a division of the Chersonian Institute

David Geffen, Joni Mitchell & Cher

JonicherSince the David Geffen PBS special last year I've been thinking about the ladies in Geffen's life. Although he gave them expert help and guidance, many of them broke his heart, including Laura Nyro, Cher and apparently he was dismayed by Joni Mitchell's "Free Man in Paris" and how it exposed his private life.

Geffen had better luck mentoring men: Jackson Browne, The Eagles, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits,  Warren Zevon, J.D. Souther–all at Asylum. Most of the Geffen label successes were male: John Lennon, Asia, Elton John, Sonic Youth, Aerosmith, XTC, Peter Gabriel,  Blink-182, Guns N' Roses, Nirvana and Neil Young.

Linda Ronstadt and Lone Justice being exceptions.

Around the time of the special, a few Cher scholars alerted me to Joni Mitchell songs of the mid 1970s that might have lyrics referencing Cher. This was the time she was living with David Geffen and he was dating Cher.

Check out the lyrics and tell me what you think:

Rob alerted me to this line from "Off Night Backstreet" on the album Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (1977):

Who left her long black hair
in our bathtub drain?

Dishy alerted me to the Joni Mitchell song "Love or Money" from the live album Miles of Aisles (1974)It's lyrics are a bit more vague.

According to the the "Big Yellow Taxi" page, Cher's version (from The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour??) is available on a recording called Live And Loud, Volume II from 2005 although I can't seem to find any information about this album. Has anybody heard of it?

  

2 Comments

  1. Cher Scholar

    Jim, I always fantasize about what that time period was about. I just finished the Joni Mitchell bio “Reckless Daughter” and that got me going again. What conversations must have gone down between not just David, Joni and Cher but all the visitors who came to see David Geffen. Interesting tidbit about Human League. I wonder if we could dig up some kind of influence outside of the song? A quick search didn’t pull up anything online. But I found this about the origins of the song: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/the-human-league/dont-you-want-me. I feel strongly that “Bennie and the Jets” is about Cher (and scraped of Sonny) with their reference to electric boots and a mohair suit to be read about in a magazine. “Bennie she’s really keen.” Who else could that be?? 😉

  2. Jim

    in some bio back aways on Joni Mitchell Carly Simon and Carole King…….turns out that during Cher’s time with David Geffen, living in his mansion……….that for a while anyway Joni was shacked up with one of her paramours in another wing of the mansion………imagined meetings around the coffee pot in the A.M.
    also while on the subject of Cher and weird facts:
    Sonny and Cher come to my mind when listening to the Human Leagues’ hit ” Don’t you want me Baby”……..but when I eventually read the lyrics on the said CD……..I noticed that the line……:we had such Good Times”………GoodTimes in capitalized making me think IT Was a direct reference…thoughts????

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