That was really tough! There's so much good music here, but it doesn't naturally lend itself to the rate format. I had to listen closely (sometimes many times) to parse out my feelings about these songs.
When I thought life had some meaning
Then I thought I had some choice
(I was running blind)
And I made some value judgments
In a self-important voice
(I was outta line)
Song of the Day: "My Secret Place" (with Peter Gabriel) from Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm
Joni's explanation of the song:
Quote:
"It's a love beginning song. The song's about the threshold of intimacy. It's a shared thing so I wanted it to be like the Song of Solomon, where you can't tell what gender it is. It's the uniting spirit of two people at the beginning of a relationship." http://jonimitchell.com/library/print.cfm?id=2038
This song is about a cane-carrying chef named Cary Raditz, whom Joni met in 1970 while she was spending time in Greece. Joni explains why she wrote the song in this nice article from The Wall Street Journal: http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-muse...rey-1415721658.
Song of the Day: Live version of "Rainy Night House" from Miles of Aisles
The lyrics are so corny, but Joni's peformance on the Miles of Aisles version is fantastic. The instrumentation is much more engaging in that version than the original.
We'd all go looking for a party
Looking to raise Jesus up from the dead
And I'd be kissing in the back seat
Thrilling to the Brando-like things that he said
And we'd be rolling rolling rock 'n' rolling
Song of the Day: "For the Roses" from For the Roses
In this song, Joni explores the sadness and frustration of being a celebrity.
My favorite part is the third verse:
Quote:
Remember the days when you used to sit
And make up your tunes for love
And pour your simple sorrow
To the soundhole and your knee
And now you're seen
On giant screens
And at parties for the press
And for people who have slices of you
From the company
They toss around your latest golden egg
Speculation well who's to know
If the next one in the nest
Will glitter for them so
it was so hard, my score for each song would change a bit after every listen 
looking forward to the results!