YouTube Tuesday: Coyote

It's a cliche to say "no one writes songs like _____ any more," but no one's writing songs like Joni Mitchell any more, or executing them like her, either.

Tonight's clip is a live version of "Coyote," one of the last great Joni songs before she lost her way in the jazz morass, never to return.

"Coyote," for Me, encapsulates a longing, a sweet pain so intense it defies words, even defies thought at times.

Alleged trivia fact: The "coyote" in question is actor/playwright Sam Shepard.



"I tried to run away myself
To run away and wrestle with my ego
And with this flame
You put here in this Eskimo
In this hitcher
In this prisoner
Of the fine white lines
Of the white lines on the free, free way"

YouTube Tuesday: A Case Of You

Tonight's video is a little slide show, but I chose it for the song.

"A Case Of You" by Joni Mitchell.

"A Case of You" is Joni at her mesmerizing best, showing why she's head and shoulders above any of her so-called singer/songwriter contemporaries. Listen to Mitchell's voice in this video and it's clear (no pun intended) she sings Judy Collins or Joan Baez or anyone else of that era (or this) under the table. Her songwriting is on a par with anyone's . . . "A Case Of You" is a perfect little bittersweet bullet of a song, pure -- one of the few pieces of music I'd ever consider applying the word "luminous" to.

"You are in my blood like holy wine
Taste so bitter and so sweet
Oh, I could drink a case of you
And still be on my feet . . .
I would still be on my feet"