PAPRIKA PLAINS
Joni Mitchell

It fell from midnight skies
It drummed on the galvanized
In the washroom, women tracked the rain
Up to the make-up mirror
Liquid soap and grass
And Jungle Gardenia crash
On Pine-Sol and beer ...
It's stifling in here ...
I've got to get some air ...
I'm going outside to get some air

Back in my hometown
They would have cleared the floor
Just to watch the rain come down!
They're such sky oriented people--
Geared to changing weather ...
I'm floating off in time
I'm floating off
I'm floating off in time

When I was three feet tall
And wide eyed open to it all
With their tasseled teams they came
To McGee's General Store
All in their beaded leathers
I would tie on colored feathers
And I'd beat the drum like war ...
I would beat the drum like war
I'd beat the drum
I'd beat the drum like war

But when the church got through
They traded their beads for bottles
Smashed--on Railway Avenue
And they cut off their braids
And lost some link with nature
I'm floating into dreams
I'm floating off
I'm floating into my dreams

I dream paprika plains
Vast and bleak and God forsaken
Paprika plains
And a turquoise river snaking

(Where crows gaze--vigilant on wires
Where cattle graze the grasses
Far from the digits of business hours
The moon clock wanes and waxes--
But here all time is stripped away
Nowhere on these plains
Is a sprout or an egg in evidence
To measure loss or gain ...
Only a little Indian band
Come down from some windy mesa
No women to make them food and child
No expressions on their faces
I'm low in a helicopter
And the wind from whirling blades
Flaps their woven blankets
And flags their raven braids
How came they to this emptiness?
How came they to this dream?
How came I to this view
From a flying machine
Of earth and air and water
And a band of Indian men
Without herds or flocks or crops
Or families or fires to tend?
Like a phoenix up from ashes now
A blanket figure springs
With a fist raised up to turquoise skies
Like liberty
And at the point of vanishing
Where the sky and the earth meet
A bomb blooms
Deadly mushroom
White
Gold
Heat
Like a phoenix up from ashes
Up from violent mysteries
And growing 'till the giant blast
Is to it like a golfer's tee
there comes a child's beach ball
And memory takes me back
to the beach to toss it up
to the garage to get it patched
A pink and yellow beach ball
Rolling
Grand
Detached
Turning the blues and greens of earth
From space probe photographs
I float out of the hovercraft
Naked as infancy
And weightless
And drifting
Horizontally
Like a filing to a magnet
Like the long descent of rain
I am drawn
I fall against the ball
And lose paprika plains
I suckle at my mother's breast
I embrace my mother earth
I remember perforated blinds
Over the crib of my birth
And just as Eve succumbed
To reckless curiosity
I take my sharpest fingernail
And slash the globe to see
Below me--
Vast Paprika plains
And the snake the river traces
And a little band of Indian men
With no expressions on their faces.)

The rain retreats
Like troops to fall on other fields and streets
Meanwhile they're sweet talking and name calling
And brawling on the fringes of the floor
I spot you through the smoke
With your eyes on fire
From J&B and coke
As I'm coming through the door
I'm coming back
I'm coming back for more!
The band plugs in again
You see that mirrored ball begin to sputter lights
And spin
Dizzy on the dancers
Geared to changing rhythms
No matter what you do
I'm floating back
I'm floating back to you!


