Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and throughout western Canada, before moving on to the nightclubs of Toronto, Ontario. She moved to the United States and began touring in 1965. Some of her original songs ("Urge for Going", "Chelsea Morning", "Both Sides, Now", "The Circle Game") were recorded by other folk singers, allowing her to sign with Reprise Records and record her debut album, Song to a Seagull, in 1968. Settling in Southern California, Mitchell helped define an era and a generation with popular songs like "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Woodstock". Her 1971 album Blue is often cited as one of the best albums of all time; it was rated the 30th best album ever made in Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", rising to number 3 in the 2020 edition. In 2000, The New York Times chose Blue as one of the 25 albums that represented "turning points and pinnacles in 20th-century popular music". NPR ranked Blue number 1 on a 2017 list of Greatest Albums Made by Women.
Mitchell switched labels and began exploring more jazz-influenced melodic ideas, by way of lush pop textures, on 1974's Court and Spark, which featured the radio hits "Help Me" and "Free Man in Paris" and became her best-selling album. Mitchell's vocal range began to shift from mezzo-soprano to more of a wide-ranging contralto around 1975. Her distinctive piano and open-tuned guitar compositions also grew more harmonically and rhythmically complex as she melded jazz with rock and roll, R&B, classical music and non-Western beats. In the late 1970s, she began working with noted jazz musicians including Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and Pat Metheny as well as Charles Mingus, who asked her to collaborate on his final recordings. She later turned to pop and electronic music and engaged in political protest. She was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards in 2002 and became a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2021.
Mitchell produced or co-produced most of her albums. A critic of the music industry, she quit touring and released her 17th and last album of original songs in 2007. Mitchell has designed most of her own album covers, describing herself as a "painter derailed by circumstance".
Song to a Seagull
Joni Mitchell Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
No dreams can possess you
No voices can blame you
For sun on your wings
My gentle relations
Have names they must call me
For loving the freedom
Of all flying things
Out of reach
Out of cry
I came to the city
And lived like old Crusoe
On an island of noise
In a cobblestone sea
And the beaches were concrete
And the stars paid a light bill
And the blossoms hung false
On their store window trees
My dreams with the seagulls fly
Out of reach
Out of cry
Out of the city
And down to the seaside
To sun on my shoulders
And wind in my hair
But sandcastles crumble
And hunger is human
And humans are hungry
For worlds they can't share
My dreams with the seagulls fly
Out of reach
Out of cry
I call to the seagull
Who dives to the waters
And catches his silver-fine
Dinner alone
Crying where are the footprints
That danced on these beaches
And the hands that cast wishes
That sunk like a stone
My dreams with the seagulls fly
Out of reach
Out of cry
Joni Mitchell's "Song to a Seagull" is a contemplative piece that encourages listeners to let go of their inhibitions and embrace freedom. The song speaks of a seagull flying without any burden, experiencing the freedom that comes with being unencumbered. The singer contrasts the seagull’s liberation with her own struggles, opening with the line, “Fly silly seabird, no dreams can possess you, no voices can blame you for sun on your wings.” Here, she implies that the seagull is not bound by the same societal rules that humans are tasked with following. Her tone is envious yet wistful, suggesting that she longs to be as unimpeded as the seagull.
The second stanza explores the singer's experiences in the city, likening it to the desolation of an island. Mitchell paints a bleak picture of a city that is almost lifeless, “And the beaches were concrete, and the stars paid a light bill, and the blossoms hung false on their store window trees." Despite lamenting her situation, her dreams still manage to fly free, fueled by her desire to escape the concrete jungle. In the final stanza, the singer makes her way out of the city to find solace near the sea. Mitchell captures the beauty and fragility of sandcastles, which ultimately crumble. She then concludes by asking the seagull where the footprints and wishes have gone, then states that her dreams fly away just like the seagulls, “My dreams with the seagulls fly, out of reach, out of cry." In this light, she suggests that the seagull is a symbol for a freer life.
Line by Line Meaning
Fly silly seabird
You are free and not bound by any dreams or voices.
No dreams can possess you
You are free to fly without any attachment or responsibility.
No voices can blame you
You are not obligated to follow anyone's command or voice.
For sun on your wings
You fly in the light of sun and are filled with joy.
My gentle relations
Those who love me, call me by name.
Have names they must call me
People call me by their own names for me, but that is not who I am.
For loving the freedom
I cherish the freedom that flying brings, where I am not bound by anything.
Of all flying things
I celebrate the freedom of all those who fly with me.
My dreams with the seagulls fly
I can only fantasize with the seagulls where humans can't reach.
Out of reach
It is that one dream that I can't achieve among humans.
Out of cry
It is the only thing, that when I dream of it, it doesn't make me cry.
I came to the city
I left the countryside and came to live among humans.
And lived like old Crusoe
I lived alone, abandoned and in search of my identity.
On an island of noise
I was surrounded by noise in the city.
In a cobblestone sea
The city is made of cobblestones and it felt like a vast, rough sea.
And the beaches were concrete
The city had no natural beaches but only concrete structures.
And the stars paid a light bill
Even the stars in the sky were controlled by humans and had to pay bills.
And the blossoms hung false
The flowers seen in the shops and on the streets are fake and not natural.
On their store window trees
They are displayed as decoration in store windows.
Out of the city
I left the city behind and moved towards the ocean.
And down to the seaside
I came to the seashore.
To sun on my shoulders
To feel the sun on my skin and be relaxed.
And wind in my hair
To feel the wind in my hair and feel alive.
But sandcastles crumble
Nothing in this world can last forever.
And hunger is human
Humans are always hungry for more, physically, mentally, and emotionally.
And humans are hungry
People are not satisfied with what they have and look for more.
For worlds they can't share
There are always some dreams or worlds that cannot be shared with others.
I call to the seagull
I call out to the seagull, as it is the only one who can understand my dreams.
Who dives to the waters
The seagull swoops down to the ocean to find food.
And catches his silver-fine
It catches a meal of small silver-colored fish.
Dinner alone
It is a solitary bird and enjoys its food alone.
Crying where are the footprints
I look for footprints left behind by humans that danced on these beaches.
That danced on these beaches
They walked and danced on the sand when these shores were still natural.
And the hands that cast wishes
The people who had unfulfilled wishes and prayed for something better.
That sunk like a stone
But their wishes were never granted and sunk like a stone in this vast ocean.
Lyrics © Crazy Crow Music / Siquomb Music Publishing, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Written by: Joni Mitchell
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind