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Searching for ghosts: fluidity and temporal expansion in Joni Mitchell's first five albums (1968–1972)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2019

Charles Ford
Charles Ford*
Affiliation:
Independent researcher E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Having first raised questions of musical evaluation, and introduced my analytical approach, I proceed to an empirical, in the sense of more-or-less objective, analysis of the metric and melodic aspects of the songs on those five LPs that constitute Joni Mitchell's early style: Song to a Seagull (1968), Clouds (1969), Ladies of the Canyon (1970), Blue (1971) and For the Roses (1972). The results of this style analysis are then summarised. Next I proceed to a more phenomenologically inclined examination of ethereal, since evanescent or ‘ghostly’, ‘haunting’ characteristics of musical fluidity and expansion in Mitchell's music. Such passages of ‘stretched’ musical time arise from several properties: regulated yet ambiguous metric irregularity, swinging around the beat and melodic flow. The essay concludes with close examinations of the longest and most fluid musical properties of ‘Willy’ (Ladies of the Canyon) and ‘Case of You’ (Blue).

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , October 2019 , pp. 399 - 422
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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Other artists

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