Glenn and Joni Mitchell

[Freypower]

Just expanding on this, in San Diego he says 'people thought I was hypocritical for writing a song about the haves & have nots. Hey - it's just a song'. Incidentally the SD version is probably superior to Dublin. He says his voice is hoarse & you can hear that, but it adds to the charm.


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There's talk on the street, it sounds so familiar
Great expectations, everybody's watching you

[Ive always been a dreamer]

I'll weigh in here on "I've Got Mine" - I always interpreted as Glenn "partially" including himself here because he intentionally switches to first person in the one verse, and then switches back. I thought that was his attempt to say "yeah, I include myself here, but only in this part." Thats just my take on it - but, as I always say, a good songwriter leaves things open for intrepretation - and IMHO - this is a great song!


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I'm just a hired hand working on the dreams I plan to try. The days go by...

[sodascouts]

I think many people, including myself, can feel implicated by the first-person verse. That's part of the song's power to me - but that's just my interp!


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[Freypower]

Just because a songwriter uses first person doesn't necessarily mean it's about the songwriter. He has specifically referred to the character in Love in the 21st Century, for instance, as 'the guy in the song', although to be fair I think it's fairly obvious that isn't about him.


~~~

There's talk on the street, it sounds so familiar
Great expectations, everybody's watching you

[Freypower]

Just a couple of observations with the writing of The Last Resort I found interesting:

Glenn says 'I called it Henley's opus. I helped describe what the song was going to be about and assisted with the arrangement, but it was Don's lyric and basic chord progression'. I think that as usual he is being remarkably generous here regarding how much of the music he wrote. He is credited with co-writing the song, the same as he gets a co-lead vocal on King of Hollywood, which 'Don sings'.


~~~

There's talk on the street, it sounds so familiar
Great expectations, everybody's watching you

[sodascouts]

That's true. There's a reason for that co-credit, after all.


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[DonFan]

This has been a very interesting read. I didn't know about Glenn & Joni Mitchell either. I have listened to "Help Me" for ages, however, and the next time they play it on Classic Radio I will definitely listen to it in a new way!

I'm not surprised that the Don in that song referred to Don Johnson. Glenn guest-starred on Miami Vice, after all, and he & Don made that cool Pepsi commercial together too.

I am sorry that we always seem to be looking for acrimonious comments between Don & Glenn. I know the break-up was hard on both of them, and for awhile they did seem to regard each other's solo efforts with suspicion. I read somewhere that Don even made a comment about the speedy cancellation of South of Sunset. But later, Don also made an effort to patch things up when tried to call Glenn after he saw him on a late night talk show, so.....Whatever happened between the two of them, I am glad they were able to get past that and reunite, and I think they are good friends again now.

[sodascouts]

Yeah, it seems like they are getting along better than ever now.


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[Freypower]

Re Don contacting Glenn, that was in 1984, well before SOS, but you're right, at least it happened.


~~~

There's talk on the street, it sounds so familiar
Great expectations, everybody's watching you

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Yep - like I said earlier, thank goodness for maturity and forgiveness because, let's face it, together, they are one heck of a team. IMO, virtually unbeatable!


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I'm just a hired hand working on the dreams I plan to try. The days go by...