Joni

Current obsession? Joni Mitchell. Her song "California" comes on every morning at work, and I always call attention to it and then everyone rolls their eyes at me and returns to what they were doing, but it is genuinely the highlight of my morning. I love her so much, she is so amazing.

Her lyrics, combined with her harmonies, just have this amazing power of making me feel like I am actually in love. Hundreds of other songs have made me fantasize about being in love, made me picture the man I'd be in love with, got me thinking about specific men in my life who I have affection for, but Joni's songs have this haunting ability to make me feel like I am, right now, in love. With who? Doesn't matter, that's not the point. She gives hope in a truly singular way that no other singer/lyricist has been able to do for me. Including (wince, am I actually going to say this?) Celine and her song "That's the Way it Is," my anthem. (This is NOT to say that Joni has replaced Celine as my #1, this is just a commentary on their differing talents/nuances as musicians. Plus Celine didn't write "That's the Way it Is," and Joni did write her works, so moot point. I love you, Celine.)

Look at these lyrics from "Come in from the Cold:"

I feel your legs under the table
Leaning into mine

I feel renewed

I feel disabled

By these bonfires in my spine

I know we never will be perfect

Never entirely clear

We get hurt and we just panic

And we strike out

Out of fear

The lyrics are enough, but pair them with the music, and you will be captivated. This love affair has been a long one coming, and when I first met Joni Mitchell it took me a while to get interested. But then slowly, one by one her songs caught my heart, and now I am in love. For life. She wrote her amazing hit, "Both Sides Now," when she was twenty-one. Twenty-one. Sing it, Girlfriend. You were meant to write and we're glad you did.