Ithaca College

 John W. White, Associate Professor of Music Theory, will present a paper on Thursday, September 23 at the upcoming 2010 National Conference of the College Music Society in Minneapolis, MN.  Prof. White’s latest work continues his ongoing research of analyzing popular music “covers” within a framework of semiotical style change.  

Entitled “Multiple Sides of Both Sides Now,” the current paper examines Joni Mitchell’s recent 2000 reworking of her eponymous hit tune—from the album Both Sides Now (Reprise)—in comparison to her original recorded version in 1969 (and also to some degree with the more famous 1968 version recorded by Judy Collins).  More specifically, the availability of two recorded versions of the song by the same vocalist/composer, separated by more than thirty years, provides a unique opportunity to examine the role played by stylistic features in communicating multiple dimensions of the text.  Stylistic investigation of the two versions—analytically guided by semiotics—uncovers new depths of meaning in the then-versus-now perspective and the illusions of clouds, love, and life as performed by an older and wiser composer/narrator.  A significant portion of the stylistic reworking was provided by jazz composer/arranger Vince Mendoza, who set the 2000 version to an arrangement of expanded dimensions that includes sophisticated harmonic reworking as well as accompaniment by full orchestra and jazz rhythm section.