FEATURE SONG – FREE MAN IN PARIS by JONI MITCHELL

I’ve never been the world’s biggest Joni Mitchell, but this is one of a handful of her songs that I really like. Having said that, it never occurred to me until just yesterday to Google the meaning of it. By that I mean find out who the song is about. I can’t believe I haven’t done that before, especially since, in my forthcoming sequel to Papa Do Run, I devote a whole chapter to songs about “real” people. Duh-uh! Anyway, I’ve made up for lost time. I now know whom this song is about. You may have known the person behind the lyrics for donkey’s years, but I’m a bit of a late bloomer sometimes, so go easy on me SVP, as we say in Canada (short for s’il vous plait). Here, from Wikipedia:

"Free Man In Paris" is a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. It appeared on her 1974 album Court and Spark, as well as her live album Shadows and Light. It is one of her more popular songs...(and) is about music agent/promoter David Geffen, a close friend in the early 1970s and a trip they made to Paris with Robbie and Dominique Robertson.

Now, I think that’s pretty cool. I don’t usually go in for much celebraity gossip, but I do like to know about song enigmas, etc. However, this next part of the Wiki entry leaves me stymied. Read on:

In 2007 the song was covered by Sufjan Stevens for a tribute to Joni Mitchell compilation. Similar to his cover of The Beatles "What Goes On", Stevens kept only the lyrics and let the words inspire him to write a new arrangement and melody for the song Stevens has stated that with his cover he "decided to conjure up a party song, with strings and trumpets and trombones and vibraphones marching in a parade down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe, all lit up with fireworks."

I don’t get it. To be totally honest here, this just ticks me off. You take a nice song like Free Man in Paris, with not only wonderful lyrics, but a great melody, and when you decide to cover it, you change half of it??!! Why would you do that? Why?? If mean, why not just write a whole new song, your own song, about a parade in the Champs Elysees? Maybe because I’m not a musician you can say that I just don’t understand. No argument from me. In my defense, I have to say that when I like a song, I really like it and don’t like to see it messed with. Okay, I know you all are familiar with this one, but here’s a nice video of it so we can all sing along, picture David Geffen with a phone receiver on each ear, and enjoy Joni’s brilliant lyrics AND melody.







Photo from Wikimedia Commons
Video by YT member hanbanxxx

LET’S HERE IT FOR DIGITAL SOUND - (BOO! HISS!)

Last night I was channel surfing among several of the music stations on my dish, trying to avoid all the election coverage, while waiting for the SNL Thursday spoof of the election coverage. Like many people at this late stage of the game (and I do mean game) I’d much rather watch a spoof than the real thing. I’m a real political junkie, but the US election crossed over into the rather-have-a-root-canal category for me some time ago. As someone who has lived and voted in both the US and Canada, I can tell you, Canada is waaaay easier. For example, how many of you even knew Canada just had an election – hands? I thought so. Once it was announced that an election was coming, the whole thing took a mere 37 days and cost just over 300 mil. I kid you not. Anyway, I’m digressing again. What I really want to tell you about is that, as I surfed, I happened to catch the old ABBA song, “Chiquitita.” Well, have to stop for that one. And wonder of wonders, as I listened to the old familiar lyrics…I suddenly heard…something different! Yes, it’s true. Thanks to the wonders of crisp new digital sound, I discovered another bit of misheard lyrics I’d been living with in my head since…hold on a sec, let me go look it up…1979!
There’s that one part where they sing:

“Chiquitita you and I know / How the heartaches come and they go /________________”

Okay, here’s where my revelation comes. The actual words that go in the space above are “and the scars they’re leaving.” Maybe you always knew that. Maybe you had the album with lyrics. Maybe you have a better ear. But to me, that missing phrase was always “on the Champs-Elysees.” I mean, why not? After all, ABBA was a European group, with all the continental stuff that implies. They could have been to the Champs-Elysees many times, for all we know. And, don’t forget, we’re talking Paris here. Not only that, we’re talking about of the most famous romantic spots in town. Trysting in the cafes, meeting clandestinely in the cinema. I’m sure people get their hearts broken there all the time. Plus, the instrumentation has a kind of a turn-of-the-century Folies Bergere feel to it, even if the title is Spanish. Hey, Spain is in Europe too! Come on, you know it makes a certain sense. No? Well, it doesn’t matter; it’s all behind me now.

And now that I know what the real lyrics are, I suppose I should be happy, but somehow I’m not. Sometimes what you incorrectly imagine can be preferable to what is actual. It’s always going to look like a Toulouse-Lautrec painting in my head. So, have a listen and see what you think of my musical misadventure, and try to be kind...






Video by YT member kamy876
Photo from answers.com/cancan