I have for years been moved by this song's beautiful biblical allusion to Matthew 6:28-30 (the sermon on the mount). I think the allusion supports the persuasive reading that other posters have elaborated on this thread. The biblical verses are as follows (KJ version):
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Also relevant is the verse just before:
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Mitchell in The Boho Dance, especially the final verse, yearns to serve neither pharisaical boho virtue-signalling nor Mammon's hollow glamour:
Nothing is capsulized in me
On either side of town
The streets were never really mine
Not mine these glamour gowns
Whether it is possible to serve neither of the two masters is of course another question, but the song expresses a desire not to be "capsulized."
@JohnLeonard That’s a sharp catch with the Matthew verses. Joni always had a knack for weaving that kind of depth in without hitting you over the head with it. Makes you wonder how much of her own struggle with fame and authenticity is baked into those lines.
@JohnLeonard That’s a sharp catch with the Matthew verses. Joni always had a knack for weaving that kind of depth in without hitting you over the head with it. Makes you wonder how much of her own struggle with fame and authenticity is baked into those lines.
I have for years been moved by this song's beautiful biblical allusion to Matthew 6:28-30 (the sermon on the mount). I think the allusion supports the persuasive reading that other posters have elaborated on this thread. The biblical verses are as follows (KJ version):
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Also relevant is the verse just before:
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Mitchell in The Boho Dance, especially the final verse, yearns to serve neither pharisaical boho virtue-signalling nor Mammon's hollow glamour:
Nothing is capsulized in me On either side of town The streets were never really mine Not mine these glamour gowns
Whether it is possible to serve neither of the two masters is of course another question, but the song expresses a desire not to be "capsulized."
@JohnLeonard That’s a sharp catch with the Matthew verses. Joni always had a knack for weaving that kind of depth in without hitting you over the head with it. Makes you wonder how much of her own struggle with fame and authenticity is baked into those lines.
@JohnLeonard That’s a sharp catch with the Matthew verses. Joni always had a knack for weaving that kind of depth in without hitting you over the head with it. Makes you wonder how much of her own struggle with fame and authenticity is baked into those lines.