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Hejira (album)

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Hejira
Studio album by
Joni Mitchell
ReleasedNovember 1976
Recorded1976
StudioA&M (Hollywood)
Genre
Length51:55
LabelAsylum
ProducerJoni Mitchell, Henry Lewy
Joni Mitchell chronology
The Hissing of Summer Lawns
(1975) 		Hejira
(1976) 		Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
(1977)
Singles from Hejira
  1. "Coyote"
    Released: 1977

Hejira is the eighth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released in 1976 on Asylum Records. Its material was written during a period of frequent travel in late 1975 and early 1976, and reflects Mitchell's experiences during that time. Characterized by lyrically dense, sprawling songs, as well as the overdubbed fretless bass playing of Jaco Pastorius, Hejira continued the musician's journey towards a freer, jazz-inspired sound.

Lead track "Coyote" was released as a single. The album did not sell as well as its predecessors, peaking at No. 22 in her native Canada. It reached No. 13 on the Billboard 200 pop album chart in the United States, where it was certified gold by the RIAA, and No. 11 in the UK, where it attained a silver certification. Critically, the album was generally well received, and in the years since its release, Hejira has been considered one of the high marks of her career.

Recording sessions

According to Mitchell, the album was written during or after three journeys she took in late 1975 and the first half of 1976. The first was a stint as a member of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue in late 1975. During this time period, she became a frequent cocaine user, and it would take several years for her to kick the addiction.

In February 1976, Mitchell was scheduled to play about six weeks of concert dates across the US promoting The Hissing of Summer Lawns. However, the relationship between Mitchell and her boyfriend John Guerin (who was acting as her drummer on the string of dates) soured, possibly due to Mitchell's fling with playwright and actor Sam Shepard during the Rolling Thunder Revue. Tensions became so fraught that the tour was abandoned about halfway through.

The third trip came soon after when Mitchell traveled across America with two men, one of them being a former lover from Australia. This trip inspired six of the songs on the album. She drove with her two friends from Los Angeles to Maine, and then went back to California alone via Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. She traveled without a driver's licence and stayed behind truckers, relying on their habit of signaling when the police were ahead of them; consequently, she only drove in daylight hours.[3][4]

During some of her solo journeys, Mitchell donned a red wig, sunglasses, and told the varying strangers she met that her name was either "Charlene Latimer" or "Joan Black".[5] Despite the disguise, Mitchell was still sometimes recognized.

During the recording of her albums Court and Spark and The Hissing of Summer Lawns, Mitchell grew increasingly frustrated by the rock session musicians who had been hired to perform her music. "...There were grace notes and subtleties and things that I thought were getting kind of buried."[6] The session musicians in turn recommended that Mitchell start looking for jazz instrumentalists to perform on her records. In addition, her relationship with drummer John Guerin (which lasted through a significant portion of the mid-1970s) influenced her decision to move more towards experimental jazz music and further away from her folk and pop roots.

After recording the basic tracks that would become Hejira, Mitchell met bassist Jaco Pastorius and they formed an immediate musical connection;[7] Mitchell was dissatisfied with what she called the "dead, distant bass sound" of the 1960s and early 1970s, and was beginning to wonder why the bass part always had to play the root of a chord.[8] She overdubbed his bass parts on four of the tracks on Hejira and released the album in November 1976.[7]

Dominated by Mitchell's guitar and Pastorius's fretless bass, the album drew on a range of influences but was more cohesive and accessible than some of her later more jazz-oriented work. "Coyote", "Amelia", and "Hejira" became concert staples especially after being featured on the live album Shadows and Light alongside "Furry Sings the Blues" and "Black Crow".

