‘Amelia’: Joni Mitchell’s reflections on the isolation of travel
No emotion has been left unturned in the catalogue of Joni Mitchell. The folk legend has tackled almost every facet of the human condition through her lyrics, always allowing experiences from her own life to drive them. She penned devastating break-up songs, odes to California, indictments of the music industry, and countless other works of sonic storytelling, infusing each and every composition with poetry and feeling in equal measure.
One of the themes that seems to crop up most frequently in Mitchell’s discography is the idea of freedom and wandering, particularly through the eyes of a woman. “I was born to take the highway,” she sings in the suitably titled ‘Born To Take The Highway’, “I was born to chase a dream, any road at all is my way, any place is where I’ve been.” But Mitchell wasn’t just born to take the highway; she was born to write and sing about it thereafter.
The Canadian lyricist has an unparalleled ability to chart the never-ending highs and lows of travel through song. Throughout her catalogue, she sings of the homesickness and restlessness, the freedom and inspiration induced by spending your days out on the road. One of the finest examples of her work in this area is ‘Amelia’, a song that featured on Mitchell’s eighth record, Hejira.
According to Mitchell, the entire album was penned from her own experiences of travelling across the country alone, the idea of getting high on travel. “There is this restless feeling throughout it,” she said of Hejira during a conversation with the Los Angeles Times, “The sweet loneliness of solitary travel.” This feeling certainly does find its way into every song on Hejira, but ‘Amelia’ is perhaps the most pronounced example.
‘Amelia’ combined her own experiences of wandering the world with those of a historical figure: pilot Amelia Earhart. The song owes its name to the aviator, as well as parts of its story. “A ghost of aviation,” Mitchell sings, alluding to the historical figure, “She was swallowed by the sky, or by the sea like me she had a dream to fly.” She borrows from the figure of Amelia, the tale of her disappearance and her legacy, to mirror and enhance her own thoughts and feelings.
“Maybe I’ve never really loved,” Mitchell sings in the next verse, “I guess that is the truth.” She continues to ruminate on the sacrifices that come with travelling, the damage that it can have on meaningful human connection and the way it can be used to hide the hurt. “I slept on the strange pillows of my wanderlust,” Mitchell sings in one of the song’s most affecting lines, depicting travel as both a comfort and the source of disconnection.
“In this song,” Mitchell explained, “I was thinking of Amelia Earhart and addressing it from one solo pilot to another, sort of reflecting on the cost of being a woman and having something you must do.” The song certainly contains that gravitas within it, in each time she addresses “Amelia,” in each wistful twang and each difficult decision between a still life and a life out on the road. It’s grateful and regretful all at once, struggling with the difficulties of being a wanderlust-ridden woman.
‘Amelia’ stands out not just as one of the finest depictions of wanderlust in Mitchell’s catalogue but as one of her finest lyrical creations. It’s characteristic of Mitchell, full of longing and real-life experience, enhanced by her understanding of poetry and history.
