Dressed in stolen clothes she stands Cast iron and frail With her impossibly gentle hands And her blood-red fingernails
Joni Mitchell Shades of Scarlett Conquering
Out of the fire like Catholic saints Comes Scarlett and her deep complaint Mimicking tenderness she sees In sentimental movies A celluloid rider comes to town Cinematic lovers sway Plantations and sweeping ballroom gowns Take her breath away
Out in the wind in crinolines Chasing the ghosts of Gable and Flynn Through stand-in boys and extra players Magnolias hopeful in her auburn hair She comes from a school of Southern charm She likes to have things her way Any man in the world holding out his arm Would soon be made to pay
Friends have told her “not so proud” Neighbors trying to sleep and yelling “not so loud” Lovers in anger “block of ice” Harder and harder just to be nice
Given in the night to dark dreams From the dark things she feels She covers her eyes in the x-rated scenes Running from the reels
Beauty and madness to be praised ’cause it is not easy to be brave To walk around in so much need To carry the weight of all that greed Dressed in stolen clothes she stands Cast iron and frail With her impossibly gentle hands And her blood-red fingernails
Out of the fire and still smoldering She says “a woman must have everything” Shades of Scarlett conquering She says “a woman must have everything.”
Machiko Terauchi – Parental Abductor
Beauty and madness to be praised
Because it is not easy to be brave To walk around in so much need To carry the weight of all that greed
After thought:
Joni Mitchell’s song does not say that it is greedy to be strong, or that Scarlett is particularly guilty of something and now it’s the men’s turn… She is responsible for what harm she does, and has done; but what I think is moving is that it uncracks the shell of all that anger and “will to power” we see in her, and explores why it is there in the first place.. What causes her to become ungenerous, so dictatorial, demanding, and possessive of her object? What is the weight of hurt she is carrying, such that lovers who dare to come near “will soon be made to pay” for a crime – for investing some hopes in reciprocity with her? Traditionalist movie themes inspire images of love and perfect romance that were never truly believed, but that provide a spectacle that feeds desire and resentment anyway. Intimacy becomes foreclosed once facing resentment and fear is barred. In Joni’s song, the character’s demands produce conventional shock: (“not so proud!” “block of ice!”). In the end she is left to be swallowed by antagonisms. She is “brave”, which is difficult to be; but her inability to see that the damage she suffers is shared and produced with others, produces an appearance of greed and resentment. “A woman must have everything” … if she thinks that she uniquely deserves it; she is entitled to it; she can demand it for herself. She can never crave it enough, or drown it.
Bp 08/03/2013
[alternate version below. The harmonic movement was not yet completed; but it’s beautiful in this form too]
My friend, for me this is an entirely new experience, despite having known the music for almost three decades. I don’t think I had given it much thought before this post here. Now the precision of Joni Mitchell’s lyric accompanied by this gorgeous musical setting overwhelms my senses and gives me a fresh set of thoughts about being a human in the throes of trying to find safe ground.
For Rui Boy 
It had been years since I heard this song but it’s regained its currency in a new and painful context.
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My friend, for me this is an entirely new experience, despite having known the music for almost three decades. I don’t think I had given it much thought before this post here. Now the precision of Joni Mitchell’s lyric accompanied by this gorgeous musical setting overwhelms my senses and gives me a fresh set of thoughts about being a human in the throes of trying to find safe ground.
LikeLiked by 1 person