Album title

The album title is an unusual transliteration of the Arabic word more commonly rendered as Hegira or Hijra, which means "departure or exodus", usually referring to the migration of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (and his companions) from Mecca to Medina in 622. Mitchell later stated that when she chose the title, she was looking for a word that meant "running away with honor".[9] She found the word "hejira" while reading the dictionary, and was drawn to the "dangling j, like in Aja... it's leaving the dream, no blame".[9]

Cover art

The portrait of Mitchell on the front cover was taken by Norman Seeff and the other photographs were taken by Joel Bernstein at Lake Mendota, in Madison, Wisconsin, after an ice storm. Figure skater Toller Cranston appears on the back cover.[10] During a 1994 interview with Rolling Stone, Mitchell cited the cover of Hejira as one of which she was particularly proud: "A lot of work went into that."[11]

Songs

Mitchell has described the album as "really inspired... there is this restless feeling throughout it... The sweet loneliness of solitary travel",[12] and has said that "I suppose a lot of people could have written a lot of my other songs, but I feel the songs on Hejira could only have come from me."[3]

Hejira opens with "Coyote", about a one-night stand with a ladies' man,[3] speculated by several biographers to be Shepard.[13] Mitchell would later perform the song with The Band at their 1976 farewell concert, which was eventually released under the title The Last Waltz (1978).

The second track on Hejira, "Amelia", was inspired by Mitchell's breakup with then-partner John Guerin, and described by her as almost an exact account of her experience in the desert.[3] The song interweaves a story of a desert journey (the "hejira within the hejira"[14]) with the famous aviator Amelia Earhart who mysteriously vanished during a flight over the Pacific Ocean. Mitchell has commented on the origins of the song: "I was thinking of Amelia Earhart and addressing it from one solo pilot to another... sort of reflecting on the cost of being a woman and having something you must do."[12] The song, each verse of which ends with the refrain "Amelia, it was just a false alarm", repeatedly shifts between two keys, giving it a constant unsettled feeling.[15]

"Furry Sings the Blues", with Neil Young on harmonica, is an account of Mitchell meeting the blues guitarist and singer Furry Lewis in Beale Street, Memphis during a period when the surrounding area was being demolished.[16] Lewis was displeased with Mitchell's use of his name.[17][18] Mitchell would return to the song live in concert throughout the years. Like "Coyote", "Furry Sings the Blues" was sung by Mitchell at The Band's farewell concert. This version of the song was not included on the 1978 version of The Last Waltz but was included on the 2002 re-release.

"A Strange Boy" recounts the affair Mitchell had with one of the men she was traveling with from Los Angeles to Maine; he was a flight attendant in his thirties who lived with his parents.[3]

"Hejira" is about Mitchell's reasons for leaving Guerin, and Mitchell described it as probably the toughest tune on the album to write.[3] It features the bass work of Pastorius, who was inspired by Mitchell's use of multi-tracking with her guitar to mix four separate tracks of his carefully arranged bass parts, having them all play together at certain points of the tune.[19]

Side two of Hejira begins with the epic "Song for Sharon", which at eight minutes and 40 seconds stands as the longest track on the album. The lyrics deal with the conflict faced by a woman who is deciding between freedom and marriage. The song references the places Mitchell went during her trip to New York City, including scenes at Mandolin Brothers guitar store in Staten Island and a visit to a fortune teller on Bleecker Street.[3][20] The song was allegedly written while Mitchell was high on cocaine at the end of her visit to the city.[3]

The namesake of the song was her childhood friend Sharon Bell, who studied voice and wanted to be a singer when she was young but married a farmer; Mitchell wanted to be a farmer's wife, but ended up becoming a singer.[21] The song also mentions the blowout fight and abandoned midwestern tour that served as the death knell for Mitchell's relationship with Guerin: "I left my man at a North Dakota junction, and I came out to the Big Apple here to face the dream's malfunction."

According to biographer Sheila Weller, "Song For Sharon" also makes a coded reference to the March 1976 suicide of Jackson Browne's wife, fashion model Phyllis Major.[22][23] Browne and Mitchell had a brief, "high-strung" affair in 1972; on at least one occasion, Browne allegedly physically abused Mitchell.[24] After their relationship dissolved, Browne quickly married Major.[22] Although Major had died from a barbiturate overdose, Mitchell sang "A woman I knew just drowned herself", and questioned if her suicide was a means of "punishing somebody".[23]

"Black Crow"'s lyrics deal with the practical difficulty for Mitchell of traveling from her second home on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast.[3]

"Blue Motel Room" was written at the DeSoto Beach Motel in Savannah, Georgia. The song was inspired by the first breakup of the on-again-off-again relationship between Mitchell and Guerin.[25] The lyrics express Mitchell's hopes of rekindling their relationship, and she tells her love interest to rebuff any other suitors: "Tell those girls that you've got German Measles, honey tell 'em you've got germs."[3]

"Refuge of the Roads" was written about a three-day visit that Mitchell had made to the controversial Buddhist meditation master Chögyam Trungpa in Colorado on her way back to Los Angeles.[3][26] According to Mitchell, it was during this visit in early 1976 that Trungpa cured her of her own cocaine addiction.[27] She would later say that this track was one of her own favorite songs,[25] and would rerecord the tune, along with "Amelia" and "Hejira", with a full orchestra for her 2002 album Travelogue. The song also alludes to Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders' celebrated photograph of the Earth rising over the Moon, Earthrise.

Release

The album was released in November 1976 by Asylum Records. Despite reaching No. 13 on the Billboard 200 pop album chart and attaining a RIAA gold certification, it failed to garner significant radio airplay.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[28]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[29]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[30]
The Great Rock Discography9/10[31]
Le Guide du CDGOLD[31]
MusicHound Rock3/5[32]
Pitchfork10/10[33]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[34]
Polari Magazine[35]

Reviewing for Rolling Stone, Ariel Swartley observed that Mitchell had abandoned memorable tunes in favor of "new, seductive rhythms," "lush guitars", and "spare instrumentation", with the resulting sound "as sophisticated and arresting as anything she's done… as unceasing and hypnotic as the freeways Mitchell describes in her songs".[36] Swartley also praised the lyrics as "some of her most incisive and humorous," and credited her voice with a "new warmth."[37] Village Voice critic Robert Christgau was impressed with the way that "Mitchell subjugates melody to the natural music of language itself", but wondered whether "the reflections of a rich, faithless, compulsively mobile, and compulsively romantic female" were substantially more interesting than those of her male counterparts, "especially the third or fourth time around."[29]

In a 2022 review for Pitchfork, critic Jenn Pelly described the album as "restless music of road and sky […in which] narratives unfurl with driving forward motion", adding that "the fretless bass, spare percussion, and unusual harmonics depict [Mitchell's] wintry lucidity."[38]

Musicians such as Björk, Danielle Haim, Weyes Blood, and St. Vincent have named the album as a favorite.[39]

Accolades

In 1991 Rolling Stone placed the cover at No. 11 on its list of best album covers.[40]

It was voted number 776 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[41] In the 2020 edition of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, it was ranked No. 133.[42]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Joni Mitchell.

Side one

  1. "Coyote" – 5:01
  2. "Amelia" – 6:01
  3. "Furry Sings the Blues" – 5:07
  4. "A Strange Boy" – 4:15
  5. "Hejira" – 6:42

Side two

  1. "Song for Sharon" – 8:40
  2. "Black Crow" – 4:22
  3. "Blue Motel Room" – 5:04
  4. "Refuge of the Roads" – 6:42

Personnel

Production

Charts

Chart performance for Hejira
Chart (1976–1977) Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[43] 38
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[44] 22
UK Albums (OCC)[45] 11
US Billboard 200[46] 13

