Joni Mitchell - Song To A Seagull (1968)

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Joni Mitchell - Song To A Seagull (1968)

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Song to a Seagull is Joni Mitchell's 1968 debut album. Mitchell would later note that the album is more a result of her love of classical music than of folk, and this is evident through the thick, rich, and often unusual harmonies, and the densely poetic lyrics of the album. This album was originally released as an untitled or self-titled LP because of an error at Reprise Records' publishing department.

Song to a Seagull is a concept album divided into two halves: "I Came to the City" and "Out of the City and Down to the Seaside". (The two halves correspond to the two sides of the LP, which are identified as "Part 1" and "Part 2" rather than the conventional "Side 1" and "Side 2"). The first track refers to her failed marriage to Chuck Mitchell in Detroit, and a similar theme is explored with "Michael from Mountains", which questions whether one can truly love someone without knowing him. "Night in the City" is a celebration of nightlife; "Marcie" is a profile of a lonely woman, presumably a friend of Mitchell's; and "Nathan La Franeer" ends side one with the account of a bitter city-dwelling taxi driver Mitchell once encountered.

Side two takes on more natural, organic themes: "Sisotowbell Lane" describes domestic bliss (Joni has said that "Sisotowbell" stands for "Somehow, in spite of trouble, ours will be ever lasting love"),[2] and "The Dawntreader" and "Pirate of Penance" concern sea themes - first of a mystical sea captain calling her away, and then to a murderous pirate with whom a dancer is infatuated. Though some speculate that "The Dawntreader" is written for David Crosby, Mitchell has denied this. The final two tracks concern freedom: "Song to a Seagull" and "Cactus Tree". "Song to a Seagull" is especially noteworthy for its uninhibited treatment of the desire for freedom.

Mitchell had written songs that were hits for other artists (e.g., "Both Sides Now" and "Chelsea Morning" by Judy Collins, "Eastern Rain" by Fairport Convention, "Urge for Going," and "The Circle Game" by Tom Rush), but chose to record none of these for her debut. The album is dedicated to: "Mr. Kratzman, who taught me to love words."
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Joni Mitchell - Song To A Seagull (1968)

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In fact, Song To A Seagull (or simply Joni Mitchell, as it is known under both titles) is pretty much a unique album. The singer-songwriting movement was almost non-existent in 1968, and prog-rock was only in its infancy stage, the one where it mainly consisted of people plundering Bach and Ravel for ideas to incorporate within the rock'n'roll framework. "Emotionally", this record is perhaps the most closely related to Leonard Cohen - Canadian too? What an amazin' coincidence! - who was also debuting on the rock scene at the time; "emotionally" as far as the stripped-down atmosphere, the intimacy of the singing, and the complexity and multi-layeredness of the lyrics goes. However, it is also ten times as complex as anything Cohen ever did; after all, unlike the guy, Joni was a really musically gifted person, and both her guitar playing and her amazing control of her voice put Monsieur Cohen to shame. (Not that he ever even pretended to be a technically great singer or player, I'll give him that).

As you may know, Song is sort of a concept album, thus quite fitting in with the time when everybody was making up their own concepts. It's also Joni's most "hippiesque" album, and, as she herself seems to think now, her most "naive" one. True, occasionally it seems that she's blowing her pretentions out of control, and that the lyrics kind of float right there, without having any relations whatsoever to reality. But hey, it was a product of its own epoch, and many a songwriter had done much, much worse back then. Besides, it may be a "hippiesque" album, but it's definitely not a "hippie" album. It has nothing to do with the West Coast whatsoever. Rather it smells of the overseas-looking side of Greenwich Village, and from there to Toronto, and from there to France and the European surrealism of the time. In other words, it's more Jacques Brel than, uh, Pete Seeger.

The first side is the "city" part. Life in the city, love in the city, dark thoughts in the city, and suchlike. The lyrical picture painted isn't one of total despair, in fact, it's multi-sided, but it's definitely bleeker than whatever ensues. 'I Had A King' is kind of particularly depressing - a metaphor for Joni not being able to find quite the right man for herself? 'You know my thoughts don't fit the man, they never can, they never can'… The song did virtually nothing for me the first time I heard it, but I've come around full circle since then - that chorus is absolutely gorgeous. 'Michael From Mountains' is a bit more sentimental, kind of like the "found ideal" as opposed to the "lost ideal" of the previous song. I find the 'Michael from mountains, go where you will go to' chorus a bit clumsy, but then again, with Joni you never quite know what is clumsy and what isn't.

'Night In The City', one of my favourites, is the only fully-produced song on the album, where Joni is joined by Steve Stills on bass and also overdubs some electric piano; the most fascinating part, though, is the way she overdubs her own vocal harmonies - the chirping 'night in the CIIITY - night in the CIIITY - looks PRETTY to me…' is bedazzling. The most memorable, upbeat, optimistic, and 'poppy' song on the album, yet definitely not 'commercial' by any means. And then 'Marcie' and 'Nathan La Franeer' pick up the slowly-moving, delicately-constructed, introspective sentimentalism once again. 'Marcie' is the more "folkish" of the two, with a rather simple verse structure, but 'Nathan La Franeer' sounds like a gloomy medieval ballad, with an occasional jarring feedback "whoooooooosh" swooping through your speakers (why? I have no idea. It's easily the most dated thing on the whole record). Jonie's singing on 'Nathan' is particularly recommendable, as she explores every note in her register. You may not remember a word, but you gotta admire that mammoth of a vocal.

The second part is subtitled 'Out Of The City And Down To The Seaside', so the imagery is much more 'oceanic' - with sailing ships, pirates, seagulls, and stuff filling the lines. Out of these five, 'The Pirate Of Penance' and 'Song To A Seagull' are really striking; the former is almost a fully-written drama in itself, once again showcasing Joni's miraculous "duetting with herself", and the latter boasts a certain 'majesty of olde' as the actual lyrics would suggest: 'my dreams with the seagulls fly, out of reach, out of cry', Joni intones, as her guitar ventures into what looks like Celtic territory to me. But as good as these two are, I think that 'Cactus Tree' beats them in terms of memorability and yet has all they have to offer in atmosphere terms as well. One hell of a great song, building on slightly Dylanish lyrics (the 'listing' principles here are a bit reminiscent of 'A Hard Rain') and wonderful uses of the vocal melody - just listen to that falsetto 'of the water weeds…' line in the chorus and marvel at how fine it fits into the overall scheme of things.

I'll be the last to deny that the guitar-and-vocal-only schtick combined with a total lack of humor can get a bit tiresome. But to my mind, it is more or less fully compensated by the complexity and inventiveness of the tunes here - true, at times it feels like more of an academic than a heartfelt experience, but I think that this album has enormous growth potential, and in time you won't feel it that way. Whatever be, the fact is, this is an outstanding album, and it kick-starts much of the singer-songwriting movement, want it or not.
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