For the Roses Songtext
von Joni Mitchell

I heard it in the wind last night
Sounded like applause
Did you get a round resounding for you way up here
It seems like many dim years ago
Since I heard that face to face, or seen you face to face
Though tonight I can feel you here
I get these notes on butterflies and lilac sprays
From girls who just have to tell me they saw you somewhere

In some office sits a poet, and he trembles as he sings
And he asks some guy to circulate his soul around
On your mark red ribbon runner
The caressing rev of motors finely tuned like fancy women in thirties evening gowns
Up the charts off to the airport
Your name′s in the news, everything's first class
The lights go down, and it′s just you up there
Getting them to feel like that


Remember the days when you used to sit and make up your tunes for love
And pour your simple sorrow to the sound hole and your knee
And now you're seen on giant screens
And at parties for the press
And for people who have slices of you from the company
They toss around your latest golden egg
Speculation, well who's to know
If the next one in the nest will glitter for them so

I guess I seem ungrateful
With my teeth sunk in the hand that brings me things
I really can′t give up just yet
Now I sit up here the critic and they introduce some band
But they seem so much confetti looking at them on my TV set
Oh! The power and the glory
Just when you′re getting a taste for worship, they start bringing out the hammers
And the boards, and the nails

I heard it in the wind last night
It sounded like applause
Chilly now
End of summer, no more shiny hot nights
It was just the arbutus rustling
And the bumping of the logs
And the moon swept down black water
Like an empty spotlight