A Very Joni Christmas

No one who knows me will be the least bit surprised that I've chosen to feature two Joni Mitchell songs as part of my holiday postings.

"River," of course, is the classic track from the eternally perfect Blue album (1971). It's the most melancholy and painfully self-aware Christmas song I can think of...and it fits perfectly as part of Blue as a whole and as a song that's been covered by everyone from Travis to Robert Downey, Jr. to Holly Cole to Indigo Girls to Billy Squier to Manilow to Linda Ronstadt to Heart (you get the picture). It's taken on a life of its own in the 34 years it's been around, but no version anywhere even comes close to Joni's haunting and spare reading (I can argue that Downey's version may be the closest to capturing the pain and resolution of the original). It's one of those songs that work whether sung by a man or a woman, and it's destined to be part of holiday compilations (by artists who want a "serious" song on their Christmas albums) for years to come. If you've never heard it, shame on you. Go to iTunes instantly and download it. Those are your Christmas orders.

And let's talk about another, lesser-known Joni Christmas song--a track called "Face Lift" from the 1998 Taming the Tiger LP, which is sadly the last album of original material Joni recorded and will probably record (though we always can hope for a Christmas miracle). "Face Lift" centers around an awkward moment on Christmas morning, when an adult Joni shows up at her mom's house with her boyfriend Donald. Suddenly, her mother wigs out and tells her she should be ashamed running around and sleeping with this guy (even though it was her mother who introduced the two) --"shacked up downtown, making love without a license." Joni tries to talk some sense into her aged mom, arguing that "Why is this joy not allowed? For God's sake, we're middle aged, mama, and time moves swift; you know, happiness is the best face lift." The song ends with no reconciliation, but a lovely image of being tucked in bed and looking out over a frozen river and the Christmas lights dancing off the snow and ice. It's a song that makes you smile with perhaps more than a little recognition. "Mothers are mothers are mothers," Joni said when she sang this song live on the 1999 Painting With Words and Music DVD.

These two songs are starkly different. Even though they both have spare arrangements ("River" is just Joni and piano; "Face Lift" is Joni and that remarkable, otherworldly sounding DG8 guitar she's been playing on in recent years--with the obligatory Wayne Shorter sax trill thrown in for good measure), "Face Lift" offers hope that love has a healing power while "River" is a snapshot of depression. Additionally, the life experience and worldly age Joni brings "Face Lift" is a far cry from "River" and its paean to self-inspection.

Final analysis? Both A material; both amazing pieces of work; both fantastic parts of a genius ouevre.