Judy Collins: Wildflowers in Concert

[ Applause ] -Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Judy Collins.

[ Cheers and applause ] -Mwah!

Hello, hello, hello, hello!

[ Cheers and applause continues ] So glad to see you.

I'm thrilled to be here.

Of course, I'm thrilled to be almost anywhere, truth be told.

And welcome tonight to this very special event with this amazing orchestra.

Of course, the Harlem Chamber Orchestra with their conductor, Tania Len.

[ Applause ] We've been here before, of course.

And I want you to know that you're looking at the American Idol of 1956.

Shall we begin?

[ "Mountain Girl" plays ] - Out on the street, it was raining today Homeless man stood in the cold [ Chuckles ] Gave him $5 and went on my way Big city blues in my soul Maybe like me that man chose to live here Where there are days your heart dies Maybe he dreamed of a place far away Under the wide-open skies Went on my way feeling strange all that day Wondering what had gone wrong And all along, I could hear that voice call Haunting me all that day long Mountain girl in the city You've been gone far too long Find your way back to the mountains Where you know you belong Where your dreams can't go wrong I've seen the world and its sights in my day Cities that blaze like the sun I've seen my share of their riches and fame Done things I never should have done I've been broken-hearted and broken some hearts Tried running hard from my pain And all along, I could hear that voice call Come to me all the day long Mountain girl in the city You've been gone far too long Find your way back to the mountains Where you know you belong Where your dreams can't go wrong Bought a ticket back again Heading home once more I feel that aching pain recede Like the waves on the shore I feel the heart of the mountains again Beating inside my breast Bringing me back to the place I belong Bringing me home to the West No pain or sorrow will keep me away I'll even walk that last, long mile Here in the mountains where every sunrise starts I'll heal my heart for awhile Mountain girl in the city You've been gone far too long Find your way back to the mountains Where you know you belong Where your dreams can't go wrong Mountain girl Mountain girl Mountain girl In the city [ Cheers and applause ] Thank you so much.

I forgot to say hi to you again.

Such a privilege to be back with this gorgeous ensemble.

But one of the things tonight, of course, is the 1967 album that I made called Wildflowers.

You know that.

I wanted to say that we are here celebrating that amazing year.

San Francisco was the site for the Summer of Love.

Do you remember?

If I -- If you go to San Francisco Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair The song by the great writers John Phillips and Scott McKenzie.

And in 1967, Vietnam War was going on.

And, uh... there were so many -- so many events, so many protests.

And it was the thing that we did, you know, because what else could we do?

We had to protest the war in Vietnam.

And so then, well, we marched against the war.

10,000 marched against the Vietnam War in San Francisco in 1967.

Martin Luther King Jr. denounced the Vietnam War.

And Muhammad Ali refused military service.

It was the first Super Bowl that happened in 1967.

And, oh, yes, Supreme Court justice declared mixed-race marriages constitutional.

Let's clap for that.

[ Applause ] So I settled down to make my -- my -- Was it my sixth album or my seventh album?

And I was working with -- with my wonderful producer who -- Mark Abramson -- and he and I were friends with a fellow who did a lot of work for -- for one of Jac Holzman's other labels.

And he was very excited to work with me.

I had a phone call in the middle of the night in 1967, and it was my friend Al Kooper.

You remember Al Kooper.

He started Blood, Sweat & Tears, and he was a friend of mine.

He knew my phone number by heart.

Remember when you knew all your phone numbers by heart?

And he called me at 3: 00 in the morning.

I was -- I wanted to tell you that I didn't ever do many drugs, because I really was afraid that they would interfere with my drinking.

[ Light laughter ] And that night in 1967, I was fully passed out.

There was no question of it.

But at 3: 00, my phone rang, and it was Al Kooper, and he said, "Hi.

How are you?"

I said, "I'm asleep," or I was, "and I'm passed out.

So what do you want?

Are you okay?

Should I call a doctor or hospital?"

He said, "Oh, no, no, no.

I have a wonderful surprise for you."

And he put Joni Mitchell on the phone.

And that's where it all started.

