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From: cheope1
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  • great artist

  • luv the dulcimer

  • Different.

  • Magic song. We love you Joni. Beautiful music.

  • so many memories attached to this magic music,. i love you joni,.

  • Folksinger Phil Ochs called this song one of the best songs of the 20th century. When it comes to Joni, I think she's had MANY of the best songs of the 20th and 21st century. Her songs are music, poetry, paintings in your head and just about the best from any artist of our time. I can come back to any of her songs years after first listening and still find something that amazes and inspires me. Now THAT's a GREAT artist!

  • it's been more than 40 years since this song went out..Carey..i'm so proud she came to Greece and she had so beautiful memories of Matala-Crete..and now after all these years the "kids of flowers" will rejoin at the same place..it gives me thrils everytime i listen to it "And they’re playin’ that scratchy rock and roll

    Beneath the Matalla moon".......

  • ducimer....

  • I had no idea there was such a nice song inspired by my village,Matala. So proud!!!!! Thank you for uploading it!!!!!!!!!! <3

  • my daughters, virtual and biological use to sing this to me "you're a mean old daddy" but I like you yes I do."

  • what instrument is she playing?

  • Comment removed

  • @lind3420 An Appalachian mountain dulcimer... Beautiful!

  • Comment removed

  • @lind3420 She's playing the dulcimer

  • loved her since 1970. listened to her constantly untill her hissing of summer lawns album. couldn't get into that.

  • Ha! I Iove it when she gets the giggles from forgetting the words.

  • An interesting performance by the great artist.

  • She is so fucking sexy. What I would do to go back in time.........

  • @jim1205 She was just gorgeous. Inside and outside <3

  • hey micheleanastaisa - I agree too ya'know, some people just don't get it .....

  • I love Joni laughing...top 3 human beings ever

  • Thanks for posting this. Open letter to Ms. Mitchell: Thank you, Joni. That's my name too. Your song made it OK. Oh and my garage band is covering Woodstock. What a beautiful song that is. I owe you! Love you lots and lots. A child of God. Carey.

  • Ive always loved this song, its so cheerful and breezy :)

  • Comment removed

  • I love Joni, and she is a great guitarist, but yáll need to calm down.

    1) She is a great guitarist and pianist.

    2) That isn't a guitar, it's a dulcimer.

  • @fudd4thought lol!

  • @zppelin08fan

    Learn how to recognize one of the best, most original guitar players ever, you boring piece of astroturf. I would personally destroy your face if it wasn't already so ugly. You should thank your useless god(s) that I have a wealth of sympathy for pathetic souls like yours.

    And if by happenstance you ever figure out how to play a guitar horizontally like she does in this video, you might earn an iota of respect, and maybe your stepdad won't beat the tar out of you for being dumb.

  • @hawkeye3200 Well - isn't that gracious, understanding and helpful!

  • learn how to play a guitar

  • I could just wrap my day with such songs, and everything would come out all right...

  • The epitome of a superlative performance.......

  • Ritzdiamond. Like many Canadians of her generation she travelled around Europe in her youth (late 60's) and sings many songs about these times. Chelsea Morning, Carey etc. She refers to Paris, Rome, Amsterdam and Greece where she saw the moon at Matala on the island of Crete. This area was popular with hippies in the 60’s.

  • would anybody tell me why she sings about France and Paris so often?

  • Upstairs Maid comment Not spam, it just uses four letter word, but a serious comment praising Joni.

  • A favorite from my favorite. Still sounds great, Joni.

  • A favorite from my favorite. Still sounds great, Joni. 

  • OK, so I feel like showing off - who knows right now, without using any other instrument besides your own voice what key she's in and what key was it on the recording? The showing off part was that I knew right away. It just feels good to know. But I had to admit I did not know and it seems more important musically to put more effort into getting ok w/NOT knowing things because it's the only way to keep learning more, being better at my work

  • I was hoping that the music that touches me in a pleasantly special way would have the same effect on people with similar wavelength. I was hoping I could ignore the inner workings and the human perception aspects behind, but I cannot ignore that authenticity still matters to me a bit. It did not sour on the whole experience but did add a touch of metallic sadness and inner conflicts. I may be foreign & naive; I like to believe that we all share a certain universal touch of decent tenderness.

  • Joni's music always makes me feel so peaceful. <3

  • Love, love, love. Met her once and she cooed over my 6 week old baby, held his hand and infused us with her beautiful energy.

  • rare material! cool!

  • It's just not for us mere mortals to taint one of JM's performances with a word like "lifeless" she has such lifelong bravery to expose her soul raw to the world which so so few others can do, very rare could be the person who could understand enough about art even to criticise her, she is so so much higher, learn from her is best we can aim for (unless you're Johnny Cash Bob Dylan or same league, perhaps). The strength is immense that produces an art so sweet, her real strength would blind you.

  • It's not lifeless, but just subtly subdued maybe listen couple times to get used to it, and she can't hit the highest notes anyway after years of cigarettes, so it's different style, you could only call it subdued if you judge it against her other performances anyway. If you judge against any other singer-songwriter average performance, hell even this performance you can hear what makes her the greatest.

  • How could anyone say this is lifeless - it's just bursting with life and love. I remember singing this song with two girls from New York on the beach in Crete at daybreak in 1973 when, thankfully, the sea was no longer full of sh**. LOL

  • Thanks ever so much! Love this video -- the song played an important part in my early life. What a delight to discover the video here.

  • an absolute fave song

  • A bit lifeless this performance, I fear. Doesn't have her great vocal range.

  • @albionguard You are a strange creature to say anything that Joni does is lifeless. She bursts with life & emotion. A beautiful soul besides being the most amazing musical artist, who has influenced countless others. Not every song has to hit those high notes. Carey is one of my favorite songs, she just tells her thoughts and journey in a way that brings up vivid images of what she must have been going through.

  • Simply love!

  • Just a note to some of the remarks below. Matala is in Crete, not Africa:

    wikipedia: Matala,_Crete

  • @Grazpop How about Matala in Angola?

  • I love Joni to bits, but this rendition of Carey is a complete bore.

  • @MetaSynec really? It sounds exactly the same as on the album to me, but it could be just the recording

  • Yeah..her getting her on YouTube doesn't constitute getting her" the recognition she deserves" - the beauty is that it opens up a whole new audience of ppl that never heard her before. How cool is that? Get the album/cd/mp3 whatever they sell you "Blue" and listen closely.

  • This is song is so beautiful :) I sing this song on my Emilydogcat channel.

  • Matala. The wind is in from Africa. What a wonderful place. I'd love to live there one day and drink wine beneath the Matala moon.

  • The late Phil Ochs once called this song one of the best songs ever written. When it comes to Joni Mitchell, I have a tough time deciding which of her songs was the best ever written because they are all so damn wonderful. I've just decided that I love them all. That's a very rare thing, to be able to find an artist so consistently brilliant that each song just makes its way into your heart like that. Joni, you've always been number one on my top 50!

  • I have been listening to this song all the time, but this is the first time I've watched this live performance. Wow that is so good!

  • I like you....

  • Just one of the terrific tracks by one of the greatest singer/songwriters ever.

  • I saw Joni at Wembley Stadium in UK - had to be 1972 or 1973. Other performers included Crosby, Still, and Nash, and The Band. My group of friends traveled down from South Yorkshire to see the concert. For a country kid, it was so special. I was just a young girl and I loved her voice and songs so much. They still make me cry today.

  • Joni is part - what, Athabascan Indian? - and wow does she have the cheekbones to prove it - how can a woman's face be so strong and so beautiful at once -

  • and just think, she had nothing to do with it.

  • @bwanna23

    meaning, what, one doesn't choose one's parents? Always true, for sure; but it's nice to be lucky, there -

  • Awesome just does not do this performance justice....................

  • She gives an really great explanation of where this song came from in one of the videos I found of this song on youtube. She talks about this red haired man that she bought disney chocolate bars for.

