yeah, make that +2 for "song for sharon"

while Blue is a very beautifl and personal album, I find all of Hejira to be a little more mature musically, and even lyrically. And it defenitely benefits unknowably from having Jaco Pastorius fleshing out Joni's guitar playing.

In a lot of ways, I find Hejira is to Blue as Veedon Fleece is to Astral Weeks. (I wonder what Mr. Rosenbaum thought of the Stephen Metcalf article from Oct. 22?) The jazz textures are a little finer, the lyrics are more impressionistic. And I thing the sadness seems to come from a knowledge that love, loss and heartache are inevitable, and that life goes on in spite. Compare "Little Green" and the title track from "Blue" with "Song for Sharon" and "Furry Sings the Blues"...