Joni Mitchell- Twisted

[susannacanessa]

The best album by Joni Mitchell! I love it!...I've the vinil!!

[sidhrtha]

this is one of the best vocal albums in existence. she is incredible. the songs emit so much emotion and this one is a light cap to end it.

[ready4peace]

i like both versions.... the lambert, hendricks & ross version as well as this one. In my opinion, joni stayed true to the jazz roots of this song while presenting it in a contemporary collection. what is so cool about this version, is that her personality really comes out. When she did this song, she was considered a pretty "quirky chick", so this song is perfect!!! (oh yeah, technically, L,H & R's version was a "cover" of a sax solo anyways!!!!)

[tall32guy]

This is the first time I heard this song and didn't realize it was a "redo". It is my favorite version. :)

[HempMasterNinja]

The melody sounds like somebody took a sax solo, wrote it out, and then put it to words. awsome...

[mikeischangingplaces]

the "jazz purists act like snobs" and "don't get it" - i can't believe that. pat metheny, michael brecker, charles mingus, and even weather report all played with her. anybody who knows anything about jazz couldn't snub her so easily

[MilkOfSuccess]

I love Joni Mitchell... but this recording sounds like a cover.

Know what I mean? There are some songs hat some people just don't do well.

I don't like this mostly because the instrumentals sound kind of dimpy...

[boojibob]

My very favorite Joni Mitchell song ever!

[rosieroses87]

Oh my God, I can so relate to this!

[rxfloyd1]

love the part about not riding on a double bus cause theres no driver for the top!!! ha ha!

[dendroicazenaida]

Cheech & Chong are on this! :D

[Grif2112]

@dendroicazenaida I laughed so hard when I heard them.

[AleekahTV]

such a whimsical tune haha

I like it

[Ypipable]

Something to look forward to....

[crazydang101]

4 people dont understand uniqueniss

[bowedmyhead]

Joni has got the best jazzvoice.

[probinson1337]

Wilt Felder plays that incredible bass line

[Ypipable]

I'd love to blow her feet.

[Easygoingfellow]

amazing swinging bass...

[Easygoingfellow]

amazing swing bass...

[rumpraisin]

Analyst = mind jester to the rich.

[crazydang101]

multipal personality something i forgot?

[crazydang101]

does she really have 2 heads in the song?

[bobbydean2]

love this son

[ballonfisch]

This tune kindled me for Joni. Thank you, Mrs. Ross!

[xxthreeheadedbabyxx]

actually 3 heads are better than 2

[mujersemilla]

Jazz!!!!

Adoro Joni Mitchell!

[highpsi11]

Joni made three goofs, or changes, from Annie Ross' original lyrics: Annie wrote: "that's why I drank a fifth of vodka one night" (not "that's why I got into the vodka one night"). Annie wrote: "They all laughed at A. Graham Bell "(not "They all laughed at angry young men"). And Annie wrote: "They didn't understand the reasoning and the logic" (not "They didn't understand the litany and the logic")

But Joni's version is delightful and a fine tribute to Annie Ross.

[integral]

@highpsi11 I've been wondering why Joni's hand written lyrics differ from the way she sings it. Thanks for clearing that up (:

[Flooner75]

@highpsi11 - not to be a poo (or disagree with you) but it's "they just didn't understand the idiomatic logic"

[Flooner75]

@Flooner75 - now I can be a poo to myself: "they just COULDN'T understand the idiomatic logic" ::ahem::

[Flooner75]

@highpsi11 -- Annie Ross DID write "they didn't understand the litany and the logic," while Joni Mitchell wrote it as "they just couldn't understand the idiomatic logic"

[chewjfsh]

Yes, this is not a Joni original, a rare one indeed. It is Annie Ross's original. But...this is a better version..with Cheech and Chong. Almost as good is Jane Monheit's. Not an easy song to sing but I think Joni and Jane nailed it.

[marcelopucheta]

JONI DIOSA MARAVILLOSA !!!! DIOSA TOTAL !!!!!

[David137100]

i love this song by Joni Mitchell and have never heard a better version...Thanks for this one Joni...it brings back so many memories of my teen years.

[EminemMusicBroadcast]

I Love you Joni<3

[LibbyLungs]

how can there be better versions if she is the one who wrote and sang this to begin with??? I memorized the lyrics the very first time I heard this, many moons ago:)))

[leolita2001]

Mmhhh. She is struggling with this to be honest. There's better versions around.

[124roger]

Joni? Genius - but this was a big mistake. You know what man said. It don't mean a thing ...