[ Harp playing ] Michael wakes you up with sweets He takes you up streets, and the rain comes down Sidewalk markets locked up tight And umbrellas bright on a grey background There's oil in the puddles in taffeta patterns That run down the drain In colored arrangements that Michael will change With a stick that he found Michael from mountains Go where you will go to Know that I will know you Someday I may know you very well [ Harp plays ] Michael brings you to a park He sings, and it's dark when the clouds come by Yellow slickers up on swings Like puppets on strings hanging in the sky They'll splash home to suppers in wallpapered kitchens Their mothers will scold But Michael will hold you To keep away cold till the sidewalks are dry Michael from mountains Go where you will go to Know that I will know you Someday I may know you very well Michael leads you up the stairs He needs you to care, and you know you do Cats come crying to the key And dry you will be in a towel or two There's rain in the window There's sun in the painting that smiles on the wall You want to know all, but his mountains have called So you never do Michael from mountains Go where you will go to Know that I will know you Someday I may know you very well Someday I may know you Very well [ Applause ] Thank you.

I was in New York in 1961.

That was my first gig, at a little club on Bleecker Street and West 4th.

And then I moved there in '63, and I got friendly with a woman who -- Her name was Mary Martin -- not the one who flies.

But she was friendly.

She'd grown up in Canada.

And she was a very, very good friend with somebody named Leonard.

We would go out to dinner with a bunch of other girlfriends, and we'd talk and talk and talk.

This was '64, '65.

And she would talk about this guy, and she would say, you know, he was so talented.

All of his friends thought he was a genius.

And she said, you know, "He writes poetry."

I said, "Well, is it okay?"

She said, "No, it's obscure.

We don't understand it.

We buy the books, we go and hear him speak, but we don't understand any of it."

And then a couple of years later, she called me up one day, and she said, "Guess what?"

I said, "Are we having dinner?"

She said, "Oh, no.

It's even better than that.

Leonard wants to come and see you and sing you his songs."

And I said, "Are they obscure?"

And she said, "Oh, yes."

He sang me three songs.

When he walked in the door -- to the door -- and I looked out and I saw him and I let him in, and I thought, "Hmm.

I don't care if he didn't write songs."

[ Laughter ] "We'll think of something."

We didn't.

But then he sang me some songs, and I said, "Well, 'Suzanne' is a song.

I know that.

I'm going to record it tomorrow."

And I did.

And then he called me up, and he said, "You know, now you've made me famous.

I don't understand why you're not writing your own songs."

I had never written a song.

So this is my first song.

[ Piano plays ] What I'll give you since you've asked Is all my time together Take the rugged sunny days The warm and rocky weather Take the roads that I have walked along Looking for tomorrow's time Peace of mind As my life spills into yours Changing with the hours Filling up the world with time Turning time to flowers I can show you all the songs That I never sang to one man before We have seen a million stones lying by the water You have climbed the hills with me To the mountain shelter Taken off the days one by one Setting them to breathe in the sun Take the lilies and the lace From the days of childhood All the willow winding paths Leading up and outward This is what I give This is what I ask you for Nothing more [ Applause ] [ "Both Sides Now" plays ] [ Applause ] Rows and floes of angel hair And ice cream castles in the air Feather canyons everywhere I've looked at clouds that way And 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 Up and down, and still somehow It's cloud 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 And now it's just another show You leave them laughing when you go And if you care, don't let them know Don't give yourself away I've looked at life from both sides now Win and lose, 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 and say I've changed Well, something's lost, but something's gained In living every day I've looked at life from both sides now Win and lose, and still somehow It's life's illusions I recall I really don't know life I really don't know life At all [ Cheers and applause ] Whoo!

-And then, of course, as the years went by, Leonard would send me songs.

He'd send me a little tape, and I'd choose what songs I loved.

And I have recorded songs of his for decades.

Here's one of the first ones.

[ "Sisters of Mercy" plays ] Oh, the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone They were waiting for me When I thought that I just can't go on And they brought me their comfort And later they brought me their song Oh, I hope you run into them You who've been traveling so long Yes, you who must leave everything That you cannot control It begins with your family And later comes around to your soul I've been where you're hanging I think I can see how you're pinned When you're not feeling holy Your loneliness says that you've sinned Well, they lay down beside me I made my confession to them They touched both my eyes And I touched the dew on their hem If your life is a leaf That the seasons tear off and condemn They will bind you with love That is graceful and green as a stem When I left, they were sleeping I hope you run into them soon Don't turn on the lights You can read their address by the moon And you won't make me jealous If I hear that they sweetened your life We weren't lovers like that And besides, it would still be all right We weren't lovers like that And besides, it would still be all right Ooh [ Applause ] [ "Sky Fell" plays ] The rain is falling down Along with the sky The colors and remembered suns Are pouring by What will I do with the sky when it is empty?

