The Hippie Caves of Matala That Housed Joni Mitchell

[bigtree]

Last edited Thu Apr 30, 2015, 11:32 AM - Edit history (3)

David Crosby retweeted
Thomas J. Colatrella ?@TJWoodstockNY 11h11 hours ago
The Hippie Caves of Matala that housed Joni Mitchell: @thedavidcrosby http://www.messynessychic.com/2015/04/21/the-hippie-caves-of-matala-that-housed-joni-mitchell/ …




____In a sleepy fishing village on the island of Crete, where Joni Mitchell had found herself a nomadic home inside manmade Neolithic caves carved into the sandstone cliff, she sang her folk songs, “under a starry dome…beneath the Matala Moon.”

It was the 1960s and a community of backpacking hippies had settled in Matala, a remote corner of the Mediterranean island where most locals had never seen a tourist before their arrival. It was here that Joni immortalised the ideal hippie scene in her 1971 song “Carey”, overlooking the unspoilt beach and azure blue waters.



There were no homes in Matala, “just two grocery stores, a bakery where the owner made fresh yogurt and bread, a general store with the only phone in town, two cafes and a few rental huts,” remembers Joni in an interview. “I don’t know what their business was before people came.”

In an interview given from her home in Los Angeles at the age of 71, Joni recalls the story of how she ended up in Matala following a painful break-up from her then-boyfriend, British singer/ songwriter Graham Nash…

"In Greece, Penelope and I spent the first few days in Athens. I didn’t think I looked like a hippie, but I definitely didn’t look Greek. My fair hair made me stand out … my hair seemed to offend people, mostly men, who called out with a big grin on their faces, ‘Sheepy, sheepy, Matala, Matala.’ I asked around about the phrase and was told it meant, ‘Hippie, hippie, go to Matala in Crete. That’s where your kind are.’"



"A few days later, Penelope and I were on a ferry to see what Matala was all about … Most of the hippies who had traveled there slept in small caves carved into the cliff on one side of the beach."



"After we arrived, Penelope and I rented a cinder-block hut in a nearby poppy field and walked down to the beach. As we stood staring out, an explosion went off behind us. I turned around just in time to see this guy with a red beard blowing through the door of a cafe. He was wearing a white turban, white Nehru shirt and white cotton pants. I said to Penelope, ‘What an entrance—I have to meet this guy.’ … He was American and a cook at one of the cafes. Apparently, when he had lit the stove, it blew him out the door. That’s how Cary [Raditz] entered my life—ka-boom..."


Joni pictured with Cary Raditz in Matala

"I also had my dulcimer with me from the States. It was lighter and less bulky than a guitar, and I took it with me everywhere. I used it to write “Carey” over a period of weeks in different locations in and around Matala as a birthday present for Cary. When hippies didn’t follow me on hikes, I’d find solitary places to write. My lyric, “Oh Carey get out your cane” referred to a cane Cary carried with him all the time. He was a bit of a scene-stealer, and the cane was a theatrical prop for him. Sometimes he’d twirl it or balance it on his nose. When I played the song for Cary on his birthday, I don’t recall his reaction. He was always detached and sometimes even disrespectful—either trying to belittle me or make me feel afraid. I think at the time he felt greatly superior to women, which is why I refer to him in the lyrics as “a mean old Daddy.” As for the extra “e” in his name in the song’s title and lyric, that was a misspelling on my part...&quot Joni's story continues)

lyrics from the song, Carey…

The wind is in from Africa
Last night I couldn't sleep
Oh, you know it sure is hard to leave here Carey
But it's really not my home
My fingernails are filthy
I've got beach tar on my feet
And I miss my clean white linen and my fancy French cologne

Oh Carey get out your cane (Carey get out your cane)
And I'll put on some silver (I'll put on some silver)
Oh you're a mean old Daddy, but I like you fine

Come on down to the Mermaid Cafe
And I will buy you a bottle of wine
And we'll laugh and toast to nothing and
Smash our empty glasses down
Let's have a round for these freaks and these soldiers
A round for these friends of mine
Let's have another round for the bright red devil, who
Keeps me in this tourist town

Come on Carey get out your cane (Carey get out your cane)
And I'll put on some silver (I'll put on some silver)
Oh you're a mean old Daddy, but I like you
I like you, I like you, I like you

Maybe I'll go to Amsterdam
Or maybe I'll go to Rome
And rent me a grand piano and put some flowers 'round my room
But let's not talk about fare-thee-wells now
The night is a starry dome
And they're playin' that scratchy rock and roll
Beneath the Matalla Moon...




Joni described one of her first nights at the Mermaid Café upon arriving in Matala and meeting Carey…

read more/pics: http://www.messynessychic.com/2015/04/21/the-hippie-caves-of-matala-that-housed-joni-mitchell/




...best wishes for a speedy recovery, Joni.

