The Hissing of Summer Lawns

Album: The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song is about a woman who has apparently married a very well-to-do man. She may be, to him at least, a trophy wife, and he has set her a up in a mansion on a hill with a fence around it to protect her from the world. There is a certain melancholy to the song, and we are given to believe that the mansion is very much a prison to her, but rather than lose the privilege and prestige inherent in her marriage, she chooses to remain in that prison. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Peter - Newark, NY
  • The "hissing of summer lawns" refers to the sprinklers that water the lawns of the upper class in Bel Air, a rich enclave of Los Angeles. Mitchell bought a house there in 1974; the inside cover of the album contains a picture of her in her pool.

Comments: 1

  • AnonymousJoni Mitchell is the greatest. Her music is almost mystical, too subtle and too magical to be fully apprehended, even after many listenings.
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