All Sides Now

Meditations on an old folk song

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HEADLINE: All Sides Now
SUBHEAD: Meditations on an old folk song

This is an article about a 56-year-old song. It isn’t marking an anniversary or memorializing the singer. Nevertheless, I believe that Joni Mitchell’s song “Both Sides Now” is still culturally relevant. CODA, the Academy Award winner for Best Picture in 2021, uses the song as a major plot device; Ari Aster’s still wildly popular horror film Hereditary plays Judy Collins’ discordantly cheery version during the end credits; Hillary Clinton’s newest memoir Something Lost, Something Gained borrows its title from the last verse; and who could forget Emma Thompson weeping to it in Love, Actually.

Perhaps the reasons for its success are not immediately obvious to people today. “Both Sides Now” accomplishes all the goals of folk music so simply that it seems effortless. The song follows a formula that could not be further simplified. Joni describes her first idealized impression of something, then negates it with opposite impressions she gained from experience. The first verse is the most literal. She thought clouds were pretty, then she got older and had to cancel plans because of rain and snow. Then she applies that realization metaphorically to love using the same structure. She had an idealized picture of what love was supposed to be, then through experience she discovered truths opposite to the idealized notion she previously took for granted. The final verse applies the idea universally to life in general.

Each iteration of the formula ends the same way: “It’s (clouds’, love’s, life’s) illusions I recall, I really don’t know (clouds, love, life) at all.” This is what makes it a song and not an essay. The formula she’s using to draw these conclusions is actually a revolutionary way of thinking, but Joni stops short of drawing these conclusions. Each of us carries precious concepts around with us. We take them from music, movies, art, books, short-form vertical scroll video content, sermons, or anywhere really. The goal of folk songs of this kind is to leave the listener with the essence of a profound idea that they couldn’t actually put their finger on if they tried. This is stated much more concisely in Bob Dylan’s refrain: “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.” What does that actually mean? I’m not sure, but it leaves an aftertaste that inspires introspection, which makes it a successful piece of art.

Here, I would argue that Joni is running up against the limit of the form. When she sings that she really doesn’t know anything at all, that fills listeners with the wistful daze of a folk song, but it’s false. The verses of “Both Sides Now” are actually building toward truth, not abstracting it. Her experiences contradict her original notions, but the new notions she creates with those experiences also contain contradictions that need to be worked out. Theoretically, the song could go on forever, getting infinitely closer to an absolute truth. But, as a folk singer-songwriter, Joni can accomplish her goal just by throwing up her hands and basking in poetic ignorance.

German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel is famously difficult to understand, but he employs a metaphor in the introduction to The Phenomenology that I find useful. The metaphor is about the growth of flowers. When a flower blossoms, the bud disappears. When it turns into a fruit, the flower disappears. Each stage completely replaces the one before it. According to Hegel, it is only an illusion that these stages conflict with each other. In truth, they are harmonious components of an organic whole, each mutually necessary to the others.

Joni’s early ideals function in the same way. They are not refuted by her experiences but instead blossom into them. Clouds are beautiful and sometimes inconvenient. Love is exhilarating and boring. Life is intense and a chore. Rather than throw up our hands and sit with ignorance, we can further investigate these notions and arrive at better and better truths. Doesn’t that make you excited to be alive?

By: Luke Morris

Image from jazzmusicarchives.com