Hejira |
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Released: November 21, 1976 Peak: 13 US, 11 UK, 22 CN, 38 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 0.50 US, -- UK, 0.54 world (includes US and UK) Genre: folk |
Tracks:Song Title [time] (date of single release, chart peaks)
All songs written by Joni Mitchell. Total Running Time: 24:48 |
Rating: 3.716 out of 5.00 (average of 21 ratings)
Quotable:“With its vivid imagery, poetic scope, and emotional insight, Hejira stands as a perfect melding of instrumental virtuosity and confessional storytelling.” – Robert Dimery (editor), 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You DieAwards:(Click on award to learn more).
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The Birth and Legacy of Hejira“In 1976, after spending years in the limelight, singing and playing hippie-friendly anthems like ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ and ‘The Circle Game’ for people who came of age in the ‘60s, Joni Mitchell needed time off to reflect and reassess.” PM “After redefining the possibilities of singer-songwriter music in the early 1970s, Mitchell set herself an even more ambitious challenge with Hejira.” 500 She drove “across America by herself, and the time away gave birth to the songs on Hejira.” PM “The name stems from the prophet Muhammad’s journey of exile from Mecca to Medina.” RD The word “hejira” loosely translates to “traveler” in Arabic. PM“Getting to the point where she could make an album this singularly brilliant might have been a lonely enterprise, but it was worth it for the rest of us.” 500 “With its vivid imagery, poetic scope, and emotional insight, Hejira stands as a perfect melding of instrumental virtuosity and confessional storytelling.” RD The album “is the last in an astonishingly long run of top-notch studio albums dating back to her debut.” AM “This excellent album is a rewarding listen.” AM “Many…consider it the finest album in her discography.” PM The WritingShe “expressed a new depth and maturity in her lyrics that perfectly fused with the challenging new music she was composing.” PM “Setting her restless-soul visions to slippery instrumentals…she weighed the costs of dedicating her life to fearless self-expression where others might have settled for mere happiness.” 500“None of these cuts are traditionally tuneful in the manner of Mitchell’s older folk efforts; the effect here is one of subtle rolls and ridges on a green meadow rather than the outgoing beauty of a flower garden” AM or “travelogues of despair and illumination.” PM This “is the only Mitchell album on which every tune is written on and for the guitar.” RD “Mitchell’s guitar-playing that had previously comprised of little more than folk strumming attained a mastery of expressing, phrasing and tone that has lost none of its power or innovation with the passage of time. Rhythmically complex, daring and beautiful.” PM Jazz Meets FolkJoni “had the nerve to follow her muse into a smoky, jazz-drenched dive, a journey that led to her most supple and graceful album.” RD “Supported by a stellar who’s who of modern jazz musicians including Jaco Pastorius, Tom Scott and Larry Carlton,” PM this is “her ultimate jazz-folk statement.” 500 It is “the most overtly jazz-oriented of her career up to this point – hip and cool, but never smug or icy.” AM“While Pastorius’ genius fully flowered in the fusion supergroup Weather Report, he never played more beautifully than in the confines of a stripped down, tightly constructed five-minute Mitchell epic…His supple melodic lines serve as a burnishing counterpoint to her increasingly rich soprano.” RD The Songs“Coyote is a fast guitar-strummed number that has precedents as far back as Clouds’ ‘Chelsea Morning.’” AM That song, Black Crow, and the title track are “ energetically restless fast-tempo selections.” AM“Arrangements are sparse, yet surprisingly varied, the most striking of which is the kaleidoscopically pointillistic one used on Amelia.” AM The song “traces an arc of romantic discovery with references to previous tunes ‘Woodstock,’ ‘Both Sides Now,’ and ‘Cactus Tree.’” RD “Mitchell’s verses, many concerned with character portraits, are among the most polished of her career” AM such as “the decrepit Delta crooner of Furry Sings the Blues.” AM Song for Sharon “utilizes the static, pithy vocal harmonies from Ladies of the Canyon’s ‘Woodstock.’” AM “The ambivalent speaker…has difficulty choosing between commitment and freedom.” AM . Blue Motel Room in particular is a prototypic slow jazz-club combo number, appropriately smooth, smoky, and languorous.” AM “Refuge of the Roads features woodwind touches reminiscent of those in ‘Barangrill’ from For the Roses.” AM |
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First posted 4/8/2008; last updated 10/15/2026. |
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