Glenn and Joni Mitchell

[AgingHippieChick]

Yes, that was Soda's video that I watched on Youtube, and that's where I read that Glenn & Joni had once dated and that she wrote "Help Me" about him...I can't believe I never knew this!!! And I listen to Court and Spark quite often...no doubt I'll be playing it soon, and it will have a whole new meaning!!

[Thirsty&Hot]

mind blown!

I knew that Joni and Glenn had an affair (who didn't Joni have an affair with?)

I love her though...even before I (knew I) loved Glenn haha.
and I love Help Me
takes on a whole new meaning now!
def could see how it could be about Glenn

my favorite musicians are so incestuous! if not in the literal sense, then in the musical sense

[zeldabjr]

oh I always loved that song...never knew she wrote it about Glenn...interesting...

[UndertheWire]

All the playing with hair on the photo thread, makes me think of these lines from "Just like this train":

Dreaming of the pleasure I'm going to have
Watching your hairline recede
My vain darling

Some dreams don't come true, it seems.

If most of the songs on the album are about Glenn, that seems a likely one.

[Tiffanny Twisted]

wow such a great thread...I never knew but I can see glenn all over the lyrics posted.
tried to watch sodas video but it wasn't there when I clicked on the link

[NightMistBlue]

On the basis of this thread I got hold of Court and Spark, which I haven't listened to since 1976. These are the lyrics for Car On A Hill.


I've been sitting up waiting for my sugar to show

I've been listening to the sirens and the radio

He said he'd be over three hours ago

I've been waiting for his car on the hill

He makes friends easy

He's not like me

I watch for judgement anxiously

Now where in the city can that boy be

Waiting for a car

Climbing

Climbing

Climbing the hill



He's a real good talker - I think he's a friend

Fast tires come screaming around the bend

But there's still no buzzer

They roll on...

And - I'm waiting for his car on the hill

It always seems so righteous at the start

When there's so much laughter

When there's so much spark

When there's so much sweetness in the dark

Waiting for a car

Climbing

Climbing

Climbing the hill

~~~~~



I've been sitting up waiting for my sugar to show

proves conclusively that it's about Glenn, lol!



He makes friends easy

He's not like me

I watch for judgement anxiously

seems to show how insecure about herself she feels in the face of his self assurance.



He's a real good talker - I think he's a friend

Friend as well as lover, perhaps she needn't be so insecure.



When there's so much laughter

When there's so much spark

When there's so much sweetness in the dark

"Car on a Hill" is about Jackson Browne, according to author Sheila Weller. http://www.girlslikeusthemusic.com/2...-fourteen.html

That's amazing that "Help Me" is about Glenn, never heard that. It's a brilliant song, so gorgeous.

[UndertheWire]

Does Sheila Weller give her source for the Jackson Browne/Car on the Hill story?

[NightMistBlue]

Not for that specific assertion (about the song), but Weller interviewed many people close to Joni both personally and professionally, including Danny Kortchmar and Russ Kunkel.

Joni was living on one of those steep streets in the Hollywood Hills at the time she was seeing Jackson (1972). She was waiting for him to show up one night but he never did. He had met Phyllis Major. Joni had apparently been distraught about how her relationship with Jackson had deteriorated, and had a sort of breakdown.

[Freypower]

I can only say that I was given very specific & authoratative information that Car On A Hill is also about Glenn. The song comes from 1974, the same album as Help Me, not from 1972.

And the song's lyrics hardly suggest a suicide attempt as claimed in the link.

Jackson's attention to Phyllis Major felt, to Joni, like "a great loss and a great mind-fuck," says her confidante. One night Joni was at her apartment on that hilly street, expecting Jackson to come over. He didn't show up.

Jackson's attention to Phyllis Major felt, to Joni, like "a great loss and a great mind-fuck."

What happened next Joni has described to several people as her "suicide attempt." One confidante says she said she "took pills. She cut herself up and threw herself against a wall and got completely bloodied - glass broke. She vomited up the pills." According to one confidante, David Geffen came to her rescue and got her medical help. Joni wrote a song, Car On A Hill, about that evening.
After the incident, "She went to a 'think tank' for therapists" in a residential setting, the confidante says, "and the head guy said to pick the [therapist] you want to work with." Joni Mitchell wrote Trouble Child about this experience.


And just from that she says the song is about Jackson Browne?

[NightMistBlue]

I can only say that I was given very specific & authoratative information that Car On A Hill is also about Glenn. The song comes from 1974, the same album as Help Me, not from 1972.

Right, I was saying Joni's relationship with Jackson was in 1972. It's not surprising that there would be a time lag to when the album was released.

I'm no authority on La Mitchell's career or relationships, so if you say you have it on good authority that the song is about Glenn, that works for me.

I'm still gobsmacked to learn "Help Me" is about him! That's only one of my favorite songs of all time.

Are there any Eagles books that mention the Glenn-Joni romance?