For Free (1971) – Joni Mitchell

Yesterday on BBC Sounds, I was checking out David Gilmour’s Desert Island tracks when I spotted Joni Mitchell’s song For Free. Instantly, I assumed I’d already written about it and had it tucked away somewhere in my music project. But after checking – and re-checking – I can confirm a solid ‘Negative’ on both counts, which still boggles my mind. Needless to say, I realised I had to make amends, and quicksmart – so here we are today.

Wondering what makes Joni Mitchell such a revered songwriter? For Free might be a subtle but telling example. On the surface, the song seems simple – just a stroll through a town block, but her wordplay and melodic choices are as intricate as they are unforced. For instance, where “hotel” is made to rhyme with “jewels” through phrasing – well it’s not technically a rhyme, but it feels like one. Also, choruses in music are usually built around repetition – lyrically and musically – but here, each evolves and offers new imagery and emotional nuance. The phrase “For Free” closes each with stark simplicity, but resonates powerfully each time. It becomes a tribute to the overlooked street musician. Someone who the world ordinarily brushes past. But Joni doesn’t – she listens. Then paints such a vivid pictures and captures her ambivalence about her new fame as well.

The following was mostly extracted and abridged from the Wikipedia reference below:
For Free was released on Joni’s third studio album Ladies of the Canyon (1971). It peaked at No. 27 on the Billboard. The title refers to Laurel Canyon, a center of popular music culture in Los Angeles during the 1960s, where Mitchell lived while she was writing the album. This album is the most related to her long-standing friendships and relationships with Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. Mitchell was living with Graham Nash at the time much of the album was written.

Ladies of the Canyon is seen as a transition from her folky early work to the more sophisticated and poignant albums that followed. In particular, For Free foreshadows the lyrical leitmotif of the isolation triggered by success that would be elaborated upon in For the Roses and Court and Spark. From the same record – Big Yellow Taxi became a standard over the years becoming one of Joni’s most recognisable tunes.

Singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey included a cover of For Free on her 2021 album Chemtrails over the Country Club. Other songs, but original compositions will feature here from that Lana record.

[Verse 1]
I slept last night in a good hotel
I went shopping today for jewels
The wind rushed around in the dirty town
And the children let out from the schools

[Chorus 1]
I was standing on a noisy corner
Waiting for the walking green
Across the street he stood
And he played real good
On his clarinet for free

[Verse 2]
Now me I play for fortunes
And those velvet curtain calls
I got a black limousine and two gentlemen
Escorting me to the halls

[Chorus 2]
And I’ll play if you have the money
Or if you’re a friend to me
But the one man band
By the quick lunch stand
He was playing real good for free

[Verse 3]
Nobody stopped to hear him
Though he played so sweet and high
They knew he had never been on their TV
So they passed his music by

[Chorus 3]
I meant to go over and ask for a song
Maybe put on a harmony
I heard his refrain
As the signal changed
He was playing real good for free

References:
1. Ladies of the Canyon (album) – Wikipedia