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Song For Sharon Lyrics
I went to Staten Island.
To buy myself a mandolin
And I saw the long white dress of love
On a storefront mannequin
Big boat chuggin' back with a belly full of cars...
All for something lacy
Some girl's going to see that dress
And crave that day like crazy
Little Indian kids on a bridge up in Canada
They can balance and they can climb
Like their fathers before them
They'll walk the girders of the Manhattan skyline
Shine your light on me Miss Liberty
Because as soon as this ferry boat docks
I'm headed to the church
To play Bingo
Fleece me with the gamblers' flocks
I can keep my cool at poker
But I'm a fool when love's at stake
Because I can't conceal emotion
What I'm feeling's always written on my face
There's a gypsy down on Bleecker Street
I went in to see her as a kind of joke
And she lit a candle for my love luck
And eighteen bucks went up in smoke
Sharon, I left my man
At a North Dakota junction
And I came out to the "Big Apple" here
To face the dream's malfunction
Love's a repetitious danger
You'd think I'd be accustomed to
Well, I do accept the changes
At least better than I used to do
A woman I knew just drowned herself
The well was deep and muddy
She was just shaking off futility
Or punishing somebody
My friends were calling up all day yesterday
All emotions and abstractions
It seems we all live so close to that line
And so far from satisfaction
Dora says, "Have children!"
Mama and Betsy say-"Find yourself a charity."
Help the needy and the crippled or put some time into Ecology."
Well, there's a wide wide world of noble causes
And lovely landscapes to discover
But all I really want right now
Is...find another lover
When we were kids in Maidstone, Sharon
I went to every wedding in that little town
To see the tears and the kisses
And the pretty lady in the white lace wedding gown
And walking home on the railroad tracks
Or swinging on the playground swing
Love stimulated my illusions
More than anything
And when I went skating after Golden Reggie
You know it was white lace I was chasing
Chasing dreams
Mama's nylons underneath my cowgirl jeans
He showed me first you get the kisses
And then you get the tears
But the ceremony of the bells and lace
Still veils this reckless fool here
Now there are 29 skaters on Wolmann rink
Circling in singles and in pairs
In this vigorous anonymity
A blank face at the window stares and stares and stares and stares
And the power of reason
And the flowers of deep feeling
Seem to serve me
Only to deceive me
Sharon you've got a husband
And a family and a farm
I've got the apple of temptation
And a diamond snake around my arm
But you still have your music
And I've still got my eyes on the land and the sky
You sing for your friends and your family
I'll walk green pastures by and by
To buy myself a mandolin
And I saw the long white dress of love
On a storefront mannequin
Big boat chuggin' back with a belly full of cars...
All for something lacy
Some girl's going to see that dress
And crave that day like crazy
They can balance and they can climb
Like their fathers before them
They'll walk the girders of the Manhattan skyline
Shine your light on me Miss Liberty
Because as soon as this ferry boat docks
I'm headed to the church
To play Bingo
Fleece me with the gamblers' flocks
But I'm a fool when love's at stake
Because I can't conceal emotion
What I'm feeling's always written on my face
There's a gypsy down on Bleecker Street
I went in to see her as a kind of joke
And she lit a candle for my love luck
And eighteen bucks went up in smoke
At a North Dakota junction
And I came out to the "Big Apple" here
To face the dream's malfunction
Love's a repetitious danger
You'd think I'd be accustomed to
Well, I do accept the changes
At least better than I used to do
The well was deep and muddy
She was just shaking off futility
Or punishing somebody
My friends were calling up all day yesterday
All emotions and abstractions
It seems we all live so close to that line
And so far from satisfaction
Mama and Betsy say-"Find yourself a charity."
Help the needy and the crippled or put some time into Ecology."
Well, there's a wide wide world of noble causes
And lovely landscapes to discover
But all I really want right now
Is...find another lover
I went to every wedding in that little town
To see the tears and the kisses
And the pretty lady in the white lace wedding gown
And walking home on the railroad tracks
Or swinging on the playground swing
Love stimulated my illusions
More than anything
You know it was white lace I was chasing
Chasing dreams
Mama's nylons underneath my cowgirl jeans
He showed me first you get the kisses
And then you get the tears
But the ceremony of the bells and lace
Still veils this reckless fool here
Circling in singles and in pairs
In this vigorous anonymity
A blank face at the window stares and stares and stares and stares
And the power of reason
And the flowers of deep feeling
Seem to serve me
Only to deceive me
And a family and a farm
I've got the apple of temptation
And a diamond snake around my arm
But you still have your music
And I've still got my eyes on the land and the sky
You sing for your friends and your family
I'll walk green pastures by and by
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2 things I can't believe : -1- only one comment for one of the most beautiful songs ever written at the surface of the earth -2- that Joni wrote this while sniffin' cocaine...