Message on Joni Mitchell Website, Twitter Account Denies She's Comatose, Says She's Recovering
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026585490

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. Best wishes for her recovery.

But learning that people camped out in neolithic caves is sort of like hearing that they parked camper vans inside Stonehenge and hung laundry off the stones. It seems very self-centered to take a piece of archaeologic history and simply squat in it.

[sendero]

2. Agreed..

..... but in Joni's defense our overall awareness of this sort of thing was not exactly fine tuned in the 60s. I think her life's work has pretty much atoned for any youthful transgression she might have made.

[bigtree]

3. local fishermen and Gypsies also used the caves as temporary shelters

...there are still a few caves on the opposite side of the harbor which are bigger and are used to this day for the storage of fishing equipment - and the storage of a fisherman or two, at least for short periods.

http://gogreece.about.com/od/crete/a/matalacaves.htm

[Xithras]

12. Every cave in Europe was used in neolithic times.

It's generally illegal to damage any artifacts you find in them, but caves are still used for all sorts of things today. Generally, they don't get closed off simply because someone else used them thousands of years ago.

[madokie]

4. Thank you

Why she is so important to me is because of her and many others also action the Vietnam war was brought to an end. Just to stop them over there before they come over here is not reason enough to kill 5 plus million Vietnamese nor 58 plus thousand of our own best young men and women. I was part of it so that gives me the right to criticize if I so chose as I just have.
I still carry the weight of that war on my shoulders and always will.

Peace

[bigtree]

11. you're welcome, my friend

[DinahMoeHum]

5. Jimmy Buffett loves to quote lyrics from "Carey"

He's made references to the song quite a few times in his novels.

[Orrex]

8. But he sues the pants off everybody who covers "Margaritaville." Hmm...

[DinahMoeHum]

13. Linky link, please.

You gotta get permission from the original source.

[Orrex]

14. DidMitchell give him permission?

If so, then I withdraw my snark.

As for the rest, I admit that it's hyperbole, but here's the kind of thing I was talking about:
http://dailydoseofip.blogspot.com/2006/11/jimmy-buffett-files-trademark.html
http://theadvocate.com/news/11119536-123/denham-springs-restaurant-sued-for

and a whole bunch of others. Not exactly "suing them for covering Margaritaville," but he's apparently as litigiously aggressive as you performer I've heard of. Also quite trademark-happy, when you get right down to it. Kind of belies the free-spirited flipflop-wearing beach bum image, in a way.

I know of at least several bars when I was in college that refused to let their bands play any Buffett songs, for fear of litigation. That was more than 15 years ago, so his reputation had already developed by that time.

[DinahMoeHum]

15. Yes, she did give him permission. . .

. . .and one can read that in the "copyright" pages of his books.

eg. from his novel Where Is Joe Merchant?
(quote)
The following songs are quoted and used by permission. All rights reserved
"Lyin' Eyes" by Don Henley and Glenn Frey, copyright 1975 by Cass County Music/Red Cloud Music
"Carey" by Joni Mitchell, copyright 1971, 1975 by Joni Mitchell Publishing Corp.
(unquote)
etc.

Bear in mind that one needs this permission if one quotes directly from a piece of work.
Indirect references to said works do not count as possible infringement

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Yes, he is indeed a stickler on intellectual property/copyright issues - he's always been a businessman as well as a performing artist. He often calls himself a "closet workaholic".

A lot of this stems from his own experiences - in his early days he once worked as an assistant editor at Billboard Magazine in Nashville and he saw with his own eyes what happened to performing artists who did not take care of the business aspects of their careers.

From A Pirate Looks At Fifty
(quote)
". . .what I mainly saw were a lot of wonderfully talented artists and writers who let somebody else worry about "all that stuff" and I saw the trouble it got them into. . ."
(unquote)

>>>>>>>>>>>

Hope this clarifies things.

[Orrex]

16. Snark withdrawn, at least on that point.

Still not a fan, though.

I can count on one finger the number of his songs that I can stand to hear more than once a month, but YMMV.

[SoapBox]

6. Very interesting...a whole different era.

Be sure to look at the link, where there are more pictures.

So who was Penelope?

[Overseas]

7. K&R.

[seabeyond]

9. ah, those were the days. was a kid in 60's, but the 70's, early 80's were not too far off. nt

[narnian60]

10. Such a talent.

Love that song and album. Love her.

[Hissyspit]

17. I knew all this - my real name is Cary - but had only ever seen one picture of him before.

I have all her albums on CD.

[bigtree]

18. get better soon, Joni!

David Crosby: Joni Mitchell Had Aneurysm, Cannot Speak
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026910054