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.
Joni Mitchell – “Little Green”
I grew up in northern B.C., and in the last years of high school, I began to housesit for neighbours and family friends fairly regularly. It was a good way to have my own place, and have time alone. One time I housesat a large farmhouse on the top of a mountain-like hill. It was the last house on the road, and you were able to look down at the whole valley from the porch. I had to put the chickens to bed every night, accompanied by the owners’ three big dogs. It was in the middle of winter, February maybe. The weather had been very unpredictable – it had rained the night before and then dropped well below zero, and then snowed, leaving a thick layer of ice on the road with a layer of snow overtop. It was too slippery to walk on even.
And so, I had to drive up the long, unplowed, and winding road in the wild thick dark of the woods to make sure these chickens would be locked into the coop and safe from the coyotes, knowing that if I hit the brakes I would be sliding all over the place and likely in the ditch immediately. The only music in the car was my parents’ copy of Blue on cassette – my Discman was broken or lost. The drive took ages, and the heat in the car barely worked, so I was wearing mittens, trying not to notice I could see my breath, and humming along to “Little Green”. It was my first time actually listening to the record. Feeling very vulnerable and very much alone, Joni Mitchell was my guide. And a good one she was.
- Lisa Conway of Del Bel
Photos by Andrew Collins
