A song is a key for locked memory boxes. A song can transport you back through time, giving you a chance to relive moments and ideas that occurred back when you first heard that song. A song is not just a song; it is also a story.
Photos by Nev Todorovic
Joni Mitchell – “Yvette in English”
As a young girl we had very few tapes in the car: Shawn Colvin, The Rankin Family, Spice Girls and Joni Mitchell’s Turbulent Indigo. Each of these tapes were given heavy rotation from the year 1995 to well, to present. My favourite by far was the Joni Mitchell record. I listened to it throughout my childhood with no prior knowledge of who Joni Mitchell was. I wasn’t able to make proclamations with a feeling of authority such as “Blue is by far her best album” or “’A Case of You’ is her very best song.” I didn’t know of her history or even her body of work. Years later, as I listen through her discography on my computer I am amazed at everything she has produced. But I hold the album Turbulent Indigo dearest because it taught me that a piece of art doesn’t need to be lauded as the creators best work to be loved and cherished by someone.
I especially remember summer nights with my father, going for drives through downtown Toronto – anywhere I wanted to go, anything I wanted to see from the beautiful mansions in Rosedale, to the slouching low rises of Regent Park. From the Annex traffic mazes to the wide lanes and bright billboards of the Gardiner Expressway. The guts of Toronto splayed out in front of us and we cruised along listening and saying nothing. My dad loved the title track the best but for some reason every time track nine “Yvette in English” came on I felt warm and safe and relaxed. The lyrics painted a coquettish story of two strangers – one enamoured and one being pursed. I loved the off kilter rhythm of her guitar playing. My dad would always comment on it and tell me that one day I’d be able to play like that if I practiced enough. And I loved the lyric, “her cigarette burns her fingertips, as it falls like fireworks she curses it.” I would always tense up with pleasure waiting for her to sing it.
A song that you feel such a connection to is like nothing else. It’s a faithful shadow, content to follow through your life and never ever leave your side. It takes you back to the feeling of the warm summer wind on your face with a young moon looking over your shoulder.
- Carmen Elle, lead singer/guitarist of Army Girls
All photos by Nev Todorovic