Come to the window Put your arms around me again If you don't hold me I will wash away with the rain What will I do with my arms when they are empty?

I'll just stand here and watch the sky fall While you put yourself together While you gather up the time it took To make us think we would last forever The window fills your face With silver and rain You're soaking up the sky I'll never see it again What will I do with the sky when it is empty?

What will I do with my life when you have left me?

[ Applause ] I had a friendship with Joan Baez for many, many years.

[ Light applause ] Sixty?

something like that.

We met very early on.

And, uh, she used to call me up and say, "I want you to sing that song"... How long since I spent the whole night In a twin bed with a stranger With his warm arms all around me?

And I -- I saw that somebody had misunderstood the lyric.

And they thought that it said, "How long since I spent the whole night in a twin bed with a stranger with the Mormons all around me?"

[ Light laughter ] I had a visit with Joan in our early years, went out to Carmel and spent some time with her, and I wrote this song after I got home.

And I dedicate this song tonight to Joan, whatever she's painting -- whoever she's painting tonight.

[ Piano plays ] The lady comes to the gate Dressed in lavender and leather Looking North to the sea She finds the weather fine She hears the steeple bells Ringing through the orchard all the way from town She watches seagulls fly Silver on the ocean stitching through the waves The edges of the sky Many people wander up the hills from all around you Making up your memories and thinking they have found you They cover you with veils of wonder as if you were a bride Young men holding violets are curious to know If you have cried And tell you why and ask you why Any way you answer Lace around the collars of the blouses of the ladies Flowers from a Spanish friend of the family The embroidery of your life holds you in And keeps you out, but you survive Imprisoned in your bones behind the isinglass windows Of your eyes And in the night, the hard bells Rolling through the rain Down the hills, through the long grass To the sea And in the dark, the hard bells Ringing with pain Come away Alone Even now by the gate With your long hair blowing And the colors of the day That lie upon your arms You must barter your life To make sure you are living And the crowd that has come You give them the colors And the bells and the wind and the dream Will there ever be a prince Who rides along the sea and the mountains?

Scattering the sand and the foam into amethyst fountains Riding up the hills from the beach In the long summer grass Holding the sun in his hands and shattering the isinglass Day and night and day again And people come and go away forever While the shining summer sea dances in the glass Of your mirror While you search the waves for love And your visions for a sign The knot of tears around your throat is crystallizing Into your design And in the night, the iron wheels Rolling through the rain Down the hills, through the long grass To the sea And in the dark, the hard bells Ringing with pain Come away Alone Come away Alone With me-e-e Ooh [ Applause ] Okay, well, Leonard and -- and all these incredible writers -- You know, I've had such a -- such an extraordinary history of finding these writers who wrote these songs that weren't published, many of them at the same time that I found them.

I was lucky and blessed.

And so, that's part of the story.

Here's the -- the rest of it.

[ Piano plays note ] I loved you in the morning Our kisses deep and warm Your hair upon the pillow Like a sleepy golden storm Many loved before us I know that we are not new In city and in forest They smiled like me and you Now it's come to distances And both of us must try Your eyes are soft with sorrow Hey, that's no way To say goodbye I'm not looking for another As I wander in my time Walk me to the corner Our steps will always rhyme You know my love goes with you As your love stays with me It's just the way it changes Like the shoreline and the sea Let's not talk of love or change Or things we can't untie Your eyes are soft with sorrow Hey, that's no way To say goodbye I loved you in the morning Our kisses deep and warm Your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm Many loved before us I know that we are not new In city and in forest They smile like me and you Not talk of love or chains Or things we can't untie Your eyes are soft with sorrow Hey, that's no way To say goodbye Ooh Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh [ Applause ] -I had a very wonderfully smart and heart-filled guy who -- He -- Harold Leventhal told me that he abandoned the lingerie business to manage the Weavers.

He started to be my manager in 1961.

Among other people that I saw and met because of Harold was the great Jacques Brel.

Both of the shows that he did in New York, which were both at Carnegie Hall, I was there.

And I fell in love with this song.

"Sure, we've had some storms.

Twenty years of love is crazy.

A thousand times you took your suitcase, a thousand times I took flight.

And each piece of furniture in this room, without a cradle, reminds me of the old, tempestuous nights.

Nothing is itself.

You've lost your taste for me And me, I've lost my taste for conquest."