I see Annie with a wry smile.

[louiseduvee]

Is that Cheech & Chong near the end?

[imdanhoover]

@louiseduvee ..yup...

[louiseduvee]

@imdanhoover Thanks:)

[dbowie007]

I understand perfectly.....and that is probably not good....LOL...Great song! Love Joni Mitchell....

[Asigner4u2]

...I knew I was a genius, what's so strange when you know that you're genius at 3?

[reikiangel24]

Love Joni!

[dannybighair]

She's great. Rhythm section however....

[Ecdysiast96]

You'd have to be crazy not to like this song

[gfks11]

Grazieee Lee.. very extraordinarily!!

[Seattlecarnut]

"What? No driver on the top?"

[ItsANDREZ]

there are no "FLAT NOTES" in this song...if you know ANYTHING about jazz. it's purposeful and absolutely brilliant! the seemingly random progressions are because she's literally supposed to sound "crazy" as she sings her story.

[jjmeowmeow]

I have listened to this 3 times now. I haven't heard it since I was 5.

I have it completely memorized. :)

[jjmeowmeow]

2 people missed the like button..

[jjmeowmeow]

i learned this when i was 4. Man, i had the lyricsall wrong! lol I'm so glad i found it again!

[jgween1]

ah, the memories.

this was a lullaby to me when i was a baby. i love this song

[FLBoy46]

Classic vocalese by Joni M !!! Such a great job !!!

[TheSabybaby]

know all the words of this song,, cant sing it with friends face to face without a little giggle.. great classic.. ty for post

Blessings

[SuperTonman]

I heard little children were supposed to sleep tight..that's why I got into the vodka one night....LOL...LOVE IT!

[Ningxiabird]

@SuperTonman the original is "drank a fifth of vodka" . 

[plocke560]

almost my fav of hers

[Cows2Luv]

Geez. This version is just as good (Maybe Better!) than Annie Ross's version.

[ThousandShakes]

Cheech & Chong !!

[sirendip]

twisted, yeah still twisted after all these years

[rheola55]

MY ALL TIME FAVE..says it all!

[lancitos]

Every singer has their own interpretation of songs.This is the first non Joni song she put on LP,so she had pass to do anything she wanted. This is no "mistake". This is a fun version and interpretation of a fun song.

It's the perfect cap to a perfect LP.Because after going through all of these incredible emotions,Joni makes you smile,and then laugh.

And that makes you want to put the LP (or CD) on,again and again and again.

Too bad if the jazz "purists" act like snobs,and just don't get it.

[Ypipable]

It's like getting your arm caught in the ringer.

[tfronauer]

I agree. This is the only misstep of what is otherwise a truly amazing album. If you are going to even approach Annie Ross, you gotta really nail it, and she doesn't even come close.

[Cows2Luv]

Now,do you thing I was crazy? I may off been only 3, But I was swinging! They all laugh at angry young men. They all laughed at Edison And also at Einstein. So why should I feel sorry When they just couldn't understand The idiomatic logic that Went on in my head? I had a brain It was insane! Oh,they used to laugh at me when I refused to ride On all those double decker buses Because there was no driver on the top!

[Snakes50]

wow. And I'm gonna sing this for my talent show?

[Pretenders911]

"And he thought I was nuts, no more ifs or ands or buts..."

[ThousandShakes]

Cheech: "That chick is twisted, crazy, wooby-shooby, flip city..."

[soulchild180]

"...I wouldn't ride all those double decker buses 'cause there was no driver on the top!"

<3

[solredoc]

fantastica

[oitsbarb55]

OMG! that was cheech an chong? LOL!

[JCJasion]

Yuppers

[oitsbarb55]

@oitsbarb55 I suppose if i had liatened more carefully i would have 'heard' thier voices...lol... too funny to have recently learned this...

[Ypipable]

A double please, right here.

[2cool2btrue2]

j'aime =)

[alien8me]

it's ok.. but, she's no annie

[ITCJon]

Note the commentary from Cheech & Chong at 1:47.

[mslilyk]

Annie's version with Count Basie. which links here as a "related video," isn't chopped liver, either.

Unfortunately, due to youthful indiscretion, she allowed the rights to slip away, so Annie saw no royalties on this, nor on Crystal Waters' popular 1991 recording.

[faronthefiddler]

Joni does it just right. Good vocal range. She really is one of the best singers.

[rdv1982]

this song blows chunks

[cherrycola059]

I like Joni's version - her range is amazing, all the while swinging it. Very hard to do - try it!

