Next month Taylor Swift will be twenty.  She’s already had her heart broken, but she’s not quite aware how complicated and confusing life truly is, how you can seemingly be on top of the world and commit suicide, like Freddie Prinze, how you can be almost broke, but be beamingly happy.

But Taylor does know the thrill of falling in love.

It’s not like the movies, it’s certainly not like TV.

But it’s just like listening to a Joni Mitchell song.

And that’s probably why I quoted "A Case Of You" to Taylor.  To show her how someone can get it so right.

I remember that time you told me you said
‘Love is touching souls’
Surely you touched mine
‘Cause part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time

And part of Joni is pouring out of me as I write this, listening to her sing "A Case Of You" thirty nine years ago, before it was even commercially released, at the Greenpeace concert in Vancouver.

How do you explain to someone how it was.  When these acts were at the peak of their powers.  When you tuned in the radio to hear their new works, when you went to the show to marinate in their vibe.  It might only be Joni and her dulcimer.  No auto-tune, no backup tapes, certainly no dancing, just the music.

I saw James Taylor twice that spring.  And hearing his performances on this album is like sitting in the audience at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, before "Fire and Rain" became an anthem, before he hit the cover of "Time", when the house was maybe a quarter full.

James sat on a stool.  Just he and his guitar.  And played these songs.

And to listen to my absolute favorite, "Something In The Way She Moves", done fast, the way it was on the Apple album, before he recut it for the Warner Brothers "Greatest Hits" album, puts a smile on my face.

And James does my other favorite from the Apple debut, "Carolina In My Mind".

But what is truly staggering is his renditions of "Riding On A Railroad" and "You Can Close Your Eyes", months before they appeared on "Mud Slide Slim".

THAT’S why my story of the train trip was entitled "Riding On A Railroad", because of James’ tune!

But even better is "You Can Close Your Eyes".

It’s positively mind-blowing.  As if the 1970 James Taylor just knocked on my front door and asked if he could sit on my couch and play.

This is perfection.  Not because he misses no notes, not because of his picking, but because of the emotion.  This is the zeitgeist, as good as it gets.  A troubadour singing his songs one night on the road, same as it’s ever been for centuries.

Still, listening to Joni sing shocks me into submission.

My old man, he’s a singer in the park

Joni’s sitting at the piano, playing the intro of this song from "Blue", but when she starts to sing you can really see her old man, walking in the park.  And then she sings those lines I’ve quoted for the entirety of my adult life:

We don’t need no piece of paper
From the city hall
Keeping us tied and true

It may be hard if you didn’t live through the sixties, if you didn’t see them slide into the seventies.  Possessions were secondary, we thought we were truly building a better society, based on honesty.  Before Reagan was elected President, legitimized greed and all the boomers said HELL YEAH!

Joni does "For Free""

I slept last night in a good hotel
I went shopping today for jewels

Joni sings "The Fairmont Hotel" on the authorized live album, "Miles Of Aisles", but this take is far superior.  I wondered why you couldn’t stream this album anywhere and I thought of the lines "I play if you have the money, Or if you’re a friend to me."

We’ll do anything if you know us.  Otherwise, you’ve got to pay.

Joni doesn’t need the exposure, the promotional value.  Just buy the damn tracks or leave her alone.  You either need the music or you don’t.

And if you don’t think you need Joni Mitchell, I feel sorry for you.  You’re probably a soulless fuck who thinks he who dies with the most toys wins.  Of, if you’re heartbroken or depressed, you won’t admit it.

And Joni sings the classic "Circle Game".  And "Woodstock".

But the apotheosis is "A Case Of You".

Just before our love got lost you said
‘I am as constant as a northern star’
And I said ‘Constantly in the darkness
Where’s that at?
If you want me I’ll be in the bar’

Just Joni and her dulcimer, laid across her lap, striking it like a woman who’s known life’s pleasure and its pains.

It’s almost like you’re hearing the story from a friend.  A complete expose of her relationship, the complete tale.

We’re not expecting her to make fun of her beloved’s proclamation.  But that’s what makes Joni Mitchell so great.  She’s not playing by the rules, she’s just being true to herself.

Oh I am a lonely painter
I live in a box of paints
I’m frightened by the devil
And I’m drawn to those ones that ain’t afraid

I envy the self-confident winners, never shaken by self-doubt, leading us wherever they decide we should go.  I’m riddled with insecurities, and I’m looking for someone to understand me, to be nice to me, to take me by the hand and help me, lead me along.

But even though Joni’s talking shit, she’s also professing infatuation, extreme love:

Oh I could drink a case of you darling
Still I’d be on my feet
Oh I would still be on my feet

What a metaphor!  Especially now that I know Canadians.  Who buy their case at the "Beer Store" and try to keep the demons at bay during the long cold winter.

It’s coming on Christmas
They’re cutting down trees
They’re putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  The beginning of the joyous season that runs through Christmas and ends with the ringing of the bell bringing in the New Year.

It’s hell.  Especially if you’re alone.

And even if you’re in a relationship, the time off from work, the family interactions are enough to push you over the edge.

Anxiety runs rampant and everybody tells you you should be happy.  Ain’t that the modern condition.

I’m just here to tell you that you’re not alone, that you’ve got a companion, this "Amchitka" live album.  Comprised of takes from not only Joni and James, but Phil Ochs too.

And these renditions are better than any authorized live album, better than seeing the artists in concert today (unfortunately, in the case of Phil, that’s impossible).

You see these recordings were made before they were self-conscious, when they were brimming with creativity, before they were worn down by not only the business, but the world.

To listen to Joni Mitchell sing "A Case Of You" is to understand why classic rock is truly classic.

We’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.  And going back to the greats is a good place to start.  When it was about songs, not corporate tie-ins.  When your relationship with your audience trumped all other associations.

Listening to Joni tonight brings tears to my eyes.

I just wanted you to know.

The Amchitka Concert