[ "Song of Old Lovers" plays ] [ Singing in foreign language ] [ Instrumental interlude ] [ Singing in foreign language ] [ Piano plays ] [ Singing in foreign language ] [ Vocalizing ] Ooh-ooh-ooh [ Applause ] Thank you.

I want you to say hello to and thank Tania Len.

Marvelous, marvelous.

[ Applause ] And the Harlem Chamber Orchestra.

[ Applause continues ] We should make them stand up.

-Absolutely.

-Thank you, everybody.

And my musical director, Mr. Russell Walden, over there.

[ Applause ] He's amazing.

Does anyone know which chapter of the Bible explains how to turn water into wine?

I'm just asking for a friend.

[ Laughter ] Well, after all those years with singing songs of Leonard Cohen's and then writing songs -- I started in '66.

I never stopped writing.

And a lot of my songs are on the albums that I've produced with other -- with wonderful producers and amazing musicians who play -- who play on my albums.

In 2020 -- 2020 I started writing a lot of poetry.

I've just come out with -- I've just finished a book of poetry that's going to be published at the end of the year -- end of next year.

It takes a whole year to put these things out.

The reason I wrote the poems was to get songs, to harvest songs.

I'm sure you've experienced that.

You know, you write a poem, and you look at it sideways, upside down.

You tear it apart, you throw it in the air, and it comes down a song.

Well, if you're lucky.

Anyway, all these other poems that are harvested are going to be in a book.

But finally, I put out an album of all my own songs, and I want to call Leonard and tell him.

Do you know how to reach him?

Here's the -- the title song from Spellbound.

[ "Spellbound" plays ] Windy day in Honolulu Looking out beyond the hills Memories and times of heartache Leis of lilies, daffodils Here I lighted like a bird Upon the bright blue waters shore With my hope and with my nightmares Praying I could swim and soar Dark dreams, haunted sunlit days While I drank down rum and hope Burning dreams and crimson lovers Dancing on a thin tightrope Spellbound Spellbound Spellbound Birds of paradise were walking As though they were angels songs Bright wings flew along the beaches In their shimmering sarongs And I thought when I would see them So content and so serene How could I find that surrender?

I could fly, but I would scream Fighting out of beautys trance In the light of sand and water Knowing I would crawl the highways Finding my own kind of slaughter Spellbound Spellbound Spellbound Ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh How I longed to sing the day Doing what I saw you do How you lived and danced in light Yearning to know what life knew Whittled down, the drinking gone To whimper towards the sight of land Hungering to sail in water Bright with promise, deep in sand On these islands, once I wept For the lost and for the found Surfacing in air and light Now I live, and I am spellbound Spellbound Spellbound Spellbound Spellbound Spellbound Spellbound Spellbound Ahh [ Applause ] So I got this call in '73 from Leonard's best friend, whom he introduced me to in 1966, and she and I became very, very close friends.

She died just after they finished making "Hallelujah."

She and I were both in it, talking, of course.

She knew him better than anybody.

She grew up with him in Montreal.

And she was probably the last person to see him alive.

By that time, like this.

We were best buddies, as they say.

"Besties," I think they say.

And she said, "I know you're worried.

I want to send you something.

I'm sending it to the house.

So put the needle on the song and then call me."

Well, I did that, and I didn't call her.

I called Hal Prince.

He answered my call, and I said -- He said, "Oh, I know who you are.

You're the 'Both Sides Now' girl.

I said, "Well, yes, aside from that, you have this wonderful song on this album."

And he said, "Yeah, it's good, isn't it?

And I said, "Yes."

He said, "Well, about 200 people have already recorded it."

I said, "I don't care."

Here is the song.

[ Bassoon playing ] Isn't it rich?

Are we a pair?

Me here at last on the ground You in midair Where are the clowns?

Isn't it bliss?

Don't you approve?

One who keeps tearing around One who can't move Where are the clowns?

Send in the clowns Just when I'd stopped Opening doors Finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours Making my entrance again with my usual flair Sure of my lines No one is there Don't you love farce?

My fault, I fear I thought that you'd want what I want Sorry, my dear But where are the clowns?

Quick, send in the clowns Don't bother, they're here Isn't it rich?

Isn't it queer?

Losing my timing this late In my career But where are the clowns?

Send in the clowns Well, maybe Next Year [ Cheers and applause ] [ Applause ] [ Applause intensifies ] [ Audience cheering ] [ Applause continues ] [ Audience cheers ] [ Applause continues ]