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Lyrics by Joni Mitchell

  (BORN TO) TAKE THE HIGHWAY   (YOU'RE SO SQUARE) BABY I DON'T CARE   (You're so Square) Baby, I Don't Care   A BIRD THAT WHISTLES   A Case of You   A CHAIR IN THE SKY   A MELODY IN YOUR NAME   A Strange Boy   All I Want   Amelia   ANSWER ME, MY LOVE   AT LAST   Baby I Don't Care   Bad Dreams   BALLERINA VALERIE   Banquet   Banquet [Multimedia Track]   Barangrill   BE COOL   Beautiful   Big Yello Taxi   Big Yellow Taxi   Big Yellow Taxi (2007)   Big Yellow Taxi (Double Espresso Nrg Mix)   Big Yellow Taxi (Radio Mix)   Big Yellow Taxi (Traffic Jam Mix)   Big Yellow Taxi [DVD]   Big Yellow Taxi [Friends Album Version]   Big Yellow Taxi [Original a Cappella With Guitar]   Big Yellow Taxi [Tribal Dub][Mix]   Black Crow   Blonde In The Bleachers   Blue   BLUE BOY   Blue Motel Room   BLUE ON BLUE   BORDERLINE   Both Sides   Both Sides Now   Both Sides Now [Orchestral Version, 2002]   Both Sides Now [Orchestral Version]   Both Sides, Now   Both Sides, Now [Version]   BRANDY EYES   Cactus Tree   California   CAR ON A HILL   CARA'S CASTLE   Carey   CARNIVAL IN KENORA   Chelsea Morning   CHEROKEE LOUISE   Chinese Café/Unchained Melody   Chinese Cafe   CHINESE CAFE/UNCHAINED MELODY   CHINESE CAFE\/UNCHAINED MELODY   Circle Game   Cold Blue Steel & Sweet Fire   Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire   Come in from The Cold   COME TO THE SUNSHINE   COMES LOVE   Conversation   COOL WATER   Cool Water (feat. Willie Nelson)   COTTON AVENUE   Court & Spark   COURT AND SPARK   Coyote   DAISY SUMMER PIPER   DANCIN' CLOWN   Dawntreader   DAY AFTER DAY   DOCTOR JUNK   DOG EAT DOG   DON JUAN'S RECKLESS DAUGHTER   DON'T GO TO STRANGERS   Don't Interrupt The Sorrow   DON'T WORRY 'BOUT ME   Dont Leave   Down to You   DREAMLAND   Dry Cleaner From Des Moines   EASTERN RAIN   Edith & The Kingpin   EDITH AND THE KINGPIN   Electricity   ETHIOPIA   FACE LIFT   FICTION   FOR FREE   For The Roses   For The Roses [Orchestra Version]   Free Man in Paris   Furry Sings The Blues   GEMINI TWIN   Gift of the Magi   GO TELL THE DRUMMER MAN   GOD MUST BE A BOOGIE MAN   God Must Be a Boogie Man [Multimedia Track]   GOOD FRIENDS   Goodbye Blue Sky   Goodbye Pork Pie Hat   Goodbye Porkpie Hat   Hana   HARLEM IN HAVANA   Harry's House - Centerpiece   HARRY'S HOUSE-CENTERPIECE   Harry's House/Centerpiece   Hejira   Help Me   HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW   How Do You Stop   HOW DO YOU STOP?   Hunter   I DON'T KNOW WHERE I STAND   I HAD A KING   I THINK I UNDERSTAND   I WISH I WERE IN LOVE AGAIN   I WON'T CRY   If   If I Could   If I Had A Heart   If I Had a Heart [DVD]   IMPOSSIBLE DREAMER   In France They Kiss on Main Street   JEREMY   Jericho   Judgement Of The Moon & Stars   Judgement of The Moon & Stars   Judgement of the Moon and Stars   Judgement Of The Moon And Stars (Ludwig's Tune)   JUST LIKE ME   Just Like Me (Unreleased)   JUST LIKE THIS TRAIN   Ladies of The Canyon   Ladies' Man   LAKOTA   LAST CHANCE LOST   Lead Balloon   Lesson In Survival   Let The Wind Carry Me   Little David   Little Green   London Bridge   London Bridge Song   LONDON BRIDGE SONG, THE   Love   LOVE (CORINTHIANS II:13)   LOVE IS LIKE A BIG BRASS BAND   Love or Money   LOVE PUTS ON A NEW FACE   LUCKY GIRL   Magdalene Laundries   Magic   MAN FROM MARS   MAN TO MAN   Marcie   Michael from Mountains   Midnight Cowboy Song   MIDNIGHT COWBOY SONG, THE   MIDSUMMER MORNING   MISTER BLUE   MOON AT THE WINDOW   MOON IN THE MIRROR   Morning Morgantown   My Best to You   My Old Man   My Secret Place   Nathan La Franeer   Night in The City   Night Of The Iguana   Night Ride Home   NO APOLOGIES   NOT TO BLAME   NOTHING CAN BE DONE   NUMBER ONE   Off Night Back Street   OFF NIGHT BACKSTREET   One Tin Soldier   One Tin Soldier Rides Away   One Week Last Summer   Otis & Marlena   Otis & Marlena   OTIS AND MARLENA   Overture   Overture - Cotton Avenue   Overture-Cotton Avenue   Passion Play   Passion Play (The Story of Jesus and Zachius... th...   