Added: 4 years ago
From: henhenstoll
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  • They just don't make em' like this anymore.

  • just sheer the beauty of her voice...

  • Beautiful. This is such a precious video.

    I don't understand why some people prefer Judy Collins' version. To me Joni sang it more soulfully and introspectively. Judy's sounds too commercial for my taste.

  • W.T.F? 23 Dislikes? Who, in there right mind would hate this song? There's more to music than: Rap!

  • Sorry Jock I was too young to appreciate her back in the early 70's Now ..... Absolutely Magical

  • And today they throw up Lady Gaga....Lord Help this Society!

  • Joni, Thank you for such a wonderful and lovely melody and lyrics, This is what sets you apart from those loser who call themselves musicians. There would never be another song like this and there willnever be another Joni,

    Merci mon couer

    Quincy-Jones

  • 22 people haven't looked from both sides <3

  • I learned of the jazzy version from Love Actually and it's been such a favourite ever since :)

    Such a beautiful sad song.

  • An utterly, utterly ravishing beauty of a song!

    What perfect poetry, musically as well as lyrically.

  • Saskatchewan and Canada's pride! Love you Joni! I would love to jam with you!

  • That's my favorite song by Joni Mitchell. Beautiful.

  • Nossa!! É muito bom ouvir Joni Mitchell. Essa é, com certeza, uma das minhas músicas preferidas.

  • Hauntingly beautiful voice, if you close your eyes she takes you to a far off heavenly place. Two beautiful instruments, the human voice and the acoustic guitar. Wonderful clip.

  • If you take away the words, this is a beautiful piece of music. If you take away the music, this is a beautiful piece of poetry. Put them together, wow. Thanks Joni.

  • why did my english teacher asign this for us to watch

  • @conan656 She was smart. What feelings did this song evoke?

  • @marcusliciniusad distaste. not really my style of music, and i dont only listen to rap so dont be getting on my case. he didnt even talk about it.... hes so weird

  • @marcusliciniusad First flush of sexual feeling....

  • @conan656 hahahaha. I love Joni Mitchell, but your comment cracks me up. Good Luck :)

  • @conan656 because you're supposed to listen to the lyrics and think about them.

  • @lhcarter nah not even lyrics are for chumps real music listeners chill with the instruments and he didnt even attempt to discuss it he didnt even ask who watched it so i think i will go back to my pink floyd listening spree now

  • @astudyofeverything Good point thx.

  • I think I am in the middle of a love affair with Joni's voice.

    Her album Blue makes me want to go pack a bag and just walk forever with the words ringing in my ears, Both Sides now makes me wish I still had the man I lost a year ago... Her voice cuts me to the core and then warms my heart like no other and her words seep into my soul.

    Such simple, beautiful, poignance and elegance.

  • @satelitelady

    Her voice truly gets better with age and it's like she wrote this song at 20 to sing with it's greatest impact at 60. She has no peer in the world of so called popular music.I just hope enough wise people endure over the next 50 years to point to her as a pinnacle of our culture and it's best values, of art and transcendence of the mundane.

  • the best ever

  • she is a genius

  • potential strong good voice

  • She is REALLY pretty in this video. Goes to show that a woman can be attractive without being trashy. A great performance, too... although I wonder how she is being miked?

  • @A7XHunney - don't forget that Judy Collins was around quite a bit longer than Joni Mitchell. And besides, they were/are two very different performers. I don't think you can say one is a copy of the other.

  • Joni WROTE this song! You Dumb Dumbs. Any musician worth there salt has covered this song. She wrote Circle Game too. Again, one for the ages.

  • @A7XHunney...Judy Collins "sang" her version once. Look around - there are at least five truly live Joni performances. This particular video has atrocious sound quality, but still her charismatic, wistful look back and forward pierces through. How many "live" performances of this song by Judy Collins have you seen? Just curious...

  • @Brillister Uh, I dunno how many there of JC singing this song live but there is an excellent vid of her singing this song live in 1976, easy to find if you look.

  • @Zepster77 - I stand corrected. As you point out, there are several Judy Collins live versions about; their performance quality is as clear and pristine as her single. I didn't even know she played guitar (and well).

    Thanks for the suggestion.

  • @Brillister

    What's Judy Collins have to do with it? She did karaoke right?

    It's really something to see a bashful Saskatchewan girl have such means to strike a chord within with her songs.

    She definitely exudes her awakening to the world without pulling punches, just very real, and she maintains that.

  • She's a classic. Wiki her up, she's amazing.

