Both Sides, Now

"Both Sides, Now" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. First recorded by Judy Collins, it appeared on the US singles chart during the fall of 1968. The next year it was included on Mitchell's album Clouds, and became one of her best-known songs. It has since been recorded by dozens of artists, including Dion in 1968, Clannad with Paul Young in 1991, and Mitchell herself who re-recorded the song with an orchestral arrangement on her 2000 album Both Sides Now.

For other uses, see Both Sides Now (disambiguation).

"Both Sides, Now"
Song by Joni Mitchell
from the album Clouds
Released1969
StudioA&M, Hollywood, California
GenreFolk rock
Length4:32
LabelReprise
Songwriter(s)Joni Mitchell
Producer(s)Joni Mitchell, Paul A. Rothchild
Music videos
"Both Sides, Now" on YouTube by Joni Mitchell from her 1969 album Clouds.
"Both Sides, Now" on YouTube by Joni Mitchell from her 2000 album Both Sides Now.

In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked "Both Sides, Now" at number 170 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs.[1]

Background

Mitchell has said that "Both Sides, Now" was inspired by a passage in Henderson the Rain King, a 1959 novel by Saul Bellow.

I was reading ... Henderson the Rain King on a plane and early in the book Henderson ... is also up in a plane. He's on his way to Africa and he looks down and sees these clouds. I put down the book, looked out the window and saw clouds too, and I immediately started writing the song. I had no idea that the song would become as popular as it did.[2][3]

"Both Sides, Now" appears in the album "Joni Mitchell: Live at the Second Fret 1966" (2014, All Access Records, AACD0120), a live performance on November 17, 1966, from The Second Fret in Philadelphia, PA, which was broadcast live by WRTI, Temple University's radio station. This suggests that Mitchell wrote the song before 1967 (the year of composition cited in the Los Angeles Times article above) and precedes the first Judy Collins release in 1967.

"Both Sides, Now" is written in F-sharp major. Mitchell used a guitar tuning of D-A-D-F#-A-D with a capo at the fourth fret. The song uses a modified I–IV–V chord progression.[4]

2000 re-recording

Mitchell re-recorded the song in a lush, orchestrated fashion for her 2000 album Both Sides Now. The recording won arranger Vince Mendoza a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s).[5]

In April 2000, two months after the album's release, Mitchell sang the song with a 70-piece orchestra at the end of an all-star celebration for her at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.[6]

The 2000 version is played during an emotional scene featuring Emma Thompson in the 2003 film Love Actually.[7] It was also played during the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, and in the closing scene of the final episode of the Ricky Gervais-written Netflix show, After Life.[8]

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[9] Platinum 80,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[10] Silver 200,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Judy Collins version
"Both Sides Now"
Single by Judy Collins
from the album Wildflowers
B-side"Who Knows Where the Time Goes (US)
Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye (UK)"
ReleasedOctober 1968
GenreFolk rock[11]
Length3:14
LabelElektra
EK-45639
Songwriter(s)Joni Mitchell
Producer(s)Mark Abramson
Judy Collins singles chronology
"Hard Lovin' Loser"
(1967)		 "Both Sides Now"
(1968)		 "Someday Soon"
(1969)
Cover art
US single sleeve
Audio sample
  • file
  • help
Music videos
Both Sides Now on YouTube, by Judy Collins from her 1967 Elektra album "Wildflowers". (3:11 minutes, with lyrics)

Shortly after Mitchell wrote the song, Judy Collins recorded the first commercially released version for her 1967 Wildflowers album. In October 1968 the same version was released as a single, reaching number 8 on the U.S pop singles charts by December. It reached number 6 in Canada.[12] In early 1969 it won a Grammy Award for Best Folk Performance.[13] The record peaked at number 3 on Billboard's Easy Listening survey and "Both Sides, Now" has become one of Collins' signature songs. Mitchell disliked Collins' recording of the song, despite the publicity that its success generated for Mitchell's own career.[14] The Collins version is featured as the opening title music of the 2014 romantic comedy And So It Goes,[15] and as the end title music of the 2018 supernatural horror film Hereditary.[16] It also features in the first teaser trailer for Toy Story 4.[17] The song features prominently in the season 6 finale of TV show Mad Men, and signals a moment of anagnorisis between Don Draper and his daughter Sally.

Weekly charts
Chart (1968–70) Peak
position
Australia KMR[18] 37
Canada RPM Top Singles[19] 6
New Zealand[20] 7
UK[21] 14
US Billboard Hot 100[22] 8
US Billboard Adult Contemporary 3
US Cash Box Top 100 8

Year-end charts
Chart (1968) Rank
Canada[23] 96
US (Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual)[24] 82

Notable recordings

Mitchell's song has been recorded by many other artists over the decades. Among the best-known versions are:

References
  1. "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: #170 Joni Mitchell, 'Both Sides Now'". Rolling Stone. 11 December 2003. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  2. Hilburn, Robert (8 December 1996). "Both Sides, Later". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  3. Bellow, Saul (1985). Henderson the Rain King. Penguin Books. p. 280. ISBN 0-14-007269-1. We are the first generation to see the clouds from both sides. "... more likely 'And I dreamed down at the clouds, and thought that when I was a kid I had dreamed up at them, and having dreamed at the clouds from both sides as no other generation of men has done, one should be able to accept his death very easily.'" Chapter 5, paragraph 7.
  4. Whitesell, Lloyd (2008). The Music of Joni Mitchell. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 43–44.
  5. Vince Mendoza: Awards, allmusic.com
  6. Farber, Jim (16 April 2000). "Joni's Jamboree: 19 singers use 15 songs & show why Mitchell matters". New York Daily News. Retrieved 3 September 2016 – via Joni Mitchell Library.
  7. Hedges-Stocks, Zoah (28 February 2018). "Emma Thompson on acting Love Actually betrayal: 'I had my heart very badly broken by Kenneth Branagh'". Yahoo! Entertainment. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  8. Bierly, Mandi (13 February 2010). "Vancouver Olympics Opening Ceremony: Best and Worst". Entertainment Weekly.
  9. "Canadian single certifications – Joni Mitchell – Both Sides Now". Music Canada. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  10. "British single certifications – Joni Mitchell – Both Sides Now". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  11. Unterberger, Richie (2002). Turn! Turn! Turn!: The '60s Folk-Rock Revolution. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. p. 274. ISBN 0-87930-703-X.
  12. "Image: RPM Weekly". Library and Archives Canada. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  13. "Wildflowers - Judy Collins: Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  14. Yaffe, David (2017). Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell. pp. 49–50.
  15. Corliss, Richard (25 July 2014). "REVIEW: Another Grumpy Old Man Finds Love in And So It Goes". Time. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  16. Jacobs, Matthew (27 June 2018). "'Hereditary' Director Unpacks The Movie's Plot And Responds To The People Who Hated It". HuffPost. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  17. Agar, Chris (12 November 2018). "What Song Is In The Toy Story 4 Teaser Trailer?". Screen Rant. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  18. "Australian Chart Book". austchartbook.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  19. "Image: RPM Weekly". Library and Archives Canada. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  20. "Both Sides, Now". Flavour of New Zealand.
  21. "JUDY COLLINS - full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  22. Whitburn, Joel, Top Pop Singles 1955-2002
  23. "Item Display - RPM". Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  24. Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN 0-89820-142-X.
  25. "Euson - Both Sides Now". Stichting Nederlandse Top 40. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  26. "Hot Hits". RPM Weekly. Vol. 54, no. 14. 7 September 1991. p. 1.
  27. Rapp, Allison (2 March 2022). "How Joni Mitchell's 'Both Sides Now' Got Selected for 'CODA' Film". Ultimate Classic Rock. Townsquare Media, Inc. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  28. Emilia Jones - Both Sides Now (Full Performance - Live at the 75th British Academy Film Awards). Emilia Jones Videos. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2023 – via YouTube.
  29. Colderick, Stephanie (13 March 2022). "Emilia Jones has viewers 'sobbing' over emotional BAFTA performance". WalesOnline. Archived from the original on 15 March 2022. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  30. Labonte, Rachel (9 February 2022). "Joni Mitchell Reacts To Incredible Cover Of Her Song In CODA". ScreenRant. Valnet Inc. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  31. "SOFIA HOFFMANN NA SMOOTH FM: ENTREVISTA E NOVO ÁLBUM!". Retrieved 25 October 2023.
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