PASSION PLAY (WHEN ALL THE SLAVES ARE FREE)   Pat's Solo   PEOPLE'S PARTIES   POOR SAD BABY   Rainy Night House   Raised on Robbery   Raised On Robbery [Multimedia Track]   RAY'S DAD'S CADILLAC   Real Good for Free   Refuge Of The Roads   Refuge of the Roads [Multimedia Track]   Refugee of the Road   River   ROSES BLUE   Same Situation   See You Sometime   Sex Kills   Sex Kills [DVD]   SHADES OF SCARLET CONQUERING   Shades of Scarlett Conquering   Shadows & Light   SHADOWS AND LIGHT   Shine   SHINY TOYS   SISOTOWBELL LANE   SLOUCHING TOWARD BETHLEHEM   Slouching Towards Bethlehem   Slouching Towards Bethlehem [Based on a Poem by W....   Smokin'   SMOKIN' (EMPTY, TRY ANOTHER)   Snakes & Ladders   SNAKES AND LADDERS   SOLID LOVE   Solid Love [Multimedia Track]   Someday Soon   SOMETIMES I'M HAPPY   Song for Sharon   Song to a Seagull   Songs to Aging Children Come   Stay in Touch   STORMY WEATHER   Strange Boy   Straw - Flower Me   STRAW-FLOWER ME   Strong And Wrong   SUNNY SUNDAY   SWEET BIRD   SWEET SUCKER DANCE   TALK TO ME   TAMING THE TIGER   Taming the Tiger   TAX FREE   Tax-Free   Tea Leaf Prophecy   That Song About The Midway   THE ARRANGEMENT   THE BEAT OF BLACK WINGS   The Beat of Black Wings [DVD]   THE BOHO DANCE   THE CIRCLE GAME   The Crazy Cries of Love   The Crazy Cries of Love   The Dawntreader   The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines   The Fiddle & The Drum   THE FIDDLE AND THE DRUM   THE GALLERY   THE GIFT OF THE MAGI   THE HISSING OF SUMMER LAWNS   The Jungle Line   The Last Time I Saw Richard   The Magdalene Laundries   The Magdelene Laundries   THE ONLY JOY IN TOWN   THE PIRATE OF PENANCE   The Pirate of Penzance   THE PRIEST   THE REOCCURING DREAM   The Reoccurring Dream   THE SAME SITUATION   THE SILKY VEILS OF ARDOR   The Sire of Sorrow   THE SIRE OF SORROW (JOB'S SAD SONG)   The Tea Leaf Prophecy   THE TEA LEAF PROPHECY (LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS)   THE TENTH WORLD   THE THREE GREAT STIMULANTS   THE WAY IT IS   The Windfall   THE WINDFALL (EVERYTHING FOR NOTHING)   THE WOLF THAT LIVES IN LINDSEY   This Flight Tonight   This Place   Tiger Bones   TIN ANGEL   Trouble Child   TURBULENT INDIGO   Twisted   Two Grey Rooms   UNDERNEATH THE STREETLIGHT   Underneath the Streetlight [Multimedia Track]   Urge For Going   WHO HAS SEEN THE WIND   Why Do Fools Fall in Love   Why Do Fools Fall In Love (Live)   WHY DO FOOLS FALL IN LOVE?   Why Do Fools Fall in Love? [DVD]   Why Do Fools Fall in Love? [DVD][Live]   Wild Things Run Fast   Wild Things Run Fast [Multimedia Track]   Willy   WINTER LADY   Woman of Heart & Mind   Woman Of Heart And Mind   Woodstock   Woodstock [Multimedia Track]   YOU DREAM FLAT TIRES   You Dream Flat Tires [Multimedia Track]   You Turn Me On Im A Radio   You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio   You're My Thrill   You're So Square   You're So Square Baby I Don't Care   You've Changed   YVETTE IN ENGLISH

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