    BTW, there's still plenty of good music out there, you just have to look for it. You Old F*rts like me quit listening to the Classic Oldies stations and try some of the alternative stations. These kids put out some good stuff. Here's a good one: WVOD 99.1 The Sound.

  • I miss this sound... so much of my 70's childhood was played out with those wispy female singers as the back drop.. from Joni Mitchell to School House Rock .. sweet, contemplative, and innocent even when suppling an deep insight to life....

  • meh i like the Judy Collins version, waaaay better

  • @A7XHunney Joni Mitchell is an original Diva - Collins is a copy

  • so young, so beautiful and so great :)

  • There still is music like this nowadays, it's just that trash gets sold much more easily than quality stuff. Listen to Laura Marling's New Romantic, there's potential there :) There's truckloads of quality music, you just have to dig for it.

  • @leozingy You can dig to China, you won't ever find anything like Joni Mitchell again. Artists like her only come once.

  • @JosephCa64 Yup, I agree with you on that one. But there's still "good" music out there. ;) (I agree with that Alejandro comment at the top - sounds like a throwaway Madonna b-side... ugh)

  • @leozingy Of course there is and you're right, you just have to look a little harder. And, if you think about it, there are so many talented female musicians around today. Fiona Apple, Regina Spektor, Ani DeFranco, Tegan and Sara, Aimee Mann, Tori Amos, Lucinda WiIlliams, Miranda Lambert. It's a virtual golden age of talented gals, many of whom were greatly influenced by Miss Joni. The river keeps flowing.

  • @75janna Wow, that was random aggression. Sorry about expressing my opinion (which seems to be what these comment pages are for....)

  • what an angel.

  • The Canadian music industry was so creative back in these days, Joni, Buffy, Ian and Sylvia Tyson, and Terry and Susan Jacks. The songs were so great, and there beautiful voices, especially that of Susan.

  • @shottut Don't forget Leonard

  • @shottut ...and don't forget Neil Young and Leonard Cohen !

  • Joni Mitchell was homely but brillant, talented and sang like a sparrow. No one like her would be allowed to make music for a major label today. Unfortunately the great geniuses of our generation are no names, who will never be able to heal us with their medicine.

  • there is no music like this anymore, why oh why are we only stuck now with the likes of gaga, kesha and miley cyrus

  • These songs make me yearn for my younger days. Love and peace and all that corny stuff but it was wonderful. There are a few songs of today that will instill similar feeling to the yourth orf today in many years but not nearlyt as many.

    Oh well they can borrow ours if they wish !!!

  • Please please PLEASE! Don't let minorities tell us what we can do!

  • Fun fact: for every version of this song i've found, as the years go by, Joni's voice drops little and she sing the song slower the older she gets.

    I love this song, and I also love that she embraces the way her singing voice naturally gets darker as she get older. Classy! :)

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  • I can't get beond the depth of this sonit. I want to go back to 70 and soak in the TIMES

  • Lets just appreciate a beautiful song from a talented lady.

  • She's a genius

  • Life is something that goes on and goes in cyckles but as individuals we are here on earth today but tomorrow we wont. Yes, life or love is an illusion. Life seems like us coming and going. Well, I just dont know. I sing with Joni anyway. Realistically sentimental!

  • I think the lyrics make perfect sense. It's saying that every event is like a Rorshak blot of sorts that everyone interprets in their own way -and even an individual sees the same event differently from different perspectives of place and time. In the midst of all this, how can you say you know life or love something as if it's a fixed thing?

  • Amen.

  • Amen.

  • She's also wondering if perhaps she went too far and should have kept the child-like part of her more alive. I often wonder that as a parent because my kid was so free spirited that I constantly had to put the brakes on her till I felt I was becoming a drag. I think she's wondering where the balance is...

  • lblmer

    You are sad if you don't "get" this song. It's about obtaining adult perspective and the somewhat sad ending of innocent childhood. Sheesh.

  • Joni's version makes me cry. I don't cry often.

  • Love this song and love Joni. Don't analyze just enjoy the music.

  • @lblmer I teach this to my English class...hmmmm......maybe you are the nonsense....????

  • @watersong111 Joni's insight is weak. Mentally unstable. Flaky. Maybe your students need a better teacher/

  • @lblmer

    Nice...coming from creationist nutbar, I take that as a compliment....

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  • Hey 472729393 Let jonis' LOVE into yor soul. You clicked on it . Now love it!

  • @472729393 hahah i can do nothing but laugh at everything about that comment :P

  • She is just a D tuning strummer with a few picks thrown in. She's worthless on that instrument. And why "moons" and "Junes?" What significance does 'Junes' have? Is that some lame attempt at poetic assonance? Give me Keats. Give me a poet who makes every word count. What a joke. Talk about the crap they put out today. There were some wonderful musicians back in the seventies that the moron hippies will never remember, like Bill Chase or Jose Feliciano.

