Monday, May 08, 2006

More on Neil's Living With War album...

A nice article by Lynn Saxberg at the Ottowa Citizen:

"Get set for the Summer of Protest. With the blast of rock on his powerful new record, Living With War, Neil Young is issuing a cry that has the potential to turn moms, dads and misfits alike into peace activists.

It's a sharp-edged, urgent manifesto for our time, a message that is delivered with such passion that it will resonate across the demographics and quite likely serve as a unifying voice for the growing dissatisfaction with the policies of U.S. President George Bush."

Link

1 comment:

Mariah Fleming said...

Thanks for posting that link. Good to know that Canada still stands up for its own great artists, even if they haven't been heard from for way too long! I'm hoping Joni Mitchell will be the next one to give us some songs of conscience.

I still get chills whenever I hear "Fiddle and the Drum" from "Clouds." I used to play it on RPF whenever I could. Wouldn't it be great if the song were reissued? It's even more relevant today than it was then. Hard to believe things could have gotten so much more tangled in this fragile world.

THE FIDDLE AND THE DRUM
by JONI MITCHELL
And so once again
My dear Johnny my dear friend
And so once again you are fightin' us all
And when I ask you why
You raise your sticks and cry, and I fall
Oh, my friend
How did you come
To trade the fiddle for the drum

You say I have turned
Like the enemies you've earned
But I can remember
All the good things you are
And so I ask you please
Can I help you find the peace and the star
Oh, my friend
What time is this
To trade the handshake for the fist

And so once again
Oh, America my friend
And so once again
You are fighting us all
And when we ask you why
You raise your sticks and cry and we fall
Oh, my friend
How did you come
To trade the fiddle for the drum

You say we have turned
Like the enemies you've earned
But we can remember
All the good things you are
And so we ask you please
Can we help you find the peace and the star
Oh my friend
We have all come
To fear the beating of your drum
Copyright © 1969; Siquomb Publishing Company

Also I ran across info about a gallery that's doing a show in Saskatoon about her life (in collaboration with her parents) through May 22nd 2006: "As part of the Mendel Art Gallery’s Naked City series, 'The Amazing Childhood of Joni Mitchell' is presented in celebration of Saskatoon’s centenary. This special collection of photographs, drawings, writings and other memorabilia, on loan from Myrtle and Bill Anderson, provides an intimate glimpse into the formative years and childhood imagination of their world-famous daughter..."

The Mendel Art Gallery has some interesting information about her music and her life. And some wonderful photographs @jonimitchell.com Hey, anyone out there going to Saskatoon by way of Arizona??? (o: