Cultural Embodiment @ The Stoa Is At Noon EST Tomorrow ~ Both Sides Now
What it means to be a legend
Dear Friends,
Tomorrow for cultural embodiment, we will bear witness to the stunning recovery of Joni Mitchell, the great singer songwriter…ever an inspiration. Please join us if you’re new to the practice and want to give embodied sensemaking a try. This will be a beautiful one. We meet on ZOOM from 12-1p EST Thursday.
Last week, Joni, 78, gave a surprise performance at the Newport Jazz Festival. The performance was remarkable for two key reasons:
Her last live performance, guitar in hand, for a paying audience, was 23 years ago on her 55th birthday. Fans thought she might never perform live again.
In 2015, Joni suffered a major brain aneurysm that nearly cost her her life and took away her ability to speak and even to walk, let alone sing or play guitar. She described the process of recovering these functions as being “returned to infancy.” She says she re-learned the guitar by watching videos of herself “to figure out where to put my fingers.”
The video of the song, Both Sides Now, which she gets through beautifully supported by the singer, Brandi Carlile, went viral. It’s really worth spending some time with. The song was written in 1967 before Joni played the New port Jazz Festival for the first time, so the symmetry was poignant. According to a Times article, critics at that early performance scoffed at the then-20-something-Joni crooning such a wise and world-weary tune. It seemed to land differently this time around…like she’s earned it.
As for feeling into this piece…I want to thank David Jacobs for bringing it to my attention on Tuesday. We were in a meditation on pride and humility and it led us to this beautiful, poignant place where we felt what leadership, real leadership…and perhaps, real eldering…feels like. The sentiment we achieved in the meditation reminded David of this performance, which he pointed us to and I have been thinking about it ever since. So have many others. It seems to hold a piece of the resilience of the human spirit that we could all use a reminder of in these times.
Here are the lyrics, which are worth reading before we witness the clip together tomorrow:
Both Sides Now
Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
Looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun
They rain and they snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way
I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all
Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way that you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way
But now it's just another show
And 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 that I recall
I really don't know love
Really don't know love at all
Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say, "I love you" right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way
Oh, but now old friends they're acting strange
And they shake their heads and they tell me that I've changed
Well something's lost, but something's gained
In living every day
I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all
It's life's illusions that I recall
I really don't know life
I really don't know life at all
–Joni Mitchell, 1967
Also, just for fun. This clip from the Scorsese Dylan documentary in 2019 of Joni performing the song, Coyote, which she’d just written was a showstopper and some said, even upstaged Dylan in his own documentary. The setting is relaxed, artists and friends gathered at the home of Gordon Lightfoot, a young Dylan backing her up, playing like kids. There is a talent so raw here. Enjoy.
And hope to see you tomorrow to find even more nuance and meaning together!