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[47] Gold 35,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ Rockwell, John (12 December 1976). "Joni Mitchell Recaptures Her Gift". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  2. ^ Coleman, Rodger. "Joni Mitchell: Hejira". Spectrum Culture. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Fisher, Doug (October 8, 2006). "The trouble she's seen". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  4. ^ Ruhlman, William (February 17, 1995). "From Blue to Indigo". Goldmine. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  5. ^ Mercer, Michelle (2009). Will You Take Me As I Am: Joni Mitchell's Blue Period. Simon and Schuster. pp. 182–. ISBN 978-1-4165-6655-7. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  6. ^ Weller, Sheila (2008). Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon -- and The Journey of a Generation. New York, NY: Atria Books. p. 412. ISBN 978-0743491488.
  7. ^ a b Breese, Wally (January 1998). "Biography: 1976–1977 Refuge of the Roads". Jonimitchell.com. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  8. ^ Mitchell, Joni (December 1987). "The Life and Death of Jaco Pastorius". Musician. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  9. ^ a b Daily Motion video: "Joni Mitchell: Painting With Words and Music".
  10. ^ LaGreca, Angela (June 2005). "Joni Mitchell Library - The Making of the Hejira Cover: Rock Photo, June 2005". www.jonimitchell.com. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  11. ^ Dunn, Jancee (15 December 1994). "Q&A: Joni Mitchell - The legendary singer-songwriter speaks about her 17th album, Turbulent Indigo". www.rollingstone.com. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  12. ^ a b Hilburn, Robert (December 8, 1996). "Both Sides, Later". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  13. ^ Friedman, Roger (April 1, 2008). "Joni Mitchell's '70s Suicide Attempt". Fox News. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
  14. ^ Rosenbaum, Ron (December 4, 2007), "The Best Joni Mitchell Song Ever", Slate
  15. ^ Manoff, Tom (2 April 2003), Joni Mitchell's Stylistic Journey, PBS
  16. ^ Levitin, Daniel (1996). "A conversation with Joni Mitchell" (PDF). Grammy Magazine. Vol. 14, no. 2. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  17. ^ "newsobserver.com |On the Beat: David Menconi on music – Elvis forever and ever, amen". Blogsarchive.newsobserver.com. Archived from the original on 2009-04-02. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
  18. ^ Rolling Stone article: "Furry Lewis is Furious at Joni." February 24, 1977.
  19. ^ Suchow, Rick (December 2011). "Jaco at 60: his legacy lives on". Bass Musician. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  20. ^ Ohrstrom, Lysandra (July 15, 2008). "Mandolin 'Mecca' on Staten Island". The New York Observer. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  21. ^ Aikins, Mary (July 2005). "Heart of a Prairie Girl". Reader's Digest. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  22. ^ a b "A Requiem for Jackson Browne's Dream Los Angeles Magazine". 8 April 2014.
  23. ^ a b Weller, Sheila (2008). Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon -- and The Journey of a Generation. New York, NY: Atria Books. pp. 410–411. ISBN 978-0743491488.
  24. ^ Weller, Sheila (2008). Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon -- and The Journey of a Generation. New York, NY: Atria Books. p. 407. ISBN 978-0743491488.
  25. ^ a b Weller, Sheila (2008). Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon -- and The Journey of a Generation. New York, NY: Atria Books. p. 415. ISBN 978-0743491488.
  26. ^ Ehrlich, Dimitri (April 1991). "Joni Mitchell". Interview. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
  27. ^ Aikin, Mary (July 2005). "Heart of a Prairie Girl". Reader's Digest. pp. 146–148. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  28. ^ Cleary, David (2011). "Hejira – Joni Mitchell | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  29. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: M". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 8, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  30. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). "Mitchell, Joni". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  31. ^ a b "Joni Mitchell Hejira". Acclaimed Music. Retrieved 2014-03-18.
  32. ^ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel, eds. (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 769. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
  33. ^ Pelly, Jenn (December 4, 2022). "Joni Mitchell: Hejira Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
  34. ^ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). "Joni Mitchell". The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. London: Fireside. pp. 547–548. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. Retrieved 8 September 2009. Portions posted at "Joni Mitchell > Album Guide". rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on July 31, 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
  35. ^ Bryant, Christopher (26 March 2009). "Hejira • Joni Mitchell". polarimagazine.com. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  36. ^ Ariel Swartley (2011). "Hejira by Joni Mitchell". rollingstone.com. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  37. ^ Ariel Swartley (2011). "Hejira by Joni Mitchell". rollingstone.com. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  38. ^ Pelly, Jenn (December 4, 2022). "Joni Mitchell: Hejira Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
  39. ^ Pelly, Jenn (December 4, 2022). "Joni Mitchell: Hejira Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
  40. ^ "Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Album Covers". Rate Your Music. 1991-11-14. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
  41. ^ Colin Larkin (2006). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 244. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  42. ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: 140–69". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  43. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992: 23 years of hit singles & albums from the top 100 charts. St Ives, N.S.W, Australia: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  44. ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 5177a". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  45. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  46. ^ "Joni Mitchell Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  47. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2004 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association.
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