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Moon At The Windowby Joni Mitchell It takes cheerful resignation Heart and humility That's all it takes A cheerful person told me Nobody's harder on me than me How could they be And nobody's harder on you than you Betsy's blue She says "Tell me something good!" You know I'd help her out if I only could Oh but sometimes the light Can be so hard to find At least the moon at the window the thieves left that behind * People don't know how to love They taste it and toss it Turn it off and on Like a bathtub faucet Oh sometimes the light Can be so hard to find At least the moon at the window The thieves left that behind I wish her heart I know these battles Deep in the dark When the spooks of memories rattle Ghosts of the future Phantoms of the past Rattle rattle rattle In the spoon and the glass Is it possible to learn How to care and yet not care Since love has two faces Hope and despair And pleasure always turns to fear I find At least the moon at the window The thieves left that behind At least they left the moon Behind the blind Moon at the window © 1982; |
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Additional information:*Footnotes
[The following was submitted by Jeff Capp]
This is an allusion to / appropriation of one of the most famous poems by the Japanese Buddhist priest Ryokan (1758-1831). The poem entitled "The Thief Left It Behind" is as follows: The thief left it behind: the moon at my window. According to Ivan M. Granger "The moon is a common metaphor, especially among the Zen poets, to represent enlightened awareness. In this haiku Ryokan is laughing at the absurdity of the theft. "The thief left it behind," he foolishly couldn't recognize the one great treasure the poor monk possessed -- "the moon," enlightenment -- and, instead, took an armload of worthless junk. (To point out what a petty haul it was, Ryokan even ran after the thief with the missed cushion.) Any sort of theft of Ryokan's possessions was a pointless act because, of course, who can take the moon from his window? Ryokan is amused and invites us to join in his laughter." » Would you like to help annotate the lyrics to Moon At The Window? Send us a note with your idea, and thanks!
Guitar Transcriptions of Moon At The WindowMoon At The Window has been recorded by 10 others
Dyer, Penny (from "Adieu, Miro" - 1998)
Fabio Ranza & Elisabetta Zamberlan (from "Be Cool" - 2002) Fisher, Cheryl (from "slow hand jazz" - ) Friederich, Renata (from "Moon Moods" - 2002) Jenson, Mary (from "Beyond" - 2011) Lemper, Ute (from "Blood & Feathers (Live from the Cafe Carlyle)" - 2005) Moerman, Patrice (- 2013) Peter Herbert, ena, Wolfgang Mitterer & Koehne Quartett (from "Joni (12 Songs by Joni Mitchell)" - 2011) Rachel Z Trio (from "Moon At The Window" - 2002) Shaw, Ian (from "Drawn To All Things" - 2006) » [more information on recordings by other artists]
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