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Hejira Lyrics

Artist: Joni Mitchell
Album: Hejira

I'm traveling in some vehicle
I'm sitting in some cafe
A defector from the petty wars
That shell shock love away
There's comfort in melancholy
When there's no need to explain
It's just as natural as the weather
In this moody sky today
In our possessive coupling
So much could not be expressed
So now I'm returning to myself
These things that you and I suppressed
I see something of myself in everyone
Just at this moment of the world
As snow gathers like bolts of lace
Waltzing on a ballroom girl

You know it never has been easy
Whether you do or you do not resign
Whether you travel the breadth of extremities
Or stick to some straighter line
Now here's a man and a woman sitting on a rock
They're either going to thaw out or freeze
Listen...
Strains of Benny Goodman
Coming thru' the snow and the pinewood trees
I'm porous with travel fever
But you know I'm so glad to be on my own
Still somehow the slightest touch of a stranger
Can set up trembling in my bones
I know - no one's going to show me everything
We all come and go unknown
Each so deep and superficial
Between the forceps and the stone

Well I looked at the granite markers
Those tribute to finality - to eternity
And then I looked at myself here
Chicken scratching for my immortality
In the church they light the candles
And the wax rolls down like tears
There's the hope and the hopelessness
I've witnessed thirty years
We're only particles of change I know, I know
Orbiting around the sun
But how can I have that point of view
When I'm always bound and tied to someone
White flags of winter chimneys
Waving truce against the moon
In the mirrors of a modern bank
>From the window of a hotel room

I'm traveling in some vehicle
I'm sitting in some cafe
A defector from the petty wars
Until love sucks me back that way

Comments/Interpretations

by Tim on 6/20/2008 8:13pm
Amazing lyrics from the greatest writer of song I have ever had the pleasure of experience. Joni Mitchell shares more passion and reveals more of herself in a single song than most people do with their intimate friends. Thank you Joni for every song and every emotion you poured into your words.

by Adam on 6/26/2008 11:21pm
This song transports me every time I hear it. Her lyrics are as intricate and meaningful as any good piece of poetry. I am sure that Sting, with his cerebral lyrics and intricate melodies, was heavily influenced by her work.

by DB on 7/14/2008 6:09pm
Amen Tim, awesome lyrics. Awesome lady. In Hejira the lyrics are heavily aided by Jaco's bass. Etherial. Moving.

by Kathryn on 9/13/2008 2:29pm
You just can't help but get swept away in this song just simply beautiful I particularly love the travelogue version amazing.

by Art on 12/6/2008 5:38pm
If I've listened to it recently, it plays in my head, like the soundtrack to whatever I'm doing.

Beautiful song.

by yodooda on 7/19/2009 11:58pm
Wonderful Joni Mitchell song.. I have listened to it on and off for 30 years and it still touches me as it reflects life's sentiments and complexities of the heart, mind, soul. Kudos to Joni! You go Scorp! ;)

by BassMent on 10/9/2009 9:51am
I'm not one prone to employing superlatives, but I think Joni Mitchell may be the finest lyricist in the history of popular music. Her lyrics don't even need music to amplify their power... they stand beautifully on their own. 'Hejira' is one of my favorites, although I think her gift for extended, evolving metaphors is perhaps best expressed on the title track to 'Don Juan's Reckless Daughter.' But so many other lyrical gems are scattered throughout her career that it's nearly impossible to single out one as a favorite. Joni is unparalleled.

by mo on 11/25/2009 5:05am
i agree with BassMent -- joni has written many pearls of many different hues, and "Don Juan's" is one of the most outstanding for the use joni makes of metaphors -- my favourite writer ever since -- none like her, male or female........

by Arlaine on 7/29/2017 8:51pm
Absolutely one of the best song writers of our time. I bought every album she put out in my early twenties. I knew all her songs by heart and all these years later, her lyrics will pop into my head unexpectedly. Tonight this one did and I just had to read it again. So much talent!