Mar 24: Representation of Place: Joni Mitchell's 'Ethiopia'

This track was released in 1985 and appeared on the album 'Dog eat Dog'.  

The album was co-produced by Thomas Dolby. It had a very synthetic sound with Fairlight synthesiser, which provided a distinctive sheen on albums by Kate Bush and Mike Oldfield at about this time, with lots of samples, and was a long way from Joni's earlier style, although her voice was a constant.

Joni Mitchell was another artist who really came to my attention during my time at Huddersfield Polytechnic.

The lyrics are downbeat and connect the famine in Ethiopia with the unsustainable practices of people in the USA and elsewhere.

Hot winds and hunger cries 

Ethiopia 

Flies in your babies' eyes 

Ethiopia 

Walking sticks on burning plains 

Betrayed by politics 

Abandoned by the rains 

On and on the human need 

On and on the human greed profanes 

Ethiopia 

Ethiopia 

Ethiopia

Every Sunday on TV
Ethiopia
You suffer with such dignity
Ethiopia
A TV star with a PR smile 

Calls your baby "it" while strolling through your tragic trials


This Rolling Stone article placed it amongst the best songs of the year. It's certainly an 80s sound, and at odds with Joni's earlier work.

So, is this better than the much discussed lyrics of Band Aid's 'Do they know it's Christmas' - which will certainly be appearing on the blog towards the end of the year when it's more appropriate to discuss it perhaps.

And here's Joni at Wembley Arena in April 1983 - I know a few people who went to this show...