This song introduced Joni's long foray -- more of an evolution, actually -- into the genre of jazz instrumentation and jazz-style vocals. The song structure does away with the standard verse-chorus-verse in favor of just repeating the same line-to-line progression three times, all ending with a reference to the place identified in the title. I first heard it after having already listened a lot to "Court and Spark," and was struck that unlike most of the rest of the "For the Roses" album, it sounded similar to some songs on that album, particularly "Just Like this Train" and "People's Parties," in style, melodic structure, and instrumentation. So it was a foreshadowing of what was to come in her big commercial breakthrough album, which also featured a jazz band playing pop, rock, and jazzy melodies.
This song introduced Joni's long foray -- more of an evolution, actually -- into the genre of jazz instrumentation and jazz-style vocals. The song structure does away with the standard verse-chorus-verse in favor of just repeating the same line-to-line progression three times, all ending with a reference to the place identified in the title. I first heard it after having already listened a lot to "Court and Spark," and was struck that unlike most of the rest of the "For the Roses" album, it sounded similar to some songs on that album, particularly "Just Like this Train" and "People's Parties," in style, melodic structure, and instrumentation. So it was a foreshadowing of what was to come in her big commercial breakthrough album, which also featured a jazz band playing pop, rock, and jazzy melodies.