PRINCESS MONSTER WIFE

On twitter, Wyn asked: is the implication in "a case of you" that she's built up a tolerance to him, because he's in her blood already?

I was 90% asleep when I read these words. Then... I was not.

Joni Mitchell's iconic album Blue on Spotify.

For me, “A Case of You” is about a foundational, formative love that has been outgrown. The song is replete with obvious signs of trouble:

• our love got lost
• constantly in the darkness (where’s that at?)
• stay with him if you can, but be prepared to bleed
• you taste so bitter, bitter and so sweet

But one sign that is less obvious is the most significant to me: O Canada. Specifically,

• I drew a map of Canada—O Canada!—with your face sketched on it twice. You are in my blood…

Joni Mitchell is from Canada. Yet this is on the same album as “Carey” and “California,” an extended travelogue detailing all the ways one can love a place and not belong there. Long before invoking her native land, she has already declared her allegiance to California, her new home, and established the metaphor of places as lovers. In conflating Canada and her “A Case of You” lover, Joni seems to be coming to a realization: you made me who I am, but still I cannot stay.

So back to the original question, and the central metaphor of the song.

• I could drink a case of you, darling, and still I’d be on my feet. I would still be on my feet.

Does Joni have a tolerance for him, because he’s already in her blood? Yes. He does not make her sick like drinking any other case of alcohol would. That could be taken to meant that he doesn’t do anything for her anymore, but thematically this doesn’t make sense to me; not if he is her native land, not if she is drawn to those ones who ain’t afraid, not while she’s calling him darling. His bittersweet flavor goes down easy for her. But there’s no world in which it’s healthy to drink an entire fucking case of alcohol.

 

(“A Case of You” is also an easy double entendre for disease. A case of alcohol. A case of chicken pox.)

 

If this song is the album’s climax, the denouement is “The Last Time I Saw Richard.” Listening to the conversation between the tracks, this is like a needle popping a beautiful balloon. 

• all romantics meet the same fate someday, cynical and drunk and boring someone in some dark cafe 

Like when a bedeviled man tells his girlfriend, “My love is as constant as northern star,” and she rolls her eyes and says, “If you want me I’ll be in the bar.”

 

Joni ends the album, as she also did in its title track, with an indictment of alcoholism. In “Blue,” she hesitated over her generation’s hedonistic decadence, and here she rebukes Richard’s self-indulgent nihilism. They’re different attitudes that amount to the same functional escape from reality. I question whether Joni would even want a lover who intoxicates her. “All I Want” certainly didn’t mention anything like that. It’s 1971, and Joni Mitchell wants to get high on life in the sun. Enjoy it, bb. I wish I could, too.

First, a slightly belated exhortation slash enthusiastic recommendation:

ds9_rewatch! A GROUP DEDICATED TO THE RE-OR-FIRST-TIME-EVER-WATCHING OF THE VERY BEST TREK, DEEP SPACE NINE! People who should definitely participate in this: the Doofpire Amry, Meredith, Ariel, everyone who enjoys awesomeness. People who should definitely not participate in this: everyone who hates awesomeness. (If you are worried about acquiring the series: maybe just join the comm, and, uh, *clears throat*. Or ask me!)

Why is DS9 so great, you ask? Well, here is a handy-dandy intro post that I did not make, but heartily approve of. And here is a picspam of one-shot and recurring female characters that I did make, and am pretty okay with. But perhaps you have no patience for clicking on things and looking at pictures! FINE, be that way.

( have some words instead! )

ds9_rewatch is still only on the second episode, so there is plenty of time to catch up, and I haven't really been participating myself yet, but I do hope to. (Their discussion posts in particular excite me, since when I marathoned the show in 2009 I was doing it solo and didn't really have any way to process it with others.) SO LIKE

LET'S ALL DO THAT. (Even if we form our own little splinter group. Which I would be utterly okay with.)


And now, interview questions! One set from someone who has known me a long time, and one from somebody who has not, which I think makes for a nice balance.

From emilytheodd:

( concerning beer and punk rock, mostly )


And from elle_white:

( concerning art and people and feelings, I guess )

If you would like questions *and actually intend to answer them* I will give you some.