  • I'm sorry but I have to laugh (not too unkindly) at something below: "I'm glad sh finally got the recognition she deserves."? LOL. Joni has been a megastar since the 60s, dear.

  • @micheleanastasia joni is the first big pop star that played exclusivley in "open tunings" on her guitar. Nobody did that......even today

  • Just curious... why the difference in the spelling of Carey/Carrie? And did Joni carve the Taiji ("yin-yang") symbol in the cave in Malta?

    By the way... her voice isn't damaged and it hasn't change from her smoking! Mine has done the very same thing... which make me wonder if there could be a hormonal component to Morgellons syndrome. I also wonder if she was practicing Daoist meditation up in those caves. They're very much like the caves in the Sacred Mountains of China.

  • MAN... I'd LOVE to talk to her! It's incredible how much we have in common... even some possible familial connection! The woman who raised me was named Carothers of Scotch Irish ancestry... and her mother was a Mckee of the same. There are historical connections between the Carothers and the McKees... plus her reported comment about being attacked by the Episcopal church is just plain eerie! And wasn't it in the Carolina's that she got her teeth fixed?

  • We're so much alike, in fact, that she could easily be my mother or my sister... and both of our fathers were military!

    If she reads these comments or if anyone here knows her... she's always welcome to contact me anytime that she'd like. She just might be as freaked out as I am!

    Thanks,

    Jules

  • Carey is more often used in spell the name for a boy, Carrie for a girl, at least in my experience.

  • That's been my experience as well. There were 3 generations of Carolyn's in my family and my great and great great grandmother went by Carrie. I'd always known my grandmother as Carolyn... although she too may have had another name. Coincidentally... someone on Huffington Post also made a reference to her as being my step-sister in reply to a comment I left that included a link to Woodstock. I sure wish that I would start getting some answers... but all I keep getting is more questions. *phew*

  • Carey is a man who lives in Takoma Park just outside DC in MD. Cool dude. Have always loved her lyrics, changes, musicality. So glad she's found a measure of peace with her daughter and family. Sure wish I could see her again in concert. It's been 28 years since I saw her the first time, What a beauty. The muse of a generation.

  • I, too, have loved her music since I was first introduced to Blue by my cousin in North Carolina at the time I was a young girl. I've followed most of her career and am very happy to see that she is finally getting the recognition that she so very much deserves. I hope that it is indeed true that she has found some peace with her daughter and is doing well.

  • I don't know her personally and can only go by what I've read, which would include some contradictory information to that which you posted, but then again anything posted on the internet is subject to speculation. Nevertheless... I would still love to meet her some day as we share a great deal in common. She's played a rather extraordinarily significant part in my life, I would welcome the opportunity to share them with her and some of the similarities are uncanny. Whether or not we have any...

  • ... further connections is yet to be seen, I know that I still have plenty of questions regarding my family and some of them parallel some of those that I have read that she has. Without a doubt... we would have some very interesting conversation. You are fortunate to have seen her in concert, fwoopah, and I have been waiting for that opportunity for a very long time. Who knows... perhaps someday.

    By the way, it's nice to know they don't cut down trees in Takoma Park!

  • I think that Carey is a boys name and vice versa.

  • Most people believe that Julien is a boys name... and I'm not. Carey is the way that the song is spelled, however, the video included the alternate spelling... Carrie. Everything else that I stated still stands... although since the woman who raised me is most likely NOT my mother... there are then also questions regarding my grandmother. I most definitely had some connection with her, but in what way is uncertain. Given that my "mother's" birth certificate said one day and my grandmother always

  • ... swore that it was another day... it's even possible that my grandmother wasn't my "mother's" mother either. Try bending your brain around THAT! I know this much... someone went to one h.e.l.l. of a lot of trouble to fabricate a whole lot of things about my family! As I've said... I've got a whole BIG bunch of question... although I have gotten a few more pieces of my puzzle and they ALL suggest that the woman who raised me is NOT my mother! And I would still like to meet Joni regardless!

  • I was at this concert and I remember thinking that she'd changed so much since the days I first loved her. It just doesn't matter. Thisd woman is a cultural icon - better than most of the men who are now lauded as Gods. This song is simple and honest. It conjours a time of optimism. I visited those caves in Matala where Carey was written and many years later I met Mitchell and was blown away by the fact that she kept the spirit of the time she's singing of in this song.

  • My #1 favorite by Joni Mitchell

  • The 60's movie "More" was based on anecdotes of Matala and environs.

  • Her voice has changed some whether you prefer it or not, what this really is is facism about not smoking, period.

  • I think it's a little silly talking about her voice change when this was filmed 26 years ago, way before any supposed damage to her voice.

  • I love what the cigarettes have done to her voice. It has so much more character and the songs sound so much more personal. You can really feel it.

  • what is Morgellons syndrome?

  • I love that she zones out during the song-and then remembers-

    my father bought me a zither when I was about 10 or 11 and this is the first song I played on it-

  • heylo fellow picean, i was thinking the same damn thing just now watching it, LOL

  • hello to you, fellow watergirl!

    yeah, Joni's got it all, even when she loses it! (lol)

    haven't a clue re: the syndrome, I'll look it up-

    cheers and be well- p60

  • Karen Carpenter had the perfect voice. Joni Mitchell has PERSONALITY. And she sounds perfectly fine today.

  • awsom song, i get a knot in my gut when I hear it. Ahh the good days.

  • What a peach.

  • What a beautiful song - it still speaks volumes to me - maybe more than when it was new.

  • Incredible! I saw her at Starlight on this tour!

  • dose anyone have the lyrics???

  • I think if you listen to her lyrics alot of her experiences come through the good and the bad. Doesn't she have ms or something now? Anyone know?

  • she has Morgellons Syndrom.

  • Cigarettes ruined her angelic voice. So sad...

  • My mother never smoked and her voice is

    ten times lower now that she's older then

    it was when she was young. I smoke and

    my voice has never changed.

  • Well, keep cooking your lungs and sorry to hear about your Mom.... Science is less random and more specific concerning what smoking does to the body - it Joni's case it was smoking.

  • never realized she played the dulcimer so much in concert...

  • Wow!

    I'm in love. What an exceptional singer-songwriter.

  • There are these caves at Matala ,Crete .and in the late 60's early seventies they were populated by hippies on the so called hippy trail ,and this is a travalling song :)

  • Whats with the "CARRIE" opening credit thingy?It's hardly a horror movie!

  • She is playing an appalachian dulcimer.; an american folk musical instrument.

  • ''Matala moon''.....says Joni....in Greece(Creta). fantastic place!

  • What is she playing?

  • It's a dulcimer

  • joni...amazin!!

  • brilliant

  • i think ive listened to this song at least 20 times today ..............

  • What a great song. And the perfomance is really great too!

  • she is to good. brilliant!!!!

  • talentoza

  • Beautiful. I remember watching this on TV when it went out - when she finished this song she laughed & said ''thanks, ragged but rowdy!''.

  • Fantastic dulcimer!

  • It's only a "dulcima" if you're from South Boston!

  • a woman with a lot class... love her!

  • Greatest female song writer ever. Nobody has this talent anymore. Pluto Leo's will not return for another 230 yrs.

  • "I'll put on my finest silver". Joni's lyrics celebrate life as well as analyse it's darker reaches. Reminds me of "Chelsea Morning": "Let's Put on the Day / And Let's talk in Present Tenses" What a great artist. I think this is her tour in 1983. I saw her that year in the RDS in Dublin. She was. as ever enchanting, chatting to the audience afterwards while, inevitably, smoking a long cigarette.

  • i remember that night too. Holy wine, so bitter and so sweet. was she ever back again? These days no one says they "want to knit you a sweater, want to write you a love letter..."

    kb

  • this song is just lovely but i also think holds alot of loneliness, the whole album does, being away from where you are from, having fun but also being aware that you are escaping somehow. 'the bright red devil that keeps me in this tourist town'. it has the excitement and loneliness of youth, and any song that carries those two elements well is a winner in my book!

  • it's amazing how fast her voice ...well, she couldn't sing as high as when she originally released this song, i know she smokes and admitted her self she didn't take care of her voice. i love joni's older recordings

  • thanks joni

    i put this in my favorites so my kids know

    where i came from

  • i loved this! i had a dog for 15yrs. named carrie, she loved straight tequila and beer. best friend i ever had! she was part border collie and g.shep.. great herding dog and best freind. thanx for the song!

  • I LOVE this song! It just makes you feel so good when I hear it, like some fun memory of when I was child.

  • sorry makes ME feel so good, bit of a proref problem there.! Thats what happens when you drink and write comments.

  • What is that instrument she's playing?

  • Nope...it's a dulcimer.

  • It is a dulcimer

  • It's a dulcima.

  • Thank you.

  • Painting with words.  An example of a perfect song that sets off every human sense.

  • What a voice...(Amazing!)

  • one of my Heroes...a survivor.... she has come in from the cold....

  • One of the greatest songs ever...

  • Tommy Hutton ex player and now announcer performed this in 1972 on a phillies pre game show,and I said "who is Joni Mitchell".I found out who she was.

  • Joni didnt sing a song called Man on the Moon, and her voice has taken on a different register, but it's nothing if not intriguing.

  • I stand corrected. It is actually titled "Man From Mars". However I stand by everything else.

  • Hey,her voice obviously doesn't sound the way it did when she was younger, but who cares. She's one of the few singers who can take you on a musical journey and share her world with you. And few singers feel the music and lyrics like Joni does. It doesn't get any better than that.

  • Hmmm.... I'll listen happily to anything Joni cares to sing. There is almost no one who has the catalogue she has. She is the best.

  • JONI had polio as a child.she smokes too much and she is'out of sight' what a voice.what a genious.

  • The last vestiges of the hippie era remain in Matala now - the blue graffiti on the beach wall"Today is life, tomorrow never comes"

  • I can safely say I am Carey!But alas,not the one in this beautiful song.Always makes me think of my Daddy R.I.P.,he sure was a mean old Daddy,but we loved him!Thank you!

  • 0 0 I -

  • I wish her voice had stayed like this, with the stationary alto voice but still the ability to hit the high notes. Hasnt got that anymore :(

    Still a legend though.

  • I liked her voice like this, but I also love it nowadays. It's warmer and charming.

  • It's called getting older jmiller. It comes to us all!

  • Oh i know, i'm just a crazy idealist lol.

  • unfortunately all those years of constant smoking have taken their toll on her voice..but still no one can touch her. she's the best.

  • Cigarette smoking destroyed her vocal chords. Plus, women can't hit the high notes after they age. The female voice matures in the early 30's. After that, its all down hill...

  • actually she had polyps in her throat

    I find your comment to be misinformed and somewhat hateful.

  • Carey was the "red headed devil" she lived with in the caves in Matala Greece in the 70's. The would walk into town and meet friends, drink at the Mermaid Cafe.

  • I think Lauper's live performance of this is outstanding!!

  • This was at Wembley in 1983, right? I remember having the video of that show, but alas it's with me no more. Thanks for bringing back some great memories.

  • Thanks so much. I'm wearing it out. Any background information on when, where she wrote this and who carey was?

    thanks,

    Linda

  • I always thought Carey was a drug dealer......

  • The song has been rumoured to be about Joni's brief affair with James Taylor. However, paraphrasing from Wikipedia, Ms. Mitchell has stated publicly that the Carey in question was a memorable character named Carey (or 'Carrot') Raditz, a cane-carrying chef with bright red hair that she met in the village of Matala on Crete during her European "gypsy" period in 1970.

    And the "Mermaid Café" in the song was actually called the Dolphin Café. It's not there anymore.

  • Her voice a bit raspy. I saw her at Cornell in 1972-3, front row and hearing her angelic voice just 10 feet away was the best, very memorable.

  • Thanks so much. I soooo love Joni. Genius

  • SIIIICK GENUIS ! love it