"The Fiddle and the Drum" | |
---|---|
Song by Joni Mitchell | |
from the album Clouds | |
Language | English |
Released | 1969 |
Recorded | A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA |
Genre | Folk rock |
Length | 2:50 |
Label | Reprise |
Songwriter(s) | Joni Mitchell |
Producer(s) | Joni Mitchell, Paul A. Rothchild |
"The Fiddle and the Drum" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell; it was first recorded by Mitchell on her 1969 album Clouds . It was one of the songs performed by Mitchell on The Dick Cavett Show on August 19, 1969, when Mitchell appeared with some of the performers from Woodstock. [1]
The song's lyrics lament, from the position of an outsider, that America is "fighting us all" and has "[traded] the fiddle for the drum"; however, the singer can "remember/All the good things you are" and asks "Can we help you find the peace and the star?" As an anti-war song, it was one of the songs that became associated with opposition to the Iraq War; in particular, through the 2004 cover by A Perfect Circle.
The song provided the title for the 2007 ballet The Fiddle and the Drum which Mitchell authored with Jean Grand-Maître, the artistic director of the Alberta Ballet Company. [2] The ballet was filmed for an hour-long 2007 film with the same title. [3]
The song has been covered a number of times:
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