Poetic Licence
28 Jul 2006 18:00![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
muccamukkJoni Mitchell wrote a song called "Little Green" which may be found on Blue -- one of my favourite albums ever. We used to have it on vinyl, and it got a lot of play when I was a kid. Pretty early on, Dad explained that Mitchell had written "Little Green" as a message to the baby she gave up for adoption. She didn't tell anyone that's what it was until said baby grew up and contacted her. I don't think many people knew that she had even had a child before that.
I could never figure out how that worked. I mean here was a woman writing and singing about giving up a child for adoption. Obviously she had done so. Even later, when I understood that poets were not confined to their own experiences, it never occurred to me that anyone could think that she was referring to a hypothetical mother and baby. I literally only thought of it this year, and was like, "Oh, right, hmm." That whole album seems so personal that I have trouble separating her from it.
I have the same problem with Greg Brown. I can never tell if he's singing about his life or about an idea of a life. Many of his songs have a Dark Lad, someone he loves, or loved long ago, but with whom things never quite worked out, something he deeply regrets. I have always wondered what that story was, or if there was a story at all.
I could never figure out how that worked. I mean here was a woman writing and singing about giving up a child for adoption. Obviously she had done so. Even later, when I understood that poets were not confined to their own experiences, it never occurred to me that anyone could think that she was referring to a hypothetical mother and baby. I literally only thought of it this year, and was like, "Oh, right, hmm." That whole album seems so personal that I have trouble separating her from it.
I have the same problem with Greg Brown. I can never tell if he's singing about his life or about an idea of a life. Many of his songs have a Dark Lad, someone he loves, or loved long ago, but with whom things never quite worked out, something he deeply regrets. I have always wondered what that story was, or if there was a story at all.