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Joni Mitchell — You Turn Me On I'm A Radio
Album: For The Roses
Avg rating:
7.2

Your rating:
Total ratings: 870









Released: 1972
Length: 2:28
Plays (last 30 days): 0
If you're driving into town
With a dark cloud above you
Dial in the number
Who's bound to love you
Oh honey you turn me on
I'm a radio
I'm a country station
I'm a little bit corny
I'm a wildwood flower
Waving for you
I'm a broadcasting tower
Waving for you
And I'm sending you out
This signal here
I hope you can pick it up
Loud and clear
I know you don't like weak women
You get bored so quick
And you don't like strong women
'Cause they're hip to your tricks
It's been dirty for dirty
Down the line
But you know I come when you whistle
When you're loving and kind
But if you've got too many doubts
If there's no good reception for me
Then tune me out, 'cause honey
Who needs the static
It hurts the head
And you wind up cracking
And the day goes dismal
From "Breakfast Barney"
To the sign-off prayer
What a sorry face you get to wear
I'm going to tell you again now
If you're still listening there
If you're driving into town
With a dark cloud above you
Dial in the number
Who's bound to love you
If you're lying on the beach
With the transistor going
Kick off the sandflies honey
The love's still flowing
If your head says forget it
But your heart's still smoking
Call me at the station
The lines are open
Comments (74)add comment
 thewiseking wrote:


how to explain this from a recent interview?
"Bob is not authentic at all. He's a plagiarist, and his name and voice are fake. Everything about Bob is a deception. We are like night and day, he and I."



Can't say I disagree if she really said that.
Angel.
Not my favourite Joni song lyrics but damn, I love her voice on this.
 thewiseking wrote:


how to explain this from a recent interview?
"Bob is not authentic at all. He's a plagiarist, and his name and voice are fake. Everything about Bob is a deception. We are like night and day, he and I."

 
It was taken and used out of context by that interviewer, according to Joni Mitchell, as she later explained.  You be the judge.
Thank God that is finally over.
I heard that,  living for good quality music on the radio (paradise).. {#Cheers}
 flyboy50 wrote:
I've said it before and I'll say it agian.  Joni set the standard for every female vocalist who followed her.

 
And you were correct, sir, every time you said it.
At this point I think joni was starting to realize she had made way enough money. Way. And could go on to honing and challenging and indulging her genius rather than her precociousness. You could hear it coming on Blue as she had a few deserved good cries, tried on a little celebrity, continued to find love lacking.  Blue, For The Roses,and Court & Spark form one hellacious cusp. Although Radio is not a favorite song of mine, it trots out her healthy form.  This song and the many other lyrical goldmines on it make this my favorite of all of her albums, SO FAR at least.
 RabbitEars wrote:
It's interesting... they are the same personality type, both image types, perceive themselves as outsiders, operate on a good deal of envy. I love Joni but she's highly narcissistic, and this is one of those statements that reflects that. They're actually a lot alike and I think she's projecting her shadow here (she does after all have the last name of someone she was married to briefly decades ago). Bob's got (t)he catalog, but her musical palette blows his out of the water.
 
Well put, RabbitEars.
I wouldn't go so far as to say "her musical palette blows his out of the water", but otherwise I agree with your comments.
Both are legendary, groundbreaking artists with huge egos; I'm not surprised Joni let a statement like that slip out, unfortunate as it may have been.
... just about perfect ...
 thewiseking wrote:


how to explain this from a recent interview?
"Bob is not authentic at all. He's a plagiarist, and his name and voice are fake. Everything about Bob is a deception. We are like night and day, he and I."
 
It's interesting... they are the same personality type, both image types, perceive themselves as outsiders, operate on a good deal of envy. I love Joni but she's highly narcissistic, and this is one of those statements that reflects that. They're actually a lot alike and I think she's projecting her shadow here (she does after all have the last name of someone she was married to briefly decades ago). Bob's got he catalog, but her musical palette blows his out of the water. 

 
 unclehud wrote:

Was going to write something like, "Joni, I am your radio and you turn me on, too," and then say something similar to our friend's quoted post.  But he beat me to it, and without a single reference to his churches, hotel room, or dancing!  (Make me worry if something's happened in the US that hasn't made the 'edited' news here.)

Lazarus, I hope you're having a good day wherever you are right now.  I certainly am.
  
Thanks, unclehud... hope life is grand for you right this minute...  hard to believe 2014 is only a few days away...  keep a spring in your step...

everybody in my mushrooming multitude of churches be dancing buck ass naked all across the holy moly world like bowlegged gypsy muleskinners and B.F. Skinner...  we love this splendiferous song...  love sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll...


 Lazarus wrote:
Like an e.e. cummings poem, this song is an extended metaphor...  how many separate radio phrases can you find in it?  Is this merely clever, or does Joni Mitchell have a point to make about life in the seventies (and eighties)?  What is it?

Listen to Joni perform this song on her record...  how does her delivery approximate the sound of a radio announcer?  What effect does this have on the song?
 
Was going to write something like, "Joni, I am your radio and you turn me on, too," and then say something similar to our friend's quoted post.  But he beat me to it, and without a single reference to his churches, hotel room, or dancing!  (Make me worry if something's happened in the US that hasn't made the 'edited' news here.)

Lazarus, I hope you're having a good day wherever you are right now.  I certainly am.

Like an e.e. cummings poem, this song is an extended metaphor...  how many separate radio phrases can you find in it?  Is this merely clever, or does Joni Mitchell have a point to make about life in the seventies (and eighties)?  What is it?

Listen to Joni perform this song on her record...  how does her delivery approximate the sound of a radio announcer?  What effect does this have on the song?
everything about this one song is flawless and inspiring!  Reading the lyrics along with Joni's gorgeous voice and strong tune, it brightens the day for me
In my Happy Place!!!! 
 flyboy50 wrote:
I've said it before and I'll say it agian.  Joni set the standard for every female vocalist who followed her.
 
joni
the rock n roll goddess 
I've said it before and I'll say it agian.  Joni set the standard for every female vocalist who followed her.
 Jeff09 wrote:

Agree.  I think this may be my favorite album of hers.  Just so damn good.
 
Agree. For the Roses was an incredible album and despite some opines on her poetry, she grasped the angst and feeling of the time—perhaps you had to be there. But anyone who can sit down and listen to the lyrics without distraction should be able to find something timeless in the poetry. Maybe we all just own our own music. Nothing bad about that. 
To all that say Joni is a no-talent hack, remember this.  She wrote Woodstock.  Oh, and she wrote This Flight Tonight as well.  But mainly, she wrote frickin WOODSTOCK.
diggin the Friday I'm in Love vibe on this..
As wonderful now as it was in the 70's.
 drife wrote:
crockydile needs to expand her/his reading list.

Joni Mitchells' s puerile attempts at metaphor fall flat. Try this instead. It is William Worthington Fowler's description of Wall Street.

"To the merchant and banker it is a financial centre, collecting and distributing money, regulating the exchanges of a continent and striking balances of trade with London and Frankfort. To the outside observer and novice it is a kind of work-shop thronged by cunning artisans who work in precious metals, where vessels of gold and silver are wrought or made to shine with fresh luster, and where old china is fire-gilt as good as new. The moralist and philosopher look upon it as a gambling-den, a cage of unclean birds, an abomination where men drive a horrible trade, fattening and battening on the substance of their friends and neighbors—or perhaps a kind of modern coliseum where gladiatorial combats are joined, and bulls, bears and other ferocious beasts gore and tear each other for public amusement. The brokers regard it as a place of business where, in mercantile parlance, they may ply a legitimate trade, buying and selling for others on commission. To the speculators it is a caravansera where they may load or unload their camels and drive them away betimes to some pleasant oasis. To the financial commanders it is an arsenal in which their arms and chariots are stored, the stronghold to be defended or besieged, the field for strategy, battles and plunder."

Joni Mithcell be dammed!

—  
 

Which album did old Wailin' Willie Fowler release that toe-tapping number on?  Nothing is quite as efficient as a 19th Century allegory of Wall Street - by a three-named historian - to put a 20th Century, folk-music composer in her place.
 thewiseking wrote:


how to explain this from a recent interview?
"Bob is not authentic at all. He's a plagiarist, and his name and voice are fake. Everything about Bob is a deception. We are like night and day, he and I."
 
He and she are like night and day; Bob Dylan is a true legend and Joni Mitchell is a warbling hack.  Every time I hear her sing I want to puncture my eardrums with pencils to make it stop!


 bachbeet wrote:
Great song from a great album.  I think my favorite from this album is Cold Blue Steel.
 
Agree.  I think this may be my favorite album of hers.  Just so damn good.

Great song from a great album.  I think my favorite from this album is Cold Blue Steel.
This must be Joni Mitchell week, because they have been playing a bunch of tunes I have not heard before here.
MAN I love that song

J.M. is a master at alternate tunings.  Tune your guitar to DADF#AD (and capo the first fret if you want) to play it.  I read somewhere she taught this tuning to Dylan around the time of Blood on the Tracks - where all the tracks were originally played with this tuning.


crockydile needs to expand her/his reading list.

Joni Mitchells' s puerile attempts at metaphor fall flat. Try this instead. It is William Worthington Fowler's description of Wall Street.

"To the merchant and banker it is a financial centre, collecting and distributing money, regulating the exchanges of a continent and striking balances of trade with London and Frankfort. To the outside observer and novice it is a kind of work-shop thronged by cunning artisans who work in precious metals, where vessels of gold and silver are wrought or made to shine with fresh luster, and where old china is fire-gilt as good as new. The moralist and philosopher look upon it as a gambling-den, a cage of unclean birds, an abomination where men drive a horrible trade, fattening and battening on the substance of their friends and neighbors—or perhaps a kind of modern coliseum where gladiatorial combats are joined, and bulls, bears and other ferocious beasts gore and tear each other for public amusement. The brokers regard it as a place of business where, in mercantile parlance, they may ply a legitimate trade, buying and selling for others on commission. To the speculators it is a caravansera where they may load or unload their camels and drive them away betimes to some pleasant oasis. To the financial commanders it is an arsenal in which their arms and chariots are stored, the stronghold to be defended or besieged, the field for strategy, battles and plunder."

Joni Mithcell be dammed!

—  

 
WonderLizard wrote:

Y'know, sonny, you just don't know shit. (Told y'all I was in an unforgiving mood...) Here are some "amazingly contrived" lyrics just for you...

If you're driving into town
With a dark cloud above you
Dial in the number
Who's bound to love you Oh honey you turn me on
I'm a radio
I'm a country station
I'm a little bit corny
I'm a wildwood flower
Waving for you
Broadcasting tower
Waving for you And I'm sending you out
This signal here
I hope you can pick it up
Loud and clear
I know you don't like weak women
You get bored so quick
And you don't like strong women
'Cause they're hip to your tricks It's been dirty for dirty
Down the line
But you know
I come when you whistle
When you're loving and kind But if you've got too many doubts
If there's no good reception for me
Then tune me out, 'cause honey
Who needs the static
It hurts the head
And you wind up cracking
And the day goes dismal From "Breakfast Barney"
To the sign-off prayer
What a sorry face you get to wear
I'm going to tell you again now
If you're still listening there If you're driving into town
With a dark cloud above you
Dial in the number
Who's bound to love you If you're lying on the beach
With the transistor going
Kick off the sandflies honey
The love's still flowing
If your head says forget it
But your heart's still smoking
Call me at the station
The lines are open
 

Never liked her & don't care for this song; another RP 'classic' they can take out of rotation.
 WonderLizard wrote:

Y'know, sonny, you just don't know shit. (Told y'all I was in an unforgiving mood...) Here are some "amazingly contrived" lyrics just for you...

 

Even though I can't stand her personally, you are absolutely right. The woman has an incredible talent.
This is one of my favorite songs by her. It's open-tuned (as are most of her guitar-songs), but easy to strum. Singing? Um, not so much, because her voice is all over the place and keeping up with her is like chasing a kitten that doesn't want to be caught.

Thanks for posting the words, WonderLizard - I always get lost in the middle... This is a solid 10, in my book. {#Notworthy}

 crockydile wrote:
Wow. Amazingly contrived lyrics as a basis and then Joni opens up here mouth and "sings."  One of the most inexplicably famous people ever. Like Paris Hilton without a sex tape...Thank God! {#Pray}
 
Y'know, sonny, you just don't know shit. (Told y'all I was in an unforgiving mood...) Here are some "amazingly contrived" lyrics just for you...

If you're driving into town
With a dark cloud above you
Dial in the number
Who's bound to love you Oh honey you turn me on
I'm a radio
I'm a country station
I'm a little bit corny
I'm a wildwood flower
Waving for you
Broadcasting tower
Waving for you And I'm sending you out
This signal here
I hope you can pick it up
Loud and clear
I know you don't like weak women
You get bored so quick
And you don't like strong women
'Cause they're hip to your tricks It's been dirty for dirty
Down the line
But you know
I come when you whistle
When you're loving and kind But if you've got too many doubts
If there's no good reception for me
Then tune me out, 'cause honey
Who needs the static
It hurts the head
And you wind up cracking
And the day goes dismal From "Breakfast Barney"
To the sign-off prayer
What a sorry face you get to wear
I'm going to tell you again now
If you're still listening there If you're driving into town
With a dark cloud above you
Dial in the number
Who's bound to love you If you're lying on the beach
With the transistor going
Kick off the sandflies honey
The love's still flowing
If your head says forget it
But your heart's still smoking
Call me at the station
The lines are open


 crockydile wrote:
One of the most inexplicably famous people ever.
 
What a laugh that this same poster claims to be a musical elitist. Learn some music history, son.

Wow. Amazingly contrived lyrics as a basis and then Joni opens up here mouth and "sings."  One of the most inexplicably famous people ever. Like Paris Hilton without a sex tape...Thank God! {#Pray}
 traysza wrote:
{#Puke}Horrible.  Just horrible.


Lrobby99 wrote:


You are terribly outvoted.
 

Yo traysza, I got yer back!{#Puke}She has a technically sound voice, but to my ears it is like technically precise fingernails down a chalkboard and I am also sure that she is a fine songwriter, but I will never get past the voice to even know!{#Stop}
 fletch wrote:
Up there with the best singer songwriters, ever. While she greatly admires Dylan, and speaks of his influence on her, I think at her very best she equals him.
 

how to explain this from a recent interview?
"Bob is not authentic at all. He's a plagiarist, and his name and voice are fake. Everything about Bob is a deception. We are like night and day, he and I."
 fletch wrote:
Up there with the best singer songwriters, ever. While she greatly admires Dylan, and speaks of his influence on her, I think at her very best she equals him.
 
Hm, the female Dylan. I like it.

Certainly she is the motive force of all subsequent lady singer-songwriters, as is His Bobness for the guys.

 romeotuma wrote:


Profound poem with an incredible melody...  classic...  love it...
 
That's Joni for you. Just incredible.


A radio set about radio, most excellent!
 traysza wrote:
{#Puke}Horrible.  Just horrible.
 

You are terribly outvoted.
Just a wonderful artist.

There aren't enough accolades for sweet Joni Mitchell, great vocal command, sensuous,
and smooth. Oh the memories... well, we got it while we could. David Crosby,
tutored Joni on alternate guitar tuning and she transposed this knowledge to her
piano methods, and enhanced her marvelious voice with a richer diversity.


I can't believe how fresh this still sounds. Hooray for RP always mixing the old(er) with the new!
{#Puke}Horrible.  Just horrible.
 WayUpNorth wrote:
{#Notworthy}
 


What wonderfully clever lyrics and amazing to listen to.
{#Notworthy}
 romeotuma wrote:


This song is soooo good for the ears...
 
...i like how you roll.

Argh. The voice of impending doom.
sux0r

oh joni i just love you
Damn hippies

So nice to hear this old one from JM.
 fletch wrote:
Up there with the best singer songwriters, ever. While she greatly admires Dylan, and speaks of his influence on her, I think at her very best she equals him.
 
This is the weakest song on the album - but you have to like Joni.

wow wow wow
Up there with the best singer songwriters, ever. While she greatly admires Dylan, and speaks of his influence on her, I think at her very best she equals him.
Angelic
That's beautiful British Columbia where she is posing.
BKardon wrote:
There's a great picture of her on the inside cover of this album.

Photo from inside the original LP album jacket, "For the Roses", Joni Mitchell


Nice to see Bill G is featuring this album lately.
There's a great picture of her on the inside cover of this album.
A-Poet wrote:
This album is full of incredible music. "Cold Blue Steel Sweet Fire" still makes goosebumps on me.
Ditto. Ever heard Tim Curry's cover of it? Yikes.
thanx for the beautiful breakfast music! Love Love Love!!!
Quite a song.
Wow old Joni... chills...
"Let the Wind Carry Me", "Banquet" and "Barangrill" are excellent selections from this fine album.
This album is full of incredible music. "Cold Blue Steel Sweet Fire" still makes goosebumps on me. Let the wind carry me.....Wow!
... No other performer has risked so much and gained so much in self respect, if not media hype, being totally true to her own powerful instincts, gleaning a respectful and almost worshipful following of loyal and devoted fans Worldwide who are just swept up and away with her honesty and mesmerizing lyrical musicscapes ...
I've long thought this was a kind of "lost" Joni M. classic -- that the For the Roses album got lost on her brief switch to Asylum when it first was started, and was always overshadowed by Blue. To be honest, I've avoided Blue for years; it always seemed just too whiny/introspective/depressing (not that there's anything WRONG with that!) to me, and its appeal was almost exclusively to perenially depressed teenage girls. But "You Turn Me On..." is such a sweetly optimistic pseudo-country piece with a very clear, shimmering sound...and, just like all such moments of bliss, it is over in the blink of an eye. yeah, I know the truth is she was cynically trying to write something that would be a pop radio hit for her new label, but still...