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To: New York City Council
Honor Joni! Rename West 16th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, “Joni Mitchell Way”
To recognize Joni Mitchell and the role she has played in New York City’s artistic and cultural history, the block of West 16th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues should be renamed “Joni Mitchell Way,” with appropriate signage.
Why is this important?
It’s high time that the world’s greatest city should honor the beauty and genius of one of the world’s greatest artists. Joni Mitchell used to live in the ground floor apartment at 41 West 16th Street in the Chelsea District of Manhattan. This stretch of 16th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, should be renamed “Joni Mitchell Way.”
There are many important moments in New York City’s history with Joni Mitchell. But let’s start with this one:
Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning
And the first thing that I knew
There was milk and toast and honey
And a bowl of oranges, too
And the sun poured in like butterscotch
And stuck to all my senses
Oh, won't you stay
We'll put on the day
And we'll talk in present tenses
Joni has said that the song “Chelsea Morning” was inspired by a mobile she constructed using shards of colored glass retrieved from an alley.
“We collected a lot of it and built these glass mobiles with copper wire and coat hangers. I took mine back to New York and put them in my window on West 16th Street in the Chelsea District. The sun would hit the mobile and send these moving colors all around the room. As a young girl, I found that to be a thing of beauty. There’s even a reference to the mobile in the song. It was a very young and lovely time…before I had a record deal.”
The day after the Woodstock festival ended, Joni performed the song on The Dick Cavett Show. Check it out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXe95iTtci0
Folks, we are desperately in need of some good news. Let’s honor Joni. Let’s make this happen!
There are many important moments in New York City’s history with Joni Mitchell. But let’s start with this one:
Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning
And the first thing that I knew
There was milk and toast and honey
And a bowl of oranges, too
And the sun poured in like butterscotch
And stuck to all my senses
Oh, won't you stay
We'll put on the day
And we'll talk in present tenses
Joni has said that the song “Chelsea Morning” was inspired by a mobile she constructed using shards of colored glass retrieved from an alley.
“We collected a lot of it and built these glass mobiles with copper wire and coat hangers. I took mine back to New York and put them in my window on West 16th Street in the Chelsea District. The sun would hit the mobile and send these moving colors all around the room. As a young girl, I found that to be a thing of beauty. There’s even a reference to the mobile in the song. It was a very young and lovely time…before I had a record deal.”
The day after the Woodstock festival ended, Joni performed the song on The Dick Cavett Show. Check it out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXe95iTtci0
Folks, we are desperately in need of some good news. Let’s honor Joni. Let’s make this happen!