Joni Mitchell - Both Sides, Now

September 3, 1970 http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.htm... Watch the full show: http://thesixtiesarchive.blogspot.com...

"Both Sides, Now" is a single by Joni Mitchell. Her recording first appeared on the album Clouds, released in 1969. She re-recorded the song in a Jazz style for the album of the same name, released in 2000.

It is one of Joni Mitchell's best-known songs (with "Big Yellow Taxi," "Woodstock," and "A Case of You"). It was written in March 1967, inspired by a passage in Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow.

Judy Collins made the first commercially released recording of the song in 1968, shortly after Mitchell wrote it, which reached #8 on the U.S. pop singles charts and won a 1968 Grammy Award for Best Folk Performance. The record peaked at #3 on Billboard's Easy Listening survey, and has become one of Collins' signature songs.

Fairport Convention recorded the song as a demo in 1967. The band's recording did not become available until 2000, however, when it appeared on The Guv'nor Vol 4 by Ashley Hutchings. (A live recording featuring Judy Dyble from 1981 is included on Fairport's Moat on the Ledge album.)

Both Joni Mitchell's album Both Sides Now and a 2003 Mitchell rerecording of the song are featured in the 2003 movie Love Actually.

Rolling Stone ranked "Both Sides, Now" #170 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The song was published by Scholastic as a picture book, Both Sides Now, illustrated by Alan Baker, in 1992 (ocm24629360).

Cover versions

The 1960s * Mitchell's friend Dave Van Ronk covered the song on his 1967 album Dave Van Ronk and the Hudson Dusters, titling the song "Clouds." Mitchell often said that this rendition of her song was the finest ever. * Another early version was released by the pop group Harpers Bizarre in the fall of 1968 on its third album, Secret Life of Harpers Bizarre. * Bing Crosby sang two renditions of this song, one on the TV variety show Hollywood Palace, the other on his 1968 Hey, Jude/Hey, Bing album. * Frank Sinatra recorded the song under the title "From Both Sides, Now" on his 1968 album Cycles. * Anne Murray included the song on her 1968 debut album What About Me. * A French version of the song, with adapted lyrics by Eddy Marnay, was recorded by Marie Laforêt in 1968 under the title "Je n'ai rien appris." The following year, Nana Mouskouri recorded "Je n'ai rien apris" on her album Dans le soleil et dans le vent. * Davy Graham recorded a version on his 1969 album Large as Life But Twice as Natural. His version included a long Middle Eastern-style introduction. * Pete Seeger did a cover on his 1969 LP of songs for children and elderly called Young vs. Old. Seeger added a more optimistic fourth verse to the song. The new lyrics are in Seeger's book Where Have All the Flowers Gone in the chapter "New Words?" * The Mystic Moods Orchestra included an instrumental version of this song on the 1969 LP Love Token

The 1970s * Julio Bernardo Euson recorded this number in 1970 on his 7" single 'both sides now'. His version made it to no 7 on the Dutch Charts. * Andy Williams sings the song on his 1970 album Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head. * Randy Scruggs performed an instrumental version of the song on The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's 1972 album Will the Circle Be Unbroken. * A solo version by jazz guitarist Pat Martino was included on his 1974 album Consciousness.

The 1990s * Michael Feinstein covered the song on the 1990 compilation Rubáiyát, which celebrated the 40th anniversary of Elektra Records. * In 1991, the song was covered by Hole on their album Pretty on the Inside, under the name "Clouds." * It was also a minor hit in the UK and Canada for the Irish band Clannad in a duet with British singer Paul Young, recorded for the 1991 motion picture Switch. It was the only chart appearance for Clannad in the Canadian RPM 100 Singles Chart. * Dianne Reeves covered "Both Sides, Now" on her album Quiet After the Storm (1994). * b-flower, a Japanese indie band, covered this song in English on their album "Clover Chronicles l" (1994). * Randy Scruggs performed an instrumental guitar solo of the song on his 1998 album, Crown Of Jewels. * Filipina singer/actress Megastar Sharon Cuneta recorded her own version of "Both Sides Now" for her 1999 album When I Love. It was released as the album's lead off single. The song was subsequently used as the theme for her 2001 movie, Magkapatid (Siblings) and has since become one of Cuneta's well-loved hits.

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