Watch Me Entertain Myself!

Sacha Guitry once said, "You can pretend to be serious, but you can't pretend to be witty." Oh yes, I'm the great pretender.
(pilot episode: 20 January 2004)

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Grow Up

The following portion of the song “Both Sides Now” by the great Joni Mitchell is dedicated to all Pisceans as we enter the period of the two fishes swimming in opposite directions:

“Moons and Junes and ferris wheels,
the dizzy dancing way you feel
as every fairy tale comes real;
I’ve looked at love that way.

But now it’s just another show.
You leave ‘em laughing when you go.
And if you care, don’t let them know,
don’t give yourself away.

I’ve looked at love from both sides now,
from give and take, and still somehow
it’s love’s illusions I recall.
I really don’t know love at all.”


The song was first released in 1969. She re-recorded it in an orchestral, jazzy arrangement in 2000. Below is her performance of the re-arranged classic that Rolling Stone magazine ranked as one of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

9 comments:

citybuoy said...

oh joni. don't we all just love her? i could listen to 'a case of you' forever and it would still hurt everytime. this particular song is also one of my faves. it's proof that no one ever knows love. perhaps because to quantify it would lose its meaning.

rudeboy said...

Thank you for that song, Joel.

I never really liked "Both Sides Now" until I heard it playing over the end credits to "Switch", that old movie starring Ellen Barkin as the reincarnation of a womanizing cad who gets to taste what it's like to be on the receiving end.

Anyway...this new arrangement makes the song sound as though it belongs in a Broadway musical. As to why you chose those particular lyrics...ah. I'm a Pisces, tried and true, and our star sign is most telling. Two fish swimming in opposite directions, pushed and pulled by the tides hither and thither.

Our natural instinct is to go with the flow, not to buck the tide. But sometimes, as someone once told me, we have make our own waves.

Guyrony said...

Not yet.

MrCens said...

sa pagsunod ko sa blog mo over years, isa sa mga nadiskubre ko sau is you sacrifice to let other shine na bihira na sa panahon ngayon...

masochist ka ba? lol!

~Carrie~ said...

Akala ko, ipi-feature mo ang version ni ate Shawie eh. Buti na lang yung original ang nai-showcase. Happy weekend, Joel!

gelangenie said...

This is such a potent song. I grew up in a car that played this over and over, when it was more juvenile and a little foolhardy.

Listening to it now, the dainty irony afforded by the 60's is lost in the cynical overtones of this new century. The song has grown sardonic, and we can't help but appreciate the bitter taste of it since it's so familiar, hits so close to home.

E said...

happt birthday sa atin Joel! :-D So, will i see you tonight?

Mac Callister said...

i love this song,siya pala original nito.

artistmonk said...

Cheers, fellow Piscean! :D