Song of the Day 5/28: Joni Mitchell, “Both Sides, Now”

I’m going to guess this is Chris Coons’ favorite song. He’s looked at the issues from both sides now, and still somehow he really doesn’t know Republicans at all.

Before Judy Collins recorded it in 1967 — actually, before it was released as a single in 1968 and reached No. 8 — Joni Mitchell was known mainly as a songwriting folkie; she hadn’t released any recorded music yet. Collins’ version jump-started Mitchell’s career, but Mitchell, ever the grump, didn’t like it. She recorded her own take for 1969’s “Clouds” LP, but she had been playing it in concert since 1966.

This performance was recorded at the Second Fret in Philadelphia in 1967 by a student from Temple radio station WRTI, Ed Sciaky, who went on to a long career as a groundbreaking Philadlephia DJ on FM radio. He actually recorded her singing it a year earlier, but I couldn’t find that bootleg on YouTube.