[TheSoundsage]

The first time I heard it was Bette Midler on her album "The Divine Miss M"- fantastic (she and

Rosie O'Donnell do a version here that is cute)

[ronaldjevans]

Great 1949 tune by tenor saxophonist Wardell Gray.  Lyrics added three years later by Annie Ross (of Lamberts, Hendricks & Ross).

[wordzly]

Well, this is my favorite version of this great song.

[masonbarge]

I like the faster tempo of the LH&R version; it's more in keeping with the musical idea. But this one's excellent.

[notiteither]

Great tune for warmin' up the chords.

[keta333]

I must agree,2 heads are better than one.I keep my spare head under my bed,where do you keep yours??

[jmg2303]

Great tune

[grohrer]

Annie Ross IS this song. Period.

[UpstairsMaid]

annie ross rock. joni breathes life into a song that had disapppeared from public view

[keta333]

twisted...or cource she wrore it.....

because two heads are better than one,

[gslacks]

Annie Ross wrote it in like 1952.

[keta333]

you must get crazy/ joni Mitchell..Twisted when you find your perfert phyc/ you will find your perfect plan

[vitesenzafine]

Totally swingless version of Annie Ross' vocalese version of Wardell Gray's song

[obamadidit2008]

gotta disagree vite, annie ross might have written the song but joni had the VOICE.

[8mousey8]

Nope...It doesn't swing. Fact.

[mhuntm]

Joni definitely does not swing it. Annie Ross IS Twisted.

[dojomania]

Amen!

[jmmccrn]

gotta love this song

[johnmayeraddict]

great

[pitts64]

Oh man where are the strawberry papers!!

[jesuisjamaiscontent]

Such a lovely voice and a great rendition of this song, composed by Wardell Gray. Personally I don't like Annie Ross's version of the song although her lyrics are first class.

[BakkiBoo]

Ohhh dear & I thought she wrote this ...I have since discovered Lambert Hendricks and Ross!! OMG my eyes & ears are open! I have seen the light! Amen!!! [Gotta love that scat & jazz!]

Still LOVE this version though & she still is Queen! ;)

[BakkiBoo]

CLASSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'd forgotten this song!! Hail the queen of song writing! WOW! I used to sing this YEARS ago! I cant believe I have still retained all those fast spilling words & trilling melody dances! OMG! How did my brain remember all the words!!??

...I must be A GENIUS!! ;)

[liamthomashornby]

wow, lambert hendricks and ross' version was way better

[toewhite]

I agree, Annie wrote the lyrics (vocalise) and I always like hearing from "the pen that wrote it!" That's ok, because I prefer Joni's version of Both Sides Now rather than Judy Collins; Joni wrote it!

[bassandguitarguy]

I love this! I heard Bette Midler's version years before Joni's. Both are great!

ps - today 11-07-08 is Joni's 65th birthday!

[normalil]

Always loved it. Love it even more to see it here. What a genius she is.

[mattibannister]

To me this will never be worth comparing to Annie Ross.

[TabOraSunset]

Nice jazzy tune. Joni did a beautiful job despite her not wanting to cover it.

[miniheli]

Omg I can completly relate to this song lol.

I hate therpy! but I love this song:)

[stphncrmr]

I love Bette Midler's version of this song (it's on her self-titled album, Bette Midler, from 1973). She puts a fun twist on it...

[tall32guy]

I haven't heard that one but I hear Joni putting a pretty fun twist on this one too...

[lifeforce1986]

This one is awesome but Bette is definately worth taking a listen to!

[hookalakah]

God bless Joni but she makes a classic mistake with this song. She learned Annie's lyrics--on a superficial level--without learning Wardell Gray's original solo.  Her flat notes, diffident delivery and indeterminate time underscore that she didn't really want to sing this tune in the first place. Her boyfriend at the time, John Guerin, pushed her for quite a while to do the song.

[tlghur]

That's very intersting...didn't know that.

[FMGLR]

@hookalakah I'm sorry..but I don't agree...I think that she is having a lot of fun with this song, and I LOVE it and have for years. Yeah, it's not her usual fare...but it's great!

[rheola55]

@hookalakah ooo bugger the superficial level...it's a FAB, happy song..and I LOVE IT!

[PandaMishima]

@hookalakah

So what? I heard this version and liked it first. The flat notes give the song a nice emphasis not to worry about things.

On the other hand, I'm working thru a few snarls, ah, what's it matter :-)

[hjsmalie]

But I'm not an easy lady, he said...

