Album: Turbulent Indigo (1994)

License This Song 

• The story hit the news
  From coast to coast
  They said you beat the girl
  You loved the most
  Your charitable acts
  Seemed out of place
  With the beauty
  With your fist marks on her face
  Your buddies all stood by
  They bet their
  Fortunes and their fame
  That she was out of line
  And you were not to blame
  
  Six hundred thousand doctors
  Are putting on rubber gloves
  And they're poking
  At the miseries made of love
  They say they're learning
  How to spot
  The battered wives
  Among all the women
  They see bleeding through their lives
  I bleed
  For your perversity
  These red words that make a stain
  On your white-washed claim that
  She was out of line
  And you were not to blame
  
  I heard your baby say
  When he was only three
  "Daddy, let's get some girls
  One for you and one for me"
  His mother had the frailty
  You despise
  And the looks you love
  To drive to suicide
  Not one wet eye around her
  Lonely little grave
  Said "He was out of line, girl
  You were not to blame" Writer/s: JONI MITCHELL
  Publisher: CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 4

• Tyto Alb from AustraliaPhrases like "lifelong deranged enmity" in the comments above don't do as much to undermine Joni Mitchell as their authors seem to think. "She's crazy" is the catch-cry of every domestic abuser, and the fact that the man in question tried to use the same tactic does not speak well for him. Calling a woman "crazy" because she does not put a filter on her honesty is just another form of abuse. So is threatening to sue her. If she puts a man she used to know into a part of a song that would seem to the vast majority of listeners just to be a song about domestic violence, and he arcs up and tries to say it's all just because she was mentally ill - and he is a man who is known to be litigious - why wouldn't she "refuse to confirm or deny" that the song is all about him? The commentators here seem to forget that usually when a woman says a man has been violent towards her, she is telling the truth.
  
  But all of this distracts from the purpose of the song, which is to shine a light on the way certain sycophants flock to aid violent men in their gaslighting campaigns - drawing upon them suspicion of similar deeds. Funny, that.
• Barbara Allen from ScotlandIt wasn't Jackson Browne who abused her, it was the musicial Don Alias, who played on a few albums with her. She always said JB didn't hit her.
  Incidentally, and re Daryl Hannah, just because someone doesn't press charges against a person, it doesn't mean it didn't happen. If you've ever been on the receiving end, you would understand how these people operate in their abuse of others.
• Tws from Los Angeles Only because I find myself listening to these two amazing artists a good bit these days do I feel any impulse to chime in. Of course few - if any - people can know the absolute truth about the specifics of either issue. But in that Mitchell's "brand" was to be as brutally honest as possible (one of the many things that makes her such an incredible artist) why then would she refuse to confirm or deny that this song was directed at Browne? She just lets the slander dangle unanswered. To strike out publically without proof is yet another kind of abuse. Ironic - given the tragic theme of the song.
• Mrmeaning from Uk'Not to Blame' is widely understood to be Joni's condemnation of her ex Jackson Browne as a wife-beater who drove women to suicide but says he's not to blame. Her 'Song For Sharon' (on 'Hejira' ) also puts the boot in about the suicide of Jackson's first wife, Phyllis Major. The casual reader/listener might well assume that honest Joni, who knew him well must be telling the truth. But the truth is: Browne isn't a violent man. He earned her lifelong deranged emnity by not loving her enough and then dumping her. See, if you will, my post: https://soothfairy.com/2015/03/29/jackson-browne-and-daryl-hannah/#mitchell

More Songfacts:

That'll Be The DayBuddy Holly

Buddy Holly got the title for his hit song "That'll Be The Day" from a phrase John Wayne repeats in the 1956 movie The Searchers.

StrongerKanye West

A 2011 Gold's Gym poll found "Stronger" by Kanye West the best song to work out to. Second place was the Rocky theme.

Boom ClapCharli XCX

Before recording "Boom Clap" herself, Charli XCX offered the song to Hilary Duff, but her people turned down the tune because it "wasn't cool enough for Hilary."

Work ItMissy Elliott

On Missy Elliott's "Work It," the backward vocal is the previous line, "Put my thing down, flip it, and reverse it," in reverse. She stumbled on it when the engineer played it backward by mistake.

Crocodile RockElton John

Elton John's "Crocodile Rock" borrows a bit from Don McLean's "American Pie." Both songs feature a Chevy, and are about young people who are heartbroken when their music "dies."

Flying Without WingsWestlife

A live, stripped-down version of "Flying Without Wings" by the Irish boy band Westlife was the first #1 on the Official UK Download Chart. It was recorded in May 1994 at The Globe, Stockholm.

Editor's Picks

Rickie Lee JonesSongwriter Interviews

Rickie Lee Jones on songwriting, social media, and how she's handling Trump.

Amy Lee of EvanescenceSongwriter Interviews

The Evanescence frontwoman on the songs that have shifted meaning and her foray into kids' music.

Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper/Lou Reed)Songwriter Interviews

The co-writer/guitarist on many Alice Cooper hits, Dick was also Lou Reed's axeman on the Rock n' Roll Animal album.

Amanda PalmerSongwriter Interviews

Call us crazy, but we like it when an artist comes around who doesn't mesh with the status quo.

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse PopSong Writing

Songs that seem to glorify violence against women are often misinterpreted - but not always.

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And HellSongwriter Interviews

Guitarist Tony Iommi on the "Iron Man" riff, the definitive Black Sabbath song, and how Ozzy and Dio compared as songwriters.