Joni Mitchell

[fox69]

"Dog Eat Dog"

"Dog Eat Dog"



It's dog eat dog--I'm just waking up
The dove is in the dungeon
And the white-washed hawks pedal hate and call it love
Dog Eat Dog
Holy hope in the hands of
Snakebite evangelists and racketeers
And big wig financiers

DOG EAT DOG
On prime time crime the victim begs
Money is the road to justice
And power walks it on crooked legs
Prime--Time--Crime
Holy hope in the hands of
Snakebite evangelists and racketeers
And big wig financiers

Where the wealth's displayed
Thieves and sycophants parade
And where it's made--
the slaves will be taken
Some are treated well
In these games of buy and sell
And some like poor beast
Are burdened down to breaking

DOG EAT DOG
It's dog eat dog, ain't it Flim Flam man
Dog eat dog, you can lie, cheat, skim, scam
Beat'em any way you can
Dog eat Dog
You'll do well in this land of
Snakebite evangelists and racketeers
You could get to be
A big wig financier

Land of snap decisions
Land of short attention spans
Nothing is savored
Long enough to really understand
In every culture in decline
The watchful ones among the slaves
Know all that is genuine will be
Scorned and conned and cast away

Dog eat dog
People looking, seeing nothing
Dog eat dog
People listening, hearing nothing
Dog eat dog
People lusting, loving nothing
Dog eat dog
People stroking, touching nothing
Dog eat dog
Knowing nothing
Dog eat dog

 

[fox69]

"Don Juan's Reckless Daughter"

"Don Juan's Reckless Daughter"




I'm Don Juan's reckless daughter
I came out two days on your tail
Those two bald-headed days in November
Before the first snowflakes sail
Out on the vast and subtle plains of mystery
A split tongue spirit talks
Noble as a nickel chief
Striking up an old juke box
And he says:
"Snakes along the railroad tracks."
He says, "Eagles in jet trails ..."
He says, "Coils around feathers and talons on scales ...
Gravel under the belly plates ..."
He says, "Wind in the Wings ..."
He says, "Big bird dragging its tail in the dust ...
Snake kite flying on a string."

I come from open prairie
Given some wisdom and a lot of jive!
Last night the ghosts of my old ideas
Reran on channel five
And it howled so spooky for its eagle soul
I nearly broke down and cried
But the split tongue spirit laughed at me
He says, "Your serpent cannot be denied."
Our serpents love the whisky bars
They love the romance of the crime
But didn't I see a neon sign
Fester on your hotel blind
And a country road come off the wall
And swoop down at the crowd at the bar
And put me at the top of your danger list
Just for being so much like you are!

You're a coward against the altitude--
You're a coward against the flesh--
Coward--caught between yes and no
Reckless this time on the line for yes, yes, yes!
Reckless brazen in the play
Of your changing traffic lights
Coward--slinking down the hall
to another restless night
As we center behind the eight ball
As we rock between the sheets
As we siphon the colored language
Off the farms and the streets
Here in Good-Old-God-Save-America
the home of the brave and the free
We are all hopelessly oppressed cowards
Of some duality
Of restless multiplicity
(Oh say can you see)

Restless for streets and honky tonks
Restless for home and routine
Restless for country-safety-and her
Restless for the likes of reckless me
Restless sweeps like fire and rain
Over virgin wilderness
It prowls like hookers and thieves
Through bolt locked tenements
Behind my bolt locked door
The eagle and the serpent are at war in me
The serpent fighting for blind desire
The eagle for clarity
What strange prizes these battles bring
These hectic joys-these weary blues
Puffed up and strutting when I think I win
Down and shaken when I think I lose
There are rivets up here in this eagle
There are box cars down there on your snake
And we are twins of spirit
No matter which route home we take
Or what we forsake
We're going to come up to the eyes of clarity
And we'll go down to the beads of guile
There is danger and education
In living out such a reckless life style
I touched you on the central plains
It was plane to train my twin
It was just plane shadow to train shadow
But to me it was skin to skin
The spirit talks in spectrums
He talks to mother earth to father sky
Self indulgence to self denial
Man to woman
Scales to feathers
You and I
Eagles in the sky
You and I
Snakes in the grass
You and I
Crawl and fly
You and I