Grandiosa interpretazione!

[ArtInDeed]

actual anthem.

[AllBobsAllTheTime]

OK but stick with an Annie Ross version '52 or '59.

[rawrxitsxkelsii]

Jazzy.  I like this.

[ultravioletta1983]

I prefer Annie Ross, but this version is also cool

[TheRealFisher]

great song, ravaged my mitchell, i'll never invest 2 1/2 minutes in listening to this inferior version of twisted again....

[DemonicEclipse]

I prefer the Annie Ross version... but it isn't bad.

[tabrugger]

It's OK. "That's why I drank a fifth of vodka" is funnier, though. Did she say "angry young men"??? That doesn't make any sense! "Idiomatic logic"? Why did she change the words?

On second thought, it's horrible. Blech.

[lazyrapper]

Are you questioning the Queen of lyrics?

Good luck!!!

[tabrugger]

Yeah, I guess I am. I prefer the ORIGINAL lyrics as sung by Annie Ross (Annie Ross wrote the lyrics, so I think she knows the words pretty well). Queen of lyrics, indeed. Pah.

It's a "drank a fifth of vodka," not "got into the vodka." It's "A. (or Al) Graham Bell" not "angry young men." Finally, it's "reasoning and the logic" not "idiomatic logic."

Ah, well. Joni Mitchell can have a mondegreen or two if the rest of us can.

[lazyrapper]

I don't deny who wrote the original lyrics or what those lyrics were, but for me Joni Mitchell took those lyrics, (and she did so because they were great lyrics), and gave them a nuance that appealed more to me than the original.

For you she didn't. In my experience people will always identify with the version they first hear of a song.

Either way, it's no problem.

I, and many others, still think Joni Mitchell is the Queen of lyrics.

[tabrugger]

You have the right to your opinion, just as I have the right to disagree. So there we are. :)

[lazyrapper]

Yes, at least we agree on that :)

BTW, I wasn't putting down Annie Ross. After all she did write a great song in the first place. Wanting to cover another artist's song has to be a great compliment so I guess Joni Mitchell must agree, but it seems reasonable that she would want to make minor changes to the lyrics to suit her own style.

(Although I do concede that 'A. Graham Bell' makes more sense than 'angry young men'. I wouldn't be surprised if she misheard that one!)

[tabrugger]

Then all's well. :)

On the "angry young men" thing...if you look up the lyrics, that's what the lyrics say on line. Gotta love them mondegreens!

[lazyrapper]

Hate to say it tabrugger but I'm starting to like you now :))

When I checked online the web site agreed with the Annie Ross version but when Joni recorded this track, the World Wide Web was no more than a twinkle in Timothy Berners-Lee's eye. She had to rely on her ears and the dodgy fidelity of the vinyl available at the time. That's how the words to so many blues songs changed over the years.

BTW, what does mondegreens mean? Can't find it in any dictionary in the UK.

[tabrugger]

Likewise, lazyrapper. :)

A mondegreen is a misheard lyric. It comes from a song about someone who was killed "and laid him on the green" (the town square). Someone misheard it and repeated it "And Lady Mondegreen."

[ayeroxor]

"A. (or Al) Graham Bell" not "angry young men."

Original lyricist or not, you lose your "queen of lyrics" argument if you think "A. Graham Bell" is a tidier/neater/more poetic lyric than "angry young men"

[tabrugger]

Filing that under "Strawman Argument" with cross-references to "Who cares what you have to say? and a see-also "Statements that make no sense."

[ayeroxor]

"Filing that under 'Strawman Argument'"

Aww, kids are so cute the first year of junior high when they learn debate terms. The only problem is that nothing here is an argument, let alone a "Straw man" (two words, honey) argument. Best of luck in all your endeavors!

[ayeroxor]

Oh, one more thing, teabagger, the answer to "who cares what I have to say" is the same for me as it is for you! You'll also learn that as you get older.

[tabrugger]

Do you know any bartenders? Next time you talk to one, ask what "that's nice" means.

[ayeroxor]

Oh, now I see... That explains a lot about you.

[osahju914]

i think it is.. what are you gonna do?

[Ben121974]

Groovy song! ;-)

[imwhoi]

I love this song!

[tall32guy]

There are a lot of versions done of this song, but this is my fave one and really the only one I like. LOL

[Jeremybeach]

IT'S SO CUTE!!!!!!! It makes me so happy.

[mykaykat]

I LOVE I mean LOVE this song!!!!my sister told me that this song reminded her of me...BUT I still like this song,thank :3