Living and learning and moving on: Joni Mitchell avoided a cliché and constructed something beautiful.

I've decided that it's okay if my feelings fall in line with a cliché; they exist for a reason, because the reality is that our humble experiences aren't that unique, which I believe is a good thing, providing a large platform for empathy.

Like a cliché, some songs lose their original meaning if listened to over and over again. It's the good songs, the artful ones, though, that retain their meaning. Yes, I experience song-burnout, but with the good songs, it's always there, when I'm ready for it again.

My favorite songs tell a story through their lyrics, vocals, and instrumentals. My favorite songs grow with me. While I'm still young, I'm reaching the age where songs begin to evolve in meaning, depending on the time and space. Take the ex who introduced you to Junior Boys and LCD Soundsystem. Take the middle school friends who convinced you to play guitar and Sublime. The songs meant wildly different things now and then, and I love them all the same, wildly.

I had a recent fling with Joni Mitchell's Blue. I had listened to Joni Mitchell before but in the peripheral sense: I had heard that song before; this song sounded familiar; etc.. Now that I'm older, with a wearing-out pair of ears, I gave Mitchell a good, thoughtful listen. I didn't think too hard, though. I listened and let her tell her story.

Blue was written after Mitchell's difficult break-up with Graham Nash, some while traveling Europe. The themes of heart break, the sadness that follows, and the road and redemption ahead are not unique. Many artists fail to compose work that covers these topics in a digestible form that won't make you vomit. But her work is so damn lyrically, vocally, and instrumentally insightful that she avoids the “bad” sentimentalism, and she transports us to her emotionally lush oracular-world.

In “A Case of You,” she masterfully depicts her infatuation, addiction to her past love.

Oh you are in my blood like holy wine/

Oh and you taste so bitter but you taste so sweet/

Oh I could drink a case of you/

I could drink a case of you darling/

And I would still be on my feet/

Oh I'd still be on my feet.

While the entire album is filled with gems, it's “California” that gets me. “California” takes us through her journey, where she runs away, literally moving on. After she's run enough, exhausting her alienation, she knows it's time to come back home, to California. The return is when she can really move on. So as she is ready to go home, she asks California to take her as she is. And this is the end of the song, the most important part of the song. We don't need to hear the resolution because we know that when you come face-to-face with your emotions, you're going somewhere; California, like Joni's feelings, like Joni's close family and friends aren't going anywhere. Thank you, Joni. I look forward to listening to this song again tomorrow, the day after, and when I'm really old.