 

[fox69]

"Don't Go To Strangers"

"Don't Go To Strangers"



Build your dreams
To the stars above
But when you need someone true to love
Don't go to strangers
Lover come to me

Play with fire
Get your fingers burned
But when there's no place left to turn
Don't go to strangers
Lover come to me

You give the call to follow your heart
You'll follow your heart, I know
I've been around
I'm an old hand
I'll understand if you have to go

So make your mark
For your friends to see
But when you need more than company
Don't go to strangers
Lover come to me

Don't go to strangers
Lover come to me

 

[fox69]

"Don't Interrupt The Sorrow"

"Don't Interrupt The Sorrow"



Don't interrupt the sorrow
Darn right
In flames our prophet witches
Be polite
A room full of glasses
He says, Your notches liberation doll
And he chains me with that serpent
To that Ethiopian wall

Anima rising
Queen of Queens
Wash my guilt of Eden
Wash and balance me
Anima rising
Uprising in me tonight
She's a vengeful little goddess
With an ancient crown to fight

Truth goes up in vapors
The steeples lean
Winds of change patriarchs
Snug in your bible belt dreams
God goes up the chimney
Like childhood Santa Claus
The good slaves love the good book
A rebel loves a cause

I'm leaving on the 1:15
You're darn right
Since I was seventeen
I've had no one over me
He says Anima rising-
So what-
Petrified wood process
Tall timber down to rock!

Don't interrupt the sorrow
Darn right
He says, We walked on the moon
You be polite.
Don't let up the sorrow
Death and birth and death and birth and death and birth
He says, Bring that bottle kindly
And I'll pad your purse-
I've got a head full of quandary
And a mighty, mighty, thirst.

Seventeen glasses
Rhine wine
Milk of the Madonna
Clandestine
He don't let up the sorrow
He lies and he cheats
It takes a heart like Mary's these days
When your man gets weak

 

[fox69]

"Don't Worry 'Bout Me"

"Don't Worry 'Bout Me"



Don't worry 'bout me
I'll get along
Forget about me
Just be happy my love

Let's say that our little show is over
And so the story ends
Why not call it a day the sensible way
And still be friends

Look out for yourself
That should be the rule
Give your heart and your love
To whomever you love
Darlin' don't be a fool

Why do we cling to this old faded thing
That used to be
So if you can forget
Then don't worry 'bout me

Why should we cling to some old faded thing
That used to be
So if you can forget
Then you don't worry 'bout me

 

[fox69]

"Down To You"

"Down To You"



Everything comes and goes
Marked by lovers and styles of clothes
Things that you held high
And told yourself were true
Lost or changing as the days come down to you
Down to you
Constant stranger
You're a kind person
You're a cold person too
It's down to you
It all comes down to you

You go down to the pick up station
Craving warmth and beauty
You settle for less than fascination
A few drinks later you're not so choosy
When the closing lights strip off the shadows
On this strange new flesh you've found
Clutching the night to you like a fig leaf
You hurry
To the blackness
And the blankets
To lay down an impression
And your loneliness

In the morning there are lovers in the street
They look so high
You brush against a stranger
And you both apologize
Old friends seem indifferent
You must have brought that on
Old bonds have broken down
Love is gone
Oooh love is gone
Written on your spirit this sad song
Love is gone

Everything comes and goes
Pleasure moves on too early
And trouble leaves too slow
Just when you're thinking
You've finally got it made
Bad news comes knocking
At your garden gate
Knocking for you
Constant stranger
You're a brute you're an angel
You can crawl you can fly too
It's down to you
It all comes down to you

 

[fox69]

"Dreamland"

"Dreamland"



It's a long, long way from Canada
A long way from snow chains
Donkey vendors slicing coconut
No parkas to their name
Black babies covered in baking flour
The cook's got a carnival song
We're going to lay down someplace shady
With dreamland coming on
Dreamland, dreamland
Dreamland, dreamland

Walter Raleigh and Chris Columbus
Come marching out of the waves
And claim the beach and all concessions
In the name of the suntan slave
I wrapped that flag around me
Like a Dorothy Lamour sarong
And I lay down thinking national
With dreamland coming on
Dreamland, dreamland
Dreamland, dreamland

Goodtime Mary and a fortune hunter
All dressed up to follow the drums
Mary in a feather hula-hoop
Miss Fortune with a rose on her big game gun
All saints, all sinners shining
Heed those trumpets all night long
Propped up on a samba beat
With dreamland coming on
Dreamland, dreamland
Dreamland, dreamland

Tar baby and the Great White Wonder
Talking over a glass of rum
Burning on the inside
With the knowledge of things to come
There's gambling out on the terrace
And midnight ramblin' on the lawn
As they lead toward temptation
With dreamland coming on
Dreamland, dreamland
Dreamland, dreamland

In a plane flying back to winter
In shoes full of tropic sand
A lady in a foreign flag
On the arm of her Marlboro Man
The hawk howls in New York City
Six foot drifts on Myrtle's lawn
As they push the recline buttons down
With dreamland coming on
Dreamland, dreamland
Dreamland, dreamland

La, La ...
African sand on the trade winds
And the sun on the Amazon
As they push the reline buttons down
With dreamland coming on
Dreamland, dreamland
Dreamland, dreamland

 

[fox69]

"Edith And The Kingpin"

"Edith And The Kingpin"



The big man arrives
Disco dancers greet him
Plainclothes cops greet him
Small town, big man, fresh lipstick glistening
Sophomore jive
From victims of typewriters
The band sounds like typewriters
The big man he's not listening
His eyes hold Edith
His left hand holds his right
What does that hand desire
That he grips it so tight

Edith in the ring
The passed-over girls are conferring
The man with the diamond ring is purring
All claws for now withdrawn
One by one they bring
His renegade stories to her
His crimes and his glories to her
In challenge they look on
Women he has taken grow old too soon
He tilts their tired faces
Gently to the spoon

Edith in his bed
A plane in the rain is humming
The wires in the walls are humming
Some song-some mysterious song
Bars in her head
Beating frantic and snowblind
Romantic and snowblind
She says-his crime belongs
Edith and the Kingpin
Each with charm to sway
Are staring eye to eye
They dare not look away
You know they dare not look away

 

[fox69]

"Electricity"

"Electricity"



The Minus is loveless
He talks to the land
And the leaves fall
And the pond over-ices
She don't know the system, Plus
She don't understand
She's got all the wrong fuses and splices
She's not going to fix it up
Too easy

The masking tape tangles
It's sticky and black
And the copper
Proud headed Queen Lizzie
Conducts little charges
That don't get charged back
Well the technical manual's busy
She's not going to fix it up too easy
And she holds out her flashlight
And she shines it on me
She wants me to tell her
What the trouble might be
Well I'm learning
It's peaceful
With a good dog and some trees
Out of touch with the breakdown
Of this century
They're not going to fix it up
Too easy

We once loved-together
And we floodlit that time
Input-output-electricity
But the lines overloaded
And the sparks started flying
And the loose wires
Were lashing out at me
She's not going to fix that up
Too easy
But she holds out her candle
And she shines it in
And she begs him to show her
How to fix it again
While the song that he sang her
To soothe her to sleep
Runs all through her circuits
Like a heartbeat
She's not going to fix it up
Too easy

 

[fox69]

"Ethiopia"

"Ethiopia"



Hot winds and hunger cries--Ethiopia
Flies in your babies' eyes--Ethiopia
Walking sticks on burning plains
Betrayed by politics
Abandoned by the rains
On and on--the human need
On and on--the human greed profanes
Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia
Your top soil flies away--Ethiopia
We pump ours full of poison spray--Ethiopia
Between the brown skies and sprinkling lawns
I hear the whine of chain saws
Hacking rain forests down
On and on--insanities
On and on--Short sighted greed abounds
Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia
Little garden planet-oasis in space
Some hearts hurt--they can hardly stand it
Famine phantoms at the garden gates
Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia
Every Sunday on T.V.--Ethiopia
You suffer with such dignity--Ethiopia
A T.V. star with a P.R. smile
Calls your baby "it" while strolling
Through your tragic trials
On and on--stupidity
On and on--the basic needs are defiled
Good air--good water--good earth
Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia
Little garden planet--oasis in space
Some hearts hurt--they can hardly stand the waste
Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia