Everything comes and goes
Marked by lovers and styles of clothes
Things that you held high
And told yourself were true
Lost or changing as the days come down to you
Down to you
Constant stranger
You're a kind person
You're a cold person too
It's down to you
It all comes down to you
You go down to the pick up station
Craving warmth and beauty
You settle for less than fascination
A few drinks later you're not so choosy
When the closing lights strip off the shadows
On this strange new flesh you've found
Clutching the night to you like a fig leaf
You hurry
To the blackness
And the blankets
To lay down an impression
And your loneliness
In the morning there are lovers in the street
They look so high
You brush against a stranger
And you both apologize
Old friends seem indifferent
You must have brought that on
Old bonds have broken down
Love is gone
Love is gone
Written on your spirit, this sad song
Love is gone
Everything comes and goes
Pleasure moves on too early
And trouble leaves too slow
Just when you're thinking
You've finally got it made
Bad news comes knocking
At your garden gate
Knocking for you
Constant stranger
You're a brute
you're an angel
you're an angel
You can crawl
you can fly too
you can fly too
It's down to you
It all comes down to you
Joni Mitchell
Philadelphia & Elsewhere
1967/1968
CD1
01 Morning Morgantown
02 Born to Take the Highway
03 Eastern Rain
04 The Circle Game
05 Song to a Seagull
06 Carnival In Kenora
07 Brandy Eyes
08 Winter Lady
09 Mr. Blue
10 Urge for Going
11 Both Sides Now
12 Night In the City
13 The Circle Game
14 Blue On Blue
Tracks 01-13: The Second Fret, Philadelphia PA 3.17.1967
Track 14: WHAT-FM Studios, Philadelphia PA 3.19.1967
Total time: 1:04:40
CD2
01 Night In the City
02 Come to the Sunshine
03 Chelsea Morning
04 Conversation
05 I Had a King
06 Cactus Tree
07 Little Green
08 Marcie
09 London Bridge
10 Ballerina Valerie
11 Michael from Mountains
12 Go Tell the Drummer Man
13 I Don't Know Where I Stand
14 Both Sides Now
15 Sisotowbell Lane
Tracks 01-14: The Second Fret, Philadelphia PA 10.12.1967
Track 15: WDAS-FM Studios, Philadelphia PA Fall 1968
Total time: 1:09:14
CD3
01 Marcie
02 Nathan La Franeer
03 introduction to Dr. Junk
04 Dr. Junk
05 Roses Blue
06 The Circle Game
07 Little Green
08 I Don't Know Where I Stand
09 Go Tell The Drummer Man
10 Michael From Mountains
11 That Song About the Midway
12 Cactus Tree
13 Chelsea Morning
14 Both Sides Now
15 The Circle Game
16 Little Green
Tracks 1-10: unknown Eastern US venue & date, possibly Cellar Door, Washington DC Nov. 1968
Tracks 11-16: Philadelphia Folk Festival, Upper Salford PA 8.23.1968
Total time: 1:04:33
Joni Mitchell - guitar and vocals
CDs 1 & 2 are private recordings done with an onstage mic and reel deck;
sourced from the bootleg CD "Posall & Mosalm"
CD3 is off-air FM captures of unknown origin
946 MB FLAC/November 2018 archive link
There's nothing to say about one of the top 5 songwriters ever to live. As you pull down this astonishing set covering the run-up and aftermath of her first (mindshattering, paradigm-altering) record in 1968 -- a dozen of its songs were never recorded officially by her -- think about what the people in the club must have thought as they watched the fabric of history being remodulated in front of their faces.
She has health issues that have rendered her frail and out of the public eye the last few years, and who knows how much longer she'll be among us.
But that's just this temporary, fleeting life, here and gone in the blink of an eyelash as it is for all of us. We know for certain that her brilliant Saska Tunes will be played and loved thousands of years from this moment, and in that sense there has never been (and will never be) a more eternally beloved or deserving musician than Joni Mitchell.--J.
