It’s the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year Apparently that means nearly 17 hours of daylight today.
It also means loads of folk gathering at Stonehenge, and, traditionally, it’s a day, or evening, celebrated with bonfires.
It also seems like good day to listen to Joni Mitchell’s fabulous 1975 album, The Hissing of Summer Lawns.
Artist, musician, composer, poet, philosopher. Her lyrics for The Jungle Line are brilliant:
Pretty amazing, eh!? Encompassing so much, from art to music, love to war, the country vs. the city, old and new, and so much more. Musically it’s an interesting experiment, with that weird synth and her voice over Burundi drummers.
It’s not my favourite track on the album. But it’s still a corker. And the words are almost encyclopaedic, yet still resolutely poetic, in their range and scope. They kind of sun up the album and where Joni’s at, and even the art, culture and civilisation of her times.
Incredible!