  • @472729393 Get therapy.

  • @472729393 'moons' and 'junes' is easy. A childish rhyme symbolic of blossoming youthful romance. Mr moonlight evenings, dancing on the beach. June is the 'summer' when passion is high. It's a teenage cliche but that is what teenage life is like and now she, the narrator, is older and has broken up with her boy. She has not only experienced her first love but also her first heartbreak. Keats is great but don't knock this if you won't give it a little time.

  • @472729393 Your narrow minded and immature thoughts and views on Joni Mitchell´s lyrics in her much appreciated song "Both sides now", are not very interesting I`m afraid . If you have some spare time on the side of whatever your business or mission in life is, my advice is that you create something genuine from your own mind and heart.... (this may be your big opportunity....!)

  • Thank you God for this amazing gift.

  • JONI MITCHELL IS ONE OF THE BEST...BUT FIONA APPLE IS ALSO VERY GOOD...SUZANNE VEGA...KATE BUSH,,,CHECK OUT FIONA APPLE DO...NEVER IS A PROMISE...OR I WANT YOU...OR FAST AS YOU CAN

  • It's unfortunate that people find it necessary to hate new music in order to love old music. Artists today are influenced by artists gone by and each song they make pays tribute.

    This is one of my favourite songs of all time but so are many recent songs. Yes... dare I say, even pop music.

  • @Nuovaisme Well said:)

  • 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 them laughing as you go

    And if you care don't let them know

    Don't give yourself away

    excactly how I feel!!

  • @boegh15ohyes and that's how I felt a very long time ago when I saw this beautiful girl with an even more beautiful voice in a coffee house in Toronto a very long time ago. I almost started crying but didn't want to give myself away. But I deep weep myself to sleep and my very often concerts after that changed my life.

    It was only about 2 years later that she 'made it big'......

  • WHEN SINGERS WERE POETS ALSO..TO MUSIC.

  • She may be the most talented Canadienne of all

  • perfection. This woman is a true artist.

  • 0:18 I love the control she have/had over her voice , goosebumps!

  • 'm so envious of people who can listen to a song like this and say "Ah, brings me back to days of my youth". 30 years from now, I'll be listening to songs like "Tik Tok" and "Alejandro" and say "Ah, still sounds like ass".

  • @locith There is great stuff out there right now. Check out Basia Bulat or Joanna Newsom.

  • @Mulder18 i must say that mentioning joanna newsom as "great" on one of the best singers of her time's video is offensive

  • @locith

    LOL! I totally agree~

  • @locith shudder....cringe

  • @locith so agreed! And I will be so sad that my youth and my generation was not marked with these great icons of music....nowadays the people that want to hear good music have to turn to the music that was done decades ago....and it's a piety.

  • @locith it's only by surfing thru here I'm able to find this=ngs like this girl with th ewonderful voice...and yea things Ke$ha and Lady Gaga make me wanna puke glitter too

  • @locith it's only by surfing thru here I'm able to find this=ngs like this girl with th ewonderful voice...and yea things Ke$ha and Lady Gaga make me wanna puke glitter too..and let me name a group from the 90's named Letters To Cleo....more danceable but still good

  • @locith

    absolutely!

  • @locith And 30 years from now you'll be an ass...still..

  • @locith You just have to look harder.

    Yes there is some garb out there, but seek and ye shall find.

    There is music out there now that will mean as much to you as Joni does to the older generation.

  • @locith - sigh.... i agree- well at least I was born in 1980- so some good songs came out of the 80s

  • @locith I do agree but at the same time our generation has produced some gems, Sufjan Stevens, Feist, Goldfrapp, Martha/Rufus Wainwright to name but a few, but there are numerous other ones. But the beauty of music is that it is different for everyone evoking emotions dependent on a persons background...

  • @locith Wise words, Three thumbs up :) It's funny cause it's true...but if it makes you feel any better, I get to look back at artists like Rick Astley and Starship - "We built this city", neither of which are aging with quite the dignity I had hoped for :)

  • @locith hahahahahaha I could not agree more.

  • @locith don't give up, there's still good music made out there...

  • @locith Yes but once consolation is that your generation won't have to say that you were..."afraid to live the life you made in song" (Jackson Browne-These Days)...what you get to look forward to my friend is that your generation will fix this world, and all that my generation and ones before us messed up ! I'm sure that will be a much sweeter memory for you than just an empty old folk song...

  • @locith During the Vietnam war, songs such as “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival and “Gimme Shelter” by the Rolling Stones are seen as classics of the era. The truth is when we look at Billboard year-end single charts from 1969, what is in top place? “Sugar, Sugar” by The Archies. Have you ever compared those lyrics with Bieber's "Baby Baby"?

    The classics of our era will prevail. You can't sit here in 2011 and make judgements based on what is coming out of your car radio.

  • her recent performances of this song are even better than this. age seems to have added gravitas and elegance. she is amazing

  • @joedgillis I love her and her music and, yes, her recent performance of this song adds the perspective of age and experience in a most magical way. Her voice, though, is gone from smoking and, instead, age and experience is what's left of it.

  • No wonder Robert Plant and Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin were obsessed with her. :D

  • amen to that!

  • This song breaks my heart every time and in listening to it over time, it's amazing how much more relevant it becomes. Even hearing Joni sing it during different periods, subtle nuances reverberate. I'll always be devoted to Joni, there are incredible singer song writers stlll--Ryan Adams, Patty Griffin, Brandi Carlisle, Martin Sexton, Wilco, Lucinda Williams, Lyle Lovett, Josh Rouse, Josh Ritter. Rather than bemoan a bygone era, listen and more important go see people perform.

  • @popart92nyc

    age brings wisdom and veneration. Joni sings the song now with a lifetime of learning... Sublime.

  • @elipsis000 Hear it. @mel577--joni is Canadian. Her great loves were Graham Nash + James Taylor.

  • @elipsis000 sublime is an apropos description. @mel577--Joni is Canadian and two great loves were Graham Nash + James Taylor.

  • Awesome...

  • Quite the fine lady . . .

    Johnny Cash had great talent on his show every week.

  • So Much We'll Never Know...

  • That was incredible. Thanks so much for posting.

  • ONe of the best songs ever written lyrically.

    

  • The perfect combination of song writing, voice, heart and soul. I recall the first time I heard Ladies of the Canyon from start to finish. I was hooked. Her amazing growth and experimentation with music has been a never ending pleasure to those of us who have been luck enough to recognize her talent. Here's to you, Joni!

  • i love how LOUD this video audio is, it sounds like angel's voices on my little netbook.

  • I remember Judy Collins' version of this song and it's good..but Joni's version is so much deeper..thanks for posting.

  • She looks like a fairy-tale princess with a broken heart in this video. Soooo sweet!!

  • @MrToits

    that sort of relatively abundanct lifestyle and consequent surge in the development of culture was possible because of the decision to stay away from WW2 but selling arms and heavy industy products to those countries partaking in the war. i really dont know which one's better, staying the hell away from wars but funding it indirectly, gaining wealth but losing the sense of morality, or electing a president who goes on fighting a pointless, unpopular war, losing both.

  • stunning

  • I sing this daily. I am not a great canadian (these folks are amazing ) but I from Buffalo & can reasonably sing this just because I love it & have heard it since childhood . Thank you < Joni ,you changed my life & so many others !!

  • I like the simplicity of just vocals and guitar. A lot of singers use instruments that don't add anything or make the song worse.

  • Bob Dylan stated there was not a single major female poet in the English Language.  Joni was one of many and Dylans creative equal.

  • Good God Almighty this is such a good song. Chords, lyrics, voice....just completely amazing.

  • Fiona Apple can succeed her if she ups her output of gr8 tunes. this is how u do it

  • Joni is absolutly fantastic, her writing is so personal and unashamedly honest, its all about HER......and us. A great guitar player too...You can hear how heavily Joni Mitchell has influenced so many different people from Princes raw honesty in his lyrics to Jimmy pages guitar playing. Shes a force to be reckoned with, we should have a Joni day!

  • Angelic fluttery vibrato. ;-)

  • This woman is just amazing.

  • I prefer her year 2000 live performance.. more mature voice suits this..

  • Great song and singing. She looks a fox here.

  • Truly excellent!

  • 1965 to 1985, best period in American music? I agree up to a point. Canada and the States produced a huge quantity of music during that era that has stood the test of time. The Canadian music industry has only gotten stronger. The US seems to have gone the other way. Their best was back then.

  • To this day,Amazing !!!!

  • Love it ...

  • her voice makes me cry. she is so powerful and amazing. Joni, i love you!

  • Joni Mitchell, a Martin Guitar , a grammy award winning song, and Johnny Cash.

    This is what life is all about-

    Love, nothing but love.

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  • This song is really sad and beautiful. It is like you can go through all this pain and hardship in life, but you still don't really know anything about life. It brings a lot of sadness, when you think about it.

