Chelsea Morning

Rainbow on the wall: According to Karen O'Brien's Joni Mitchell: Shadows and Light "the upbeat pop-ish "Chelsea Morning" [was] written during a visit to Philadelphia, after Mitchell and a group of women who were working in a club where she was performing had found chunks of brightly coloured glass discarded in an alleyway. They collected the glass and took it home to create mobiles with copper wire and coat hangers. Mitchell took hers back to New York and hung it in the window of her small apartment in Chelsea; when the glass caught the sunlight, the colours shimmered around the walls." (p. 97)

However, Joni tells a different story. At her October 12, 1967 show at Philadelphia's 2nd Fret, she talks about buying stained glass windows for $5 apiece from a building that was being torn down and taking them with her wherever she moved. In her concert at the White Swan in Leicester in September of 1967, Joni paired this song with Come to the Sunshine. In her introduction to "Chelsea Morning" she says "This is my Chelsea Song. It's also full of morning and rainbows and much the same things because it was inspired it was inspired by the same set of stained glass windows only I moved them into a New York apartment. But it could be Chelsea in London. After I moved to New York, I spent a lot of time on a street called Bleecker Street, and on Bleecker Street is a theatre called the Garrick Theatre, and in the Garrick theatre are the Mothers of Invention. And, uh, they're coming over pretty soon. So this is Chelsea Morning, rainbow sunshine song influenced slightly by the Mothers of Invention." 

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» Guitar chords by Harlan Thompson
» Guitar tablature by Sue McNamara
» Guitar tablature by Kurt Richter
 

