January 04, 2012

Joni Mitchell - Michael from Mountains (1968)

Born Roberta Joan Anderson in Canada and known as one of the greatest songwriters in history, this female artist first found success when she moved to the US in 1965. The popularity of having other folk artists of the time recording her music led to her debut album in 1968. She has released a total of nineteen studio albums, ranging in style from folk to jazz, classical, and pop.

Coming from her debut album, Song to a Seagull, this song was inspired by Mitchell’s love of classical and folk music. This song, as well as the entire first side of the album, is about Mitchell’s failed marriage to Chuck Mitchell, from where her stage name came.

album cover

Joni Mitchell - Michael from Mountains (1968)

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Lyrics:

Michael wakes you up with sweets
He takes you up streets and the rain comes down
Sidewalk markets locked up tight
And umbrellas bright on a grey background
There's oil in the puddles in taffeta patterns
That run down the drain
In colored arrangements
That Michael will change with a stick that he found

Michael from mountains
Go where you will go to
Know that I will know you
Someday I may know you very well

Michael brings you to a park
He sings and it’s dark when the clouds come by
Yellow slickers up on swings
Like puppets on strings hanging in the sky
They'll splash home to suppers in wallpapered kitchens
Their mothers will scold
But Michael will hold you
To keep away cold ‘til the sidewalks are dry

Michael from mountains
Go where you will go to
Know that I will know you
Someday I may know you very well

Michael leads you up the stairs
He needs you to care and you know you do
Cats come crying to the key
And dry you will be in a towel or two
There's rain in the window
There's sun in the painting that smiles on the wall
You want to know all
But his mountains have called so you never do

Michael from mountains
Go where you will go to
Know that I will know you
Someday I may know you very well

Someday I will know you very well

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