  • Now this is how this song should be sung! Much better than Judy Collins's emotionless redition.

  • @Cissy2cute But didn't Judy write this piece?

  • @Thejbirdy - No, Joni Mitchell wrote this song. She sings it with 110% more emotion than the rendition that Judy Collins did. I love the song when it is sung by Joni. I also love her "Yellow Taxi". Pure genius.

  • @Cissy2cute I agree this is so much better done by Joni, just a fantastic voice always and ever. You think Big Yellow Taxi is great check out a song called "In France they kiss on main street" a beautiful jazzy tune with Jaco Pastorius on bass and Pat Metheny on guitar! Just awesome.

  • Where are all the Joni Micthells and Laura Nyros? Beautiful melody.

  • To continue the thought ... Raindrops falling on my head And snowdrifts piled outside my shed Are what comes from those clouds I dread So I wished them away But now I'm parched since came the drought I rush to put the fires out And then I stop to think about that "both sides" thing I say. I've looked at rain from both sides now From hide and seek and still somehow It's rain illusions I recall There aren't just "two sides" at all!
  • @Seasass Great fourth stanza! Good job, loved it!

  • @tuxtommy69 Aw, shucks - thanks!

  • 1965 to 1985 are the best period in American Music in all sectors from pop, rock, soul, country, folk and disco, this is also the best that United States has been where one can live on minimum wage and be able to rent a one bedroom apt. and buy a new car and still save some money. There are some good tidbits of music here and there once in a while in todays music, and life nowadays is really crapy and just nothing to look forward too. Corruption has taken front seat for the past 2 decades.

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  • @MrToits You nailed it dead on, Mr Toits. the 60s and 70s was the absolutely peak for the USA and the world. And its all gone. All over but the crying. Joni's voice is so beautiful but yet also like a knife in the heart. What the H happened, anyway? Who took my 1970. I'll have their heads!

  • @MrToits I thought she was Canadian?

  • i'd go from 50-80

  • @MrToits pssst.......Joni isnt American

  • @Kilerchuk

    isent Canada a part of America?

  • @Kilerchuk pssst............ Canada is part of America

  • @iamtalamox the Americas.

  • @MrToits You do realize that the seventies were the worst economic time for America since the great depression? Stagflation.

  • @MrToits i aGREE!!! U R SO RIGHT!!!

  • @MrToits I'm surprised you think that corruption has taken a front seat for the past 2 decades. What about the past 20 centuries? You must be young and disillusioned or mid and disappointed or old and bitter. Whatever, maybe it's because I'm Canadian and had the privilege of see Joni and Neil live in a small coffee house that this particular slice of my life holds special memories and very deep meaning. I still don't know life at all, but it is life and it's all good. Listen with your heart.

  • @MrToits more like Canadian music

  • @MrToits Dude. chear up. Not saying it's false.

    You forget Jazz!!!! Best period in American music?

  • @MrToits The recording industry, along with radio & tv back in the day did a good job as gatekeepers to keep the standards of music top notch. You really had to have something to get airplay and promotion of your recordings. Anyone can make a digital master now, complete with electronically fixing an off-key voice and mediocre musicianship. The public has also been dumbed down by the lowered standards. Still you can seek out good music and find it in both old and new sources, like youtube.

  • @MrToits NOW THAT'S SOME DAMN FINE COMMENTING!!!!!!!!!

  • @MrToits

    Joni Mitchell is Canadian

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  • I love all kinds of music from Joni Mitchell here to great live rock and blues bands like Humble Pie. Most of the good stuff is from the 60s and 70s when what you heard is what you got. There are some good sounds around today but not on the same level as back then when you consider what they had to work with compared to now. And how many songs stick in your memory like this one from Joni.

  • I don't know what it is about that time in history, it is hard to describe or to put into words. But to have been young and to grow up in that time is something I wish my children today could experience. I truly believe the youth movement of that era all over the world changed the course off history. It's a time that still lives in me and is greatly a part of my make up of who I am and to here these songs "that time" seems to briefly wash over me again.

  • @hornetsnest001 - Your reply is beautiful and oh so truel. I feel so fortunate to have been along for that ride. Thank you for sharing these thoughts with us.

  • wow

  • Sometimes over the years I have seen performances so mesmerizing they forever stick. First time I (and almost everyone) heard Santana (at Woodstock, the sun came out for them). first time I heard U2 on TV, now this.

  • henhenstoll  :) Thanks for this posting! Made my night; this the fourth replay. What a talent: sings, plays, writes the words, and an artist ( see her cover art for "Both Sides Now" album.