. . . .AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: 'THE CIRCLE GAME"

I first heard this beautiful song decades ago when I purchased Ms. Joni Mitchell’s third  album Ladies of the Canyon:

  

   

 

 

 

 

Ladies Of The Canyon by Joni Mitchell (MP3 Download – Nov 15, 2010)

(67)

 

 

She originally wrote this song for fellow artist Neil Young when he turned 20 years of age. He was no longer able to go to a place called Sugar Mountain since it was a youth club in Canada for those 19 and under. Because of that, Neil wrote a song entitled Sugar Mountain. The Circle Game is Joni’s reply to Neil. On another note, at the time she wrote this song, Joni had become an unwed mother in her early twenties. She gave her baby girl up for adoption, with no one in her family knowing of this for decades. Years later, Joni and her daughter would reunite.

 

 

 

Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star

Then the child moved ten times round the seasons
Skated over ten clear frozen streams
Words like when you’re older must appease him
And promises of someday make his dreams

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We’re captive on the carousel of time
We can’t return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels thru the town
And they tell him take your time it won’t be long now
Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We’re captive on the carousel of time
We can’t return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There’ll be new dreams maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We’re captive on the carousel of time
We can’t return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

 

 

 

 

The song speaks of the seasons of our life, the circle game, the years and time that we face and get through; the days of childhood, the tumult of the teen years and young adulthood, and the time when we have become much older and seek to slow the wheels of time down.

 

I love Joni’s original version and her version from her Miles of Aisles album, but, this version by a group of young children singing the song is most poignant and lovely.

 

The children are  of P.S. 22, Staten Island, N.Y. Directed by Gregg Breinberg , the choir of fifth graders have stunned audiences of the world with their heartfelt performances on the songs they sing. Here they perform Joni’s Classic. Their rendition was recorded in April, 2008.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

About these ads