A Bird That Whistles (from "A Bird That Whistles" - 1996)
Amy B (- 2007)
Aya Collette Band (from "Bootleg, Vol. 1 (Live at Penguin House)" - 1999)
Barr, Walter (from "Artful Dancer" - 1980)
Big Yellow Taxi (from "The Music of Joni Mitchell (Demo)" - 2002)
Big Yellow Taxi (from "A Tribute To Joni Mitchell" - 2002)
Blackwood, Haris  (from "Gentle Ride" - 2002)
Brimstone, Derek (from "Derek Brimstone's Cheapo Album" - )
Burns, Andrea (from "A Deeper Shade of Red" - 2007)
Butel, Mitchell (from "Killing Time - Live in Concert" - 2012)
Call, Marian (from "Vanilla" - 2007)
Chappell Kingsland (from "this 'n' that" - )
Chelsea (from "Chelsea Morning" - 1998)
Chew, Peggy (from "Real Days" - 1999)
Collins, Judy (from "Living" - 1971)
Collins, Judy (from "(45 single version)" - 1969)
Colvin, Shawn & Mary Chapin-Carpenter (from "An All-Star Tribute to Joni Mitchell (TV Broadcast)" - 2000)
Connexion (from "Connexion" - 1982)
Cornelia (from "Don't Forget To Remember" - 1970)
Cowsill, Susan w/Robert Mache (from "PazFest - The New Orleans Tribute to Joni Mitchell at the Howlin' Wolf" - 2002)
d'Armand, Jeannette (from "Stage Road" - 2009)
Diamond, Neil (from "Stones" - 1971)
Elly's Band (from "First Light" - 2010)
Elsmore, Theresa (- )
Esther (from "live recording" - )
Fairchild,Maria (from "Celebration" - 2009)
Fairport Convention (from "Fairport Convention" - 1968)
Family Four (from "Picknick" - 1972)
Fox, Lauren (from "Love, Lust, Fear & Freedom: The Songs of Joni Mitchell & Leonard Cohen" - 2013)
Frisyr I London (- 2004)
Gannon, Kris (from "Songs I Wish I'd Written" - 2002)
Gould, Terry (from "Several Kinds Of Loving" - 1969)
Green Lyte Sunday (from "Green Lyte Sunday" - 1970)
Hall, Jane (from "You Sing The Hits Of Joni Mitchell" - 1989)
Hansson, Kjell  (from "Dig" - 1974)
Hartman, JoAnne (from "and Her Name is JoAnne" - )
Henning Olsen Band (from "A Tribute Minus Mitchell" - 2004)
Hickman, Sara (from "Faithful Heart" - 2002)
Horn, Paul (from "Visions" - 1974)
Jibe Project (from "Interpretations of 9" - 2002)
Joni Mitchell Project (from "Conversation: The Joni Tapes" - 2010)
Kato, Asuka (from "Sunday Morning" - 2007)
Kohl, Roane, Fitzgerald (from "Three Windows" - 1998)
Kruskamp, Jenifer (from "Jenifer Kruskamp With Bobby Peaco At The Piano" - 2003)
Leora Cashe & The Ross Taggart Trio  (from "Another Side Now - The Songs of Joni Mitchell" - 2007)
Lindquist, Anki (from "Anki ennen aurinkoa" - 1972)
Loring, Gloria  (from "(45 single)" - )
Lucy, Corinne (- 2007)
Luker, Rebecca (from "Leaving Home" - 2004)
Lundell, Ulf (from "Preskriberade Romanser 1978-1988" - 1992)
Mainstreet (from "Mainstreet" - )
Malone, Erin (from "Cliff Jones Presents Six People Singing Songs by Cliff Jones and Other People" - 1970)
Martel, Joy (from "(45 Single)" - )
McConnell, Rob and the Boss Brass (from "On A Cool Day" - )
McGarry, Kate (from "Mercy Street" - 2005)
McNeill, Sylvia (from "45 Single" - 1970)
Mendes, Sergio & Brasil '66 (from "Stillness" - 1970)
Mendes, Sergio and Brasil '77 (from "In Concert" - 1973)
Meyer, Lili (from "North Toronto Collegiate Institute Presents Maytime Melodies 1971" - 1971)
Montgomery, Marion & Richard Rodney Bennett (from "Surprise, Surprise" - 1977)
Morley, Bob (from "Songman" - )
Nereide (from "Nereide sings Joni Mitchell" - 2010)
New Dream (from "New Dream" - 1973)
O'Connor, Jeanne  (from "Something's Coming" - 2007)
Page, Ricky (from "Your Song" - 1981)
Pete Murray Orchestra (from "Starborne Limited Edition #45" - 2008)
Rees, Rose Mary (from "12" Single (Yellow Mix)" - )
Rees, Rose Mary (from "12" - )
Shaw, Ian (from "Drawn To All Things" - 2006)
Singers Unlimited (from "Singers Unlimited w/Rob McConnell & The Boss Brass" - 1978)
Susan & Fran (from "Evergreenes" - 1968)
Suzanne (from "Oh Suzanne" - )
Suzanne M. Sheridan & And the Suzanne Sheridan Band (from "Suzanne Sheridan Sings the Music of Joni Mitchell & Leonard Cohen" - 2012)
Take Five (from "Take Five" - 1970)
Tavi, Liisa (from "Liisa Tavi" - 1979)
Taylor, Stephanie (from "I Don't Know Where I Stand" - 1970)
The Carol Hamersma Trio (from "Out of My Head" - 2001)
The Munz (from "Happy End Cover Box" - )
The Nick Ingman Orchestra (from "1" - 2011)
The Practicers (from "Smooth & Raw" - 2000)
The Red Bloods (from "Cash Box Top 12" - )
The Red Letter Redemption (- )
The Sands Of Time (from "The Sands Of Time" - )
The Sonneteers (from "In The Mood" - 1979)
The Tindalls (from "Family Album" - 2005)
The Wise Girls (from "Festival Folk Sing Joni Mitchell" - 2010)
Tom & Judy (from "Make Someone Happy" - )
Torrini, Emilliana  (from "Merman" - 1996)
Valentino, Pat (from "Morningsongs" - 1997)
van Berkum, Leslie (from "Leslie van Berkum" - 2003)
Van Ronk, Dave (from "Dave Van Ronk And The Hudson Dusters" - 1968)
Warnes, Jennifer (from "...I Can Remember Everything" - 1969)
Whim 'n Rhythm (from "Whim 'n Rhythm" - 1986)
Will Taylor And Strings Attached (from "Back To The Garden - A Tribute To Joni Mitchell" - 2007)
Willey, Ralph Martin  (from "Came Upon A Child of God" - 2000)
Woodstock (- 2008)
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