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The Secret Life of SongsAuthor: Anthony
Award-winning music analysis podcast, The Secret Life of Songs, returns with a new series exploring classic songs from the 1970s and 80s. Hear how the fallout from the disappointed hopes of the 1960s was explored in the work of Sly Stone and Joni Mitchell, how the unearthly new sounds unlocked by radical new music technology was used to express both utopian and dystopian impulses by Giorgio Moroder and the originators of Detroit Techno, and how the eras most divisive cultural concept - postmodernism - was uncannily reflected in the output of the eras most divisive pop band - ABBA. All of this - and more - is presented by host Anthony in his inimitable style: deftly weaving fine-grained musical analysis, historical context and philosophical reflection with his own impassioned recreations of the music to produce embodied, thoroughly grounded and deeply personal insights into these wonderful songs. Winner of the bronze award in 'Best Arts & Culture Podcast' at the British Podcast Awards 2021. Language: en-gb Genres: Music, Music Commentary, Music History Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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#20 - A Case of You / Joni Mitchell
Episode 20
Wednesday, 19 November, 2025
Writing candidly about intimate, private moments and feelings is today such an accepted practice in pop songwriting that it can be startling to go back to 1971 and find Joni Mitchell reflecting that, at that point, 'the only thing that I could see to do fresh, that hadn't really been explored poetically, was the internal landscape. … [to] write from my own experience … was one of the few territories left for a poet to be a contributor of any kind'. The album she's talking about is Blue, and if she's right, then it might be viewed as the origin of this tradition of songwriting as 'an investigation of self, self-analysis of sorts', as she put it elsewhere. In this final episode of the series, I look at the penultimate song on this great album, 'A Case of You', in the context of wider shifts in American society, as well as Mitchell's particular musical and philosophical development, to see what's revealed in this bold venture inwards.All the songs discussed in this episode, including the original recording of 'A Case of You' can be heard here. If you've enjoyed it, please leave a review on Apple podcasts; thank you.With very special thanks to Paul Wierdak, the producer of this episode.
