From Both Sides, Now

I was requested to have another song review and by this time it will be for the song Both Sides Now By Joni Mitchell

It was my literature professor who first introduced the song during our class discussion a year ago. If you can visit the link that I posted, you can hear that the original version was slow but still full of heart. You can feel that there's a deep meaning behind every word. I took time to research the story behind the composition and fortunate enough that Joni Mitchell discussed it during one of her interviews way back year 1967.

Joni being interviewed by Ed Sciaky on March 12, 1967:

" I should tell people a little bit about it. I was reading a book, and I haven't finished it yet, called "Henderson the Rain King." And there's a line in it that I especially got hung up on that was about when he was flying to Africa and searching for something, he said that in an age when people could look up and down at clouds, they shouldn't be afraid to die. And so I got this idea 'from both sides now.' There are a lot of sides to everything, and so the song is called "From Both Sides, Now." "
 -- JONI MITCHELL





 Joni wrote Both Sides Now on March 9, 1967 after reading Henderson the Rain King.

Here's the lyrics:


"Both Sides Now"

Bows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
Feather canyons everywhere
I've looked at clouds that way

Now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way

I've looked at clouds from both sides now

I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's cloud's illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

Moons and Junes and ferris wheels
The dizzy, dancing way you feel
When every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way

Now it's just another show
You leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care don't let them know
Don't give yourself away

I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all

Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say I love you right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way

But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads
They say I've changed
Well something's lost and something's gained in living every day

I've looked at life from both sides now

I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life

I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's cloud's illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

I really don't know life at all

At first, our outlook in life was so pure and naive.  It was full of happiness and full of hopes. Life that's so perfect.

But life is full of surprises ........

One day it will lead you to a path where you could experience exceptional love and support. Then, the next day you’ll just find yourself in a path where everything is so different,really different.

I know that we have so many things going on in our life every minute. That's so normal, I must say. With these things, we somehow tend to see it in one side only. We make ourselves believe that what we see is just the real thing, the only real thing. That what makes us humans,standing on what we believe in. But that doesn't excuse the fact that what is real is far beyond what we see. I would like to contradict the idea that   "what you see is what you get". Yes, that's what you get but that doesn't mean it's the only thing that you will and should believe in. Try to GROW UP! Part of it is seeing things not with one side, but with every side of it. Meaning, be an open-minded person. It's for your own good, believe me. If people tell you that things are like this and that, try not to fall for it immediately. You SHOULD take time discovering the truth on your own. ON YOUR OWN.

 We can't be certain on everything until the time that it is fully discovered, explored and experienced by us, alone. The song wants to make us realize that there is no certain thing in this world. It will only be certain by the way we look at it. See good things from bad ones. Feel the positive vibes from negative ones.  It's up to you on how you'll see things from both sides.

Living a life that is not biased and one-sided is a life that is well-spent. (you quote this, pinag-isipan ko yan tey! :)) 

For the latest version of the song: Both Sides Now by Carly Rae Jepsen (for our generation,you'll enjoy this one)


No one is real sure about what life has for each one of us. But sure enough that LIFE HAS MANY THINGS TO OFFER. May it be good or bad, the thing is, we should see things not only from one side and with selfish act but from both sides with an open-mind and a genuine soul ready to accept things. It will sure help develop a better person in you.

Love, 

Little Girl

(paano 'yon? walang sides ang bilog. kiddin' :D )