VERSE
The Jungle Line
Joni Mitchell
Rousseau walks on trumpet paths
Safaris to the heart of all that jazz
Through I bars and girders-through wires and pipes
The mathematic circuits of the modern nights
Through huts, through Harlem, through jails and gospel pews
Through the class on Park and the trash on Vine
Through Europe and the deep deep heart of Dixie blue
Through savage progress cuts the jungle line
In a low-cut blouse she brings the beer
Rousseau paints a jungle flower behind her ear
Those cannibals-of shuck and jive
They'll eat a working girl like her alive
With his hard-edged eye and his steady hand
He paints the cellar full of ferns and orchid vines
And he hangs a moon above a five-piece band
He hangs it up above the jungle line
The jungle line, the jungle line
Screaming in a ritual of sound and time
Floating, drifting on the air-conditioned wind
And drooling for a taste of something smuggled in
Pretty women funneled through valves and smoke
Coy and bitchy, wild and fine
And charging elephants and chanting slaving boats
Charging, chanting down the jungle line
There's a poppy wreath on a soldier's tomb
There's a poppy snake in a dressing room
Poppy poison-poppy tourniquet
It slithers away on brass like mouthpiece spit
And metal skin and ivory birds
Go steaming up to Rousseau's vines
They go steaming up to Brooklyn Bridge
Steaming, steaming, steaming up the jungle line
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About this Song
The Jungle Line by Joni Mitchell is a deeply evocative and complex song that integrates various themes and imagery. At its core, the song juxtaposes modern life with the primal and raw essence of jungle rhythms. The lyrics mention Rousseau's paintings, which often depicted exotic and untamed scenes of nature, reflecting a contrast between the civilized and the primitive. This dichotomy suggests a critique of contemporary life and its detachment from natural instincts and unrestrained creativity. Key themes in the song include industrialization, cultural appropriation, and the loss of authenticity in modern society. Particularly poignant moments include lines that describe the juxtaposition of the lush jungle with factories and highways, symbolizing the encroachment of industrial progress on natural purity. The use of complex and varied musical styles in the song further highlights the merging and clashing of different worlds and ideas.
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