Amelia

The opening ceremonies to the Vancouver Winter Olympics featured the works of Canadian artists and composers. After recognizing Joni Mitchell perform Both Sides Now, I began blogging about an effort to save the last sugar farm in Hawaii - but in the meantime, also came across this old song I hadn't heard before. As usual, the lyrics bring images to mind, so I posted some of those images with the lyrics below, as well as a link to the song (1).
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I was driving across the burning desert
When I spotted six jet planes
Leaving six white vapor trails across the bleak terrain
It was the hexagram of the heavens
it was the strings of my guitar
Amelia, it was just a false alarm


The drone of flying engines
Is a song so wild and blue
It scrambles time and seasons if it gets through to you
Then your life becomes a travelogue
Of picture-post-card-charms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm



People will tell you where they've gone
They'll tell you where to go
But till you get there yourself
you never really know
Where some have found their paradise
Other's just come to harm
Oh Amelia, it was just a false alarm

I wish that he was here tonight
It's so hard to obey
His sad request of me to kindly stay away
So this is how I hide the hurt
As the road leads cursed and charmed
I tell Amelia, it was just a false alarm








A ghost of aviation
She was swallowed by the sky
Or by the sea, like me she had a dream to fly
Like Icarus ascending
On beautiful foolish arms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm


Maybe I've never really loved
I guess that is the truth
I've spent my whole life in clouds at icy altitude
And looking down on everything
I crashed into his arms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm




I pulled into the Cactus Tree Motel
To shower off the dust
And I slept on the strange pillows of my wanderlust
I dreamed of 747s
Over geometric farms
Dreams, Amelia, dreams and false alarms

Joni Mitchell, 1976
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(1) This piece among the best of Mitchell's work - the lyrics are poetic, the performance haunting - I love the pedal steel guitar in the background. If you didn't select the link above to hear the song Amelia, you can also select it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bFgxKov8Ts

For a short biography of Amelia Earhart, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart