073]

My favourite song.

[@jimcook8933]

Seemingly simple, yet so mesmerizing.

[@Renee71823]

Thank you Joni! I just adore this song!!!!!

[@NicholasOsella]

I love you Joni Mitchell.

[@LegitWonder]

I was brought here by the documentary about Linda bishop "God knows where I am" I cried watching the part she sang this song the most

[@SkeeterNYC]

I saw Joni on this tour. It was a killer show. It does sound like this was around the time when she started to loose her higher vocal register.

[@22foozer]

so pure, it's stunning

[@alandasher8789]

impossibly gorgeous voice

[@marc.apfelbutz]

Matala. Quelle memories. 🥰

[@paulcoba8154]

You are like fine wine that gets better with age!

[@sweetjane5033]

Joni you’re a dream ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@martindowney8737]

Feel the dice in your hand as you spill out the words.

[@notintohandles]

I think she laughs as she feels the moment that inspired the song.

[@jimcox7054]

I was in London, living within 5 miles of Wembley at the time. Out of touch. I could have sung a duet. Just like Carey, another North Carolinian!

[@The_Hunter111]

Joni, we love you.

[@NoTaboos]

The best song she ever did.

[@bennyjazzful]

WOW WOW WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 From a mad keen 75yo Aussie fan.

[@Badukity]

I love this so much 🧜‍♀️

[@1234larry1]

Excellent!

[@jeffcory1056]

Wow... she is enchanting.

[@rickj8859]

Good old days.... 1970s It is all but a haze. As someone once said "the reality is just an illusion caused by the lack of incohol"

[@Imissthepostoffice]

What a class act !

[@terryfriend16]

Plain-spoken. ... this was great.

[@geraldwillcox5502]

...mmm..What a great Song...and her.....Her ....HER...Love Joni for yrs ...and a few.....Old Guy in Oregon.. 8/2018

[@ianchapple4642]

Joni is brilliant love the song

[@doreenmitchell7596]

Right on right on yes daddy I'm your little girl let's roll we got some work to do

[@paulgregory7312]

Genius

[@ufoman4468]

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!!!!!! Love you Joni .

[@summermcpherson8209]

Beautiful as always Joni!

[@tamarasheen159]

I was there ...she is still so beautiful example of Woman

[@rudehr]

About time to head to Matala.

[@yourroyalhighness7662]

This song is heard briefly in the superb but heart wrenching documentary called “God Knows Where I Am”.

[@moosey62]

Hey Joni. I found the Mermaid. They wouldn't let me break a glass and the caves were all fenced off, but I did have a beer for you xx Met two hippies in town who had no idea who you were. Just wanted to sell some big balloons. Did meet an old guy down by the sea who told me stories of the 60s xx

[@marianlynch4829]

Love her... she always sounds as if she has a head cold...

[@pnmugambi]

Great music

[@lejaguarsolitaire]

Boni vous êtes exceptionnelle

[@kristinamyfavpeterson3470]

great rythem!

[@milenacalabrese9239]

Lovely Great woman

[@touchingmusicheartmindands3360]

Thank you for uploading. Wonderful,

[@TheNick279]

I think I was at this gig. I did see her live at Wembley one year.

[@colin25250]

I named my daughter Carrie as a result of this song; and yes, I do know it's about a man!!

[@liamardo007]

colin25250 Is Carey is the male version of that name or just similar?

[@milenacalabrese9239]

I love this Grest woman

[@531katie]

This was the happy moment. Come on Carey let’s go down to the mermaid cafe ...come on Patty 💜