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Michael From Mountains Lyrics
Michael wakes you up with sweets
He takes you up streets and the rain comes down
Sidewalk markets locked up tight
And umbrellas bright on a grey background
There's oil on the puddles in taffeta patterns
That run down the drain
In colored arrangements
That Michael will change with a stick that he found
[Chorus]
Michael from mountains
Go where you will go to
Know that I will know you
Someday I may know you very well
Michael brings you to a park
He sings and its dark when the clouds come by
Yellow slickers up on swings
Like puppets on strings hanging in the sky
They'll splash home to suppers in wallpapered kitchens
Their mothers will scold
But Michael will hold you
To keep away cold till the sidewalks are dry
[Chorus]
Michael leads you up the stairs
He needs you to care and you know you do
Cats come crying to the key
And dry you will be in a towel or two
There's rain in the window
There's sun in the painting that smiles on the wall
You want to know all
But his mountains have called so you never do
[Chorus] — Except last line is “I will know you very well.”
Her first album is untouchable and this song is much of the reason. In Michael of the Mountains Joni paints a flawless picture of lovelost which is most enduring. Perhaps the most enlightening is her tendency to appreciate the gift of loss and not to indulge in self pity, anger or hatred of life. Instead the magic of this man is cherished not blamed. You really get a sense that these two people are/were in love. I also feel that the words "Someday I will know you very well" is really meant to mean the exact opposite. I think the beauty of Michael is Joni will never know him. He will always remain a part of the landscape. A soul who blows with the wind. The essence of nature. Therefore unknowable.
I always dearly loved this song, so simple, so sweet, so natural and serene. It's just flower child rantings at its best is this tune. We were dreamers then, oh were we ever, untouchable, uncorruptable, just open, just real, nothing tragic nothing greedy. Oh we were certainly the veritable crown of creation. Then eventually music videos came along and Wall Street followed close behind. Is it all really that lost forever? It'll never die in this old heart, I can attest.
Michael clearly is a free spirit, but I also think that he is being construed as a child – in a positive sense. Rather than blaming him for being immature (sort of like "A Strange Boy" from Hejira), she thinks highly of his carefree outlook. This is all reinforced by the sweets, Michael playing in the rain, and the yellow slickers splashing home to supper.
This song in the early 70s changed my life. My name as it happens is Michael. I had just returned from Canada and the U.S. I had started by designing windows for Sears in Ontario grew discontent, spent time in Vancouver and California ending up mining in Northern Manitoba. I struggled when I returned to the U.K. (Edinburgh) as to who I was. This artist/miner. When I heard this song I realized that this curly haired sensitive person could love art, could love the mountains and could love the man he was. I, Joni, allowed me to truly be "me". Thanks for reading Michael