Coyote (song)

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"Coyote"
Coyote.JPEG
Single by Joni Mitchell
from the album Hejira
Released1977 (1977)
GenreFolk jazz
Length5:01
LabelAsylum
Songwriter(s)Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell singles chronology
"In France They Kiss on Main Street"
(1976) 		"Coyote"
(1977) 		"Off Night Backstreet"
(1978)

"Coyote" is the opening song from Joni Mitchell's 1976 album Hejira and also the album's first single.[1]

Background[]

Though the song had been introduced (in embryonic form) on the tour to support 1975's The Hissing of Summer Lawns, "Coyote" was a significant musical departure: where Hissing was ornate with pianos, layered vocals and percussion, "Coyote" was stripped down to electric and acoustic guitars and a fretless bass guitar played by virtuoso Jaco Pastorius. In a sense, this was similar to Mitchell's early albums, but the sound was extremely spacious, even repetitive, with the verses made much longer and more like a long story. Thus, although this is one of the faster-tempo songs on Hejira, it still lasts for an even five minutes. Mitchell's guitar itself was in an unusual (low to high) C-G-D-F-C-E tuning (the same as in the song "Ladies of the Canyon").

Lyrically, "Coyote" is concerned with the difficulty of establishing any sort of connection with people who come from "different sets of circumstance" (as the song has it). In particular it describes an encounter (which turns into a one-night stand) between the narrator and "Coyote", a ranch worker. The narrator sings about Coyote pursuing them across Canada, similar to an actual coyote on the prowl.[2] In her 2019 book Joni Mitchell: New Critical Readings, Ruth Charnock described the song as "either the most flirtatious song about fucking or the most graphic song about flirting ever written."[3] In Chris O'Dell's 2009 autobiography Miss O'Dell she details an affair she had with married playwright Sam Shepard and states that Shepard then cheated on her with Joni Mitchell. O'Dell claims that "Coyote" is written about Sam Shepard.[4] The song describes Coyote as being "far from the Bay of Fundy". In the summers of 1972 and 1973, Shepard resided in a waterside cottage in West Advocate, Nova Scotia, located on a strip of land which extends into the Bay of Fundy.[3][5] The narrator also mentions looking an actual coyote in the face while "on the road to Baljennie near my old home town", a reference to the former hamlet of Baljennie, Saskatchewan.[6] Mitchell was raised in Maidstone, North Battleford, and Saskatoon in Saskatchewan.[7]

Coyote represents nature contrasted with the narrator's big city life where "pills and powders" are necessary to "get them through this passion play". Mitchell took part in Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue concert tour in the fall of 1975. During a performance of the song by Mitchell in the film Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, Roger McGuinn of the Byrds states that, “Joni wrote this song about this tour and on this tour and for this tour,” to which she does not protest. Dylan and McGuinn accompany Mitchell on acoustic guitar during the song, which was performed at Gordon Lightfoot's house.[8]

Dylan played Mitchell's studio-album version on the "Noah's Ark part 2" episode of the third season of his Theme Time Radio Hour show in 2009, introducing it as a song by a "strong-willed woman, and I mean that in the best possible way".[9]

A live version of "Coyote" was performed by Mitchell with the Band for the concert movie The Last Waltz, and is included on the film's soundtrack album. Another live version appears on Joni Mitchell's live album Shadows and Light. Like the original, it featured Jaco Pastorius on bass, but features Pat Metheny as a second guitarist and Don Alias replacing Bobbye Hall on percussion.

"Coyote" appeared on the 1992 Mitchell tribute album Back to the Garden, with Canadian band Spirit of the West covering the song.

Personnel[]

Charts[]

Chart performance for "Coyote"
Chart (1977) Peak
position
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[10] 79

References[]

  1. ^ AllMusic review: Hejira.
  2. ^ Mark Bego (May 26, 2005). Joni Mitchell. Taylor Trade Publishing. p. 149. ISBN 978-1-4616-6202-0.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Ruth Charnock (January 24, 2019). Joni Mitchell: New Critical Readings. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-5013-3211-1.
  4. ^ Chris O'Dell (October 6, 2009). Miss O'Dell: My Hard Days and Long Nights with The Beatles, The Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and the Women They Loved. Simon and Schuster. p. 404. ISBN 978-1-4165-9675-2.
  5. ^ John J. Winters (March 15, 2017). Sam Shepard: A Life. Counterpoint. p. 217. ISBN 978-1-61902-984-2.
  6. ^ Lloyd Whitesell (August 4, 2008). The Music of Joni Mitchell. Oxford University Press. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-19-971909-9.
  7. ^ White, Timothy (December 9, 1995). "Joni Mitchell - A Portrait of the Artist". Billboard. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  8. ^ Scorsese, Martin (Director). Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (Motion picture). Netflix. 108 minutes in. Joni wrote this song about this tour and on this tour and for this tour.
  9. ^ "Episode 98: Noah's Ark part 2". Theme Time Radio Hour Archive. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
  10. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 5274b." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved April 28, 2021.

External links[]

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