Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell (1969)
Photo credit: Jack Robinson
We have something very special for you for this week's LCM Classic. We travel back to 1969 for the beautiful and heartfelt song 'Both Sides Now' from the always wonderful Joni Mitchell. Written by Joni but originally recorded by Judy Collins, the song first appeared on the U.S. singles chart during the fall of 1968. The next year it was included on Joni's album 'Clouds' (which was named after a lyric from the song). It has since been covered by dozens of artists, including Frank Sinatra, Willie Nelson and Herbie Hancock. Joni re-rerecorded the song with an orchestral arrangement, on her 2000 album 'Both Sides Now'.
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked "Both Sides, Now" at #171 on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Joni wrote "Both Sides, Now" in March 1967, inspired by a passage in Henderson the Rain King, a 1959 novel by Saul Bellow. "I was reading Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King on a plane and early in the book Henderson the Rain King is also up in a plane. He's on his way to Africa and he looks down and sees these clouds. I put down the book, looked out the window and saw clouds too, and I immediately started writing the song. I had no idea that the song would become as popular as it did.'