Such a haunting melody, very subtle changes in the backup playing... Very few albums or songs reach that level of lyricism, I mean music that's purely led by emotions, in all their implied contradictions, as is all the "Hejira" album, Talk Talk's "Laughing Stock" or Robert Wyatt's "Rock Bottom" (and I almost forgot Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks"). That's music that grows on you, into you, ever deeper and deeper, endlessly...
I love (the word is weak) the way the lyrics are written : Joni floats between her present melancholy days, memories of the past, of Sharon, all linked by repeating images ("the lace"), metaphors, places, united by a sort of road trip feeling...
"I can keep my cool at poker But I'm a fool when love's at stake Because I can't conceal emotion What I'm feeling's always written on my face"
Once you've heard this song, you're tied
I agree that this is one of the greatest pieces of poetry of the rock era, rivaled only by the very best works of Bob Dylan,Don Henley and a few others from Joni. Jaco Pastorius of Weather Report plays the haunting bass.
this song has got to be one of the most hauntingly beautiful creations made by mankind.
this song has got to be one of the most hauntingly beautiful creations made by mankind.
@rocknrolllawschool thanks for pointing out Jaco on this. Didn't know about that.
@rocknrolllawschool thanks for pointing out Jaco on this. Didn't know about that.
@rocknrolllawschool Incorrect. It's Max Bennett on bass. Jaco plays on four other tracks but not this one.
@rocknrolllawschool Incorrect. It's Max Bennett on bass. Jaco plays on four other tracks but not this one.
just to be nerdy Jaco does not play on this track, he is on Coyote, Hejira, Black Crow and Refuge of the Roads. When I heard this song in 1977 I thought it was great but hadnt lived enough to truly feel it. This year I met a woman who is 29, just like Joni was ("29 skaters on Wollmann rink") who was/is going through an identity struggle. I suggested this song to her and I think it enlightened her. Its one of the ultimate reflections of Jonis amazing talent for marying highly personal idiosyncratic lyrics with beautiful and unorthodox music.
'Little Indian kids on a bridge up in Canada They can balance and they can climb Like their fathers before them They'll walk the girders of the Manhattan skyline'
this is lovely. a little bit of history. the white workers got vertigo and couldn't build the high skyscrapers of new york so they got the native indians from canada to come work as builders as they could balance and keep a level head at great heights.it saddens me that this song was written under the influence of cocaine. i wonder what other great songs came from that induced state.
Only the greatest of artists could create such an incredible song. I think Joni's work will still be revered, probably more so, a thousand years from now.
To me this is such a an intense description of observing the people around you in your life. Feelings of resentment, regret, jealousy but also pride and confidence in your ways (and sometimes against all odds). Becuase all you have is yourself and what you have been, and what caused what you have been is impossible to define.
My Joni phase is back full throttle and this song particularly has had me by the throat. I was just crying about it in the bathroom earlier. The enchanting musical arrangement pulled me in initially unaware of the poeticism of the lyrics. The desperation for all sorts; the through line being the inherent desire for love. The traditional love with "the bells and lace" which she's ached for since she was a child, chasing the stimulation to illusions that love provided. Even grown she catches herself, "A blank face at the window stares and stares and stares and stares", at " the long white dress of love/ On a storefront mannequin" even though she knows better; "Love's a repetitious danger You'd think I'd be accustomed to Well, I do accept the changes At least better than I used to do"
This song makes me sick, I'm so scared; hopeless like "a candle for my love luck" as "eighteen bucks went up in smoke".
edit: so it's been 9 months and ive experienced ALOT... after my first relationship and thus breakup with a boy, my interpretation of this song is now compulsive heterosexuality 🤪 ermm but also idk, idk who i like cause idk who likes me LOL
HELLPPPPPP ME JONI GAWDDDDDD
[Edit: life update]
From Karen O'Brien's biography Joni Mitchell: Shadows and Light:
"Years later, when asked in an interview about her drugs experiences, Joni Mitchell would say that she'd done some good writing while taking cocaine - notably 'Song for Sharon.'" (p.179)
Joni was in her thirties when she wrote this song. It is her finest work, a beautiful reflection on love and marriage and why she doesn't have either. Stunning.
I love this song and the story it tells.