In honor of Chelsea's 2-1 victory over Man United today (pulling the Blues level with the Red Devils on points and keeping their title hopes alive), here's a young Joni Mitchell live at the BBC in 19 and 69.
Joni wrote the song about the Chelsea in Manhattan, not the one in London, but they're both working class neighborhoods that have been gentrified into Yuppievilles. The Chelsea neighborhood of London reminds me a lot of downtown Palo Alto, since they both have more coffee bars per square mile than anyplace else on the planet. Plus Chelsea's home stadium (Stamford Bridge) is just one letter removed from Stanford Stadium, where the Blues played an exhibition match last year. West London and Palo Alto, CA should be sister cities!
According to wikipedia, Bill and Hillary Clinton named their daughter Chelsea after Judy Collins' version of this song (isn't that like naming your daughter after Suzanne Vega's version of a Grateful Dead song?).
Chelsea Clinton now lives in Chelsea, so she lives in the area that inspired the song that inspired the version for which she was named. Where she probably gets ridiculed by other Chelseas named after Joni Mitchell's or Judy Dyble and Fairport Convention's version of "Chelsea Morning". I don't know how she deals with all of that, on top of being the daughter of a President and a Senator who's (surprisingly still) running for President.
At least she can feel superior to Chelseas named after Neil Diamond's version of the song!
3 comments:
Your simile is extreme. At least Collins and Mitchell were both considered "folksie" early on. Collins' version, while not your favorite, has its charm.
To the commenter above: not sure it's a simile, and I'm pretty sure it is meant to be funny. Which it is. Good post, Holt-rox
Yes, it is a simile and hyperbolic. I get it.
Thanks.
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