15. Electricity – Joni Mitchell
The first time I heard Joni Mitchell, I was sitting in a classroom at Edgewater College in Pakuranga in 1981 — the class of 4N, English, 5th period. Might have been a Wednesday.

The song we were played was called ‘A Case of You’ from the Blue album.

It was followed during that same class by my first introduction to Steely Dan (‘Home At Last’).

The person who put the cassettes in the tape deck and pressed play in the hopes that somebody in that room would learn something about the poetry of rock music — or indeed that there was such a thing — was Peter Thomson, teacher of English and part-time writer for rock magazine Rip It Up.

I’d like to say I had an epiphany that day, which opened my eyes and ears to the depth and beauty of Joni and the jazz-rock perfectionism of the Dan. I’d like to say that this strange new music with its craft for words stood out in a world of Adam and the Ants, ABC and Fun Boy Three, and touched my young soul. But actually, I thought it was all a bit crap.

Epiphanies take time.

I had reason to trust the opinion of Mr Thomson, however. Unlike the grey and predictably stern exteriors that the majority of our teachers dressed up in each morning before facing the hordes of blue and grey-uniformed masses, Thomson was going for hip.

Stovepipe jeans. Cartoon belts. An enthusiasm for music that we’d heard of.

He also put the possibility of rock music and politics together in my head when he wore a black armband and a black eye to school during the ’81 Springbok tour. I might have added the black eye in my recollection, but the net effect was dangerous and right-on radicalism.

At any rate, suffice to say that I now own and love every Joni Mitchell album and every Steely Dan album. It would be unfair to put that down to coincidence.

Joni was absolutely the right choice for poetry lessons — especially for the adolescent audience. Nobody does extended metaphor about personal relationships like her. And for me, this is one of her best. You could put this in front of a room full of 14 and 15 year olds and with a bit of guidance, they’d get the connection and be able to write satisfactory essays about it.

It’s also a gorgeous song. In my top 5 Joni tracks alongside Hejira, The Last Time I Saw Richard, Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter and Don’t Interrupt the Sorrow.

Interestingly, Thomson played my older sister Lee the last song in that list around the same time. She was in her 6th form English class and he was doing the same thing, but pitching it at a more sophisticated level. She came away with the impression that Joni Mitchell was stupid and pointless. Possibly poetry in general. “Anima rising?” — what’s THAT about?

I think first encounters with this stuff can tip you either way. Blue‘s a good way into Joni. The Hissing of Summer Lawns is for when you’ve acquired a taste. But I think For The Roses might be the best first Joni album to encounter, and Electricity is the song I’d listen to first of all.

Peter Thomson also managed to get a couple of us Andrews submitting material for Rip It Up and before too long, we were being published. 25 years after the fact, I can reveal that perhaps the single most damning review that magazine ever printed, of an album by a band called Auckland Walk, was written by a 15 year-old. Not me — but I did reassure the author of his objectivity before submitting. And I still think he was probably right.

Oh, and Steely Dan’s ‘Home at Last’? That’s Homer’s Odyssey in miniature. See? I learned.

Buy For The Roses.