He's so independent,
He acts like he couldn't care less for us all
He's someone's descendent, their child
But he'll never acknowledge their call
He's afraid to feel loved,
And I know he's afraid not to be
And he'll laugh and he'll cry,
And someday he'll die,
Just like me
Just like me, he's settling a score with the world
That wants a reason every time you turn around
Just like me, he's looking for a door standing open,
Saying welcome, come and lay your troubles down
Just like me
He'll drop his pretenses
You'll see through the stone to the heart of the man.
But the moment he senses
You've seen him he'll leave you as fast as he can.
He'll return to his shadows
Where no one can look in and see,
And he'll wake in the night
And he’ll cry like a child just like me.
Just like me, he's settling a score with the world
That wants a reason every time you turn around
Just like me, he's looking for a door standing open,
Saying welcome, come and lay your troubles down
Just like me
I’ve seen him look hungry
For someone to tell him you're doing just fine.
The songs that he’s sung me
Have loneliness woven between every line.
With no strings to hold him
I guess he could call himself free:
Yes, he's free to be emply and lonely and wrong, just like me.
And lost just like me
Just like me, he's settling a score with the world
That wants a reason every time you turn around
Just like me, he's looking for a door standing open,
Saying welcome, come and lay your troubles down
Just like me
© September 19, 1966; Gandalf Publishing Co.
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phenry on :
"I knew Joni back in '66 before she started recording. My situation was that I was the 'booking guy' at our coffeehouse, The Cellar in Michigan, and also the house performer which meant I played the interval set for all the people who played there including Joni, plus I played the weekends when we didn't get anyone else booked. I crashed at the place and on the weekends when Joni played there she would come over during the day on Saturday to work on her writing and to rehearse, understandable because she literally lived on the road in those days. I was always there, alone with her on those days and often she would jam with me, asking me to play the odd guitar part or harmonize with her as she was 'thinking' her music. I witnessed her doing so many times as she worked on writing her songs, trying different lines and chords. (a lot of times I just listened) It was on one of these Saturday afternoons that she taught me how to play 'Just Like Me' at my request because I loved the song and it was then that she told me that she'd written it about her friend, Stephen Stills."
rriverstone on :
Oddest thing: I thought I knew every JM song from that period. I'm watching "Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind" on NetFlix. I'm not a stalker type fan. I was a teen runaway who stumbled on Mitchell when I was studying literature and poetry back in the '70s, so I had all the albums because I was so impressed with the writing, vocalizations and guitar compositions. But this song is totally new to me!