For Saskatchewan’s Centennial in 2005, Joni Mitchell created an album called Songs of a Praire Girl. To quote Mitchell:
“I rounded up from my whole repertoire the songs that made references to Saskatchewan.”
The album includes 13 tracks that were influenced by her time in Maidstone, North Battleford, and her hometown of Saskatoon. Having moved to Saskatoon at age 11, Mitchell spent many of her formative years here. It was at Queen Elizabeth School that her teacher, Arthur Kratzmann, told her “If you can paint with a brush, you can paint with words.” He was a great influence on Mitchell, and in the credits for her first album, Joni wrote: “This album is dedicated to Mr. Kratzman, who taught me to love words.”
Mitchell is an incredible painter of words, and we’ve selected some of our favourite prairie references in her lyrics from Songs of a Prarie Girl.
Urge for Going
Mitchell introduced Urge for Going as “a song that was inspired by the part of the country that I come from, a place called Saskatoon, Saskatchewan”
“In Saskatoon or in Saskatchewan – or on the prairies for that matter, that includes the American prairies – the winters and the summers are very radical, with the temperature varying as much as 150 degrees in a season. So when the winter sets in, it really sets in, and drops down to about 50 below and all the people sit around and complain a lot, but they never really do anything about it.”
He got the urge for going
When the meadow grass was turning brown
And summertime was falling down and winter was closing inNow the warriors of winter give a cold triumphant shout
And all that stays is dying all that lives is gettin’ out
See the geese in chevron flight
Flapping and racing on before the snow…
They’ve got the urge for going
And they’ve got the wings to go
All Saskatchewan residents know the “urge for going” when the seasons change from fall to winter.
The Tea Leaf Prophecy (Lay Down Your Arms)
Several of the songs chosen for this album include how Mitchell felt about prairie winters.
She plants her garden in the spring
He does the winter shovelling
But summer’s just a sneeze
In a long long bad winter cold
She says “I’m leavin’ here” but she don’t go
Cherokee Louise
Mitchell references Saskatoon’s iconic Broadway Bridge in her heartbreaking song Cherokee Louise.
Cherokee Louise is hiding in this tunnel
In the Broadway bridge
We’re crawling on our knees
We’ve got flashlights and batteries
We’ve got cold cuts from the fridge
Ray’s Dad’s Cadillac
Not only does this song describe memories of rolling around in her friend’s dad’s care, but Mitchell references some of her difficulties in school which caused her to drop out. She did go back and finish high school at Aden Bowman.
Ray’s Dad’s Cadillac
Rollin’ past the rink
Past the record shack
Pink fins in the falling rain
Rollin’
To the blue lights past the water mains
Let the Wind Carry Me
Mitchell wrote about the different relationships she had with each of her parents, and her urge to settle and start a family of her own. But as she writes, that urge doesn’t last long.
But it passes like the summer
I’m a wild seed again
Let the wind carry me
Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter
Mitchell considers Saskatoon to be her home time and often describes herself as coming from an “open prairie”.
I come from open prairie
Given some wisdom and a lot of jive
Last night the ghosts of my old ideals
Reran on channel five
Raised on Robbery
Mitchell opens this tune with a line about the Empire which used to sit on the corner of 2nd Avenue and 20th Street.
He was sitting in the lounge of the Empire Hotel
Paprika Plains
The title comes from the lyrics where Mitchell describes dreaming about “paprika plains” and “a turquoise river snaking”. Mitchell goes on to describe the people from the land of the living skies during a thunderstorm.
Back in my hometown
They would have cleared the floor
Just to watch the rain come down
They’re such sky oriented people
Geared to changing weather
Song for Sharon
Mitchell’s Song for Sharon reads like a letter to an old friend. It’s dedicated to Joni’s best friend when she was growing up in Maidstone, Saskatchewan, in the 1950s, and it references the fact that Sharon had been planning a career as a professional singer, while Joni hoped to be a farm wife — but in adulthood, each realized the other’s ambition.
When we were kids in Maidstone, Sharon
I went to every wedding in that little town
To see the tears and the kisses
And the pretty lady in the white lace wedding gown
And walking home on the railroad tracks
Or swinging on the playground swing
Love stimulated my illusions
More than anything
River
In the early 70s, Mitchell was living in Los Angeles. During that time she wrote and released her album Blue.
Coming from Saskatchewan December in California is a very different experience. In River, she writes about how Christmas holiday preparations make her long for a river to skate away on.
Oh, I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
Chinese Café/Unchained Melody
In another lyrical letter to a childhood friend, Mitchell reminisces over how childhood hangouts. She writes of how time has passed – Saskatoon is changing thanks to “uranium money”, Carol’s kids are grown, they look like their mothers, and she wishes she could have been there for her own daughter’s growing up.
Down at the Chinese Cafe
We’d be dreaming on our dimes
We’d be playing “You give your love, so sweetly”
One more time
Harlem in Havana
Mitchell writes about a late-night show at the Saskatoon Exhibition in Harlem in Havana that Auntie Ruthie would not have approved of.
At the far end of the midway
by the double ferris wheel
There’s a band that plays so snakey
You can’t help how you feel
Come In from the Cold
Mitchell was living in Saskatoon and turned 14 in 1957. Her lyrics evoke memories of school dances, and the awkward years of being a young teen just discovering the spark of attraction found in young love.
Back in 1957
We had to dance a foot apart
And they hawk-eyed us from the sidelines
Holding their rulers without a heart
And so with just a touch of our fingers
oh we could make our circuitry explode
All we ever wanted
Was just to come in from the cold
While there are so many incredible Mitchell tunes to choose from, our concert A Case of You includes Sarah Slean singing River. You can watch the whole concert by subscribing on ConcertStream.tv
