"Both Sides, Now" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her st ...

. First recorded by

Judy Collins Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning seven decades. An Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, she is known for her ec ...

, it appeared on the US singles chart during the fall of 1968. The next year it was included on Mitchell's album ''

Clouds In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid drop (liquid), droplets, ice crystals, frozen crystals, or other particulates, particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. ...

'', and became one of her best-known songs. It has since been recorded by dozens of artists, including Dion in 1968,

Clannad Clannad () is an Irish band formed in 1970 in Gweedore, County Donegal by siblings Ciarán, Pól, and Moya Brennan and their twin uncles Noel and Pádraig Duggan. They have adopted various musical styles throughout their history, including ...

with

Paul Young Paul Antony Young (born 17 January 1956) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & the Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, he became a teen idol with his solo success in the 1980s. ...

in 1991, and Mitchell herself who re-recorded the song with an orchestral arrangement on her 2000 album ''

Both Sides Now "Both Sides, Now" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. First recorded by Judy Collins, it appeared on the US singles chart during the fall of 1968. The next year it was included on Mitchell's album ''Clouds'', and became one ...

''. In 2004, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' ranked "Both Sides, Now" at number 170 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs.

Background

Mitchell has said that "Both Sides, Now" was inspired by a passage in '' Henderson the Rain King'', a 1959 novel by

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; 10 July 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only w ...

I was reading ... ''Henderson the Rain King'' on a plane and early in the book Henderson ... is also up in a plane. He's on his way to Africa and he looks down and sees these clouds. I put down the book, looked out the window and saw clouds too, and I immediately started writing the song. I had no idea that the song would become as popular as it did.

"Both Sides, Now" is written in F-sharp major. Mitchell used a guitar tuning of D-A-D-F#-A-D with a capo at the fourth fret. The song uses a modified I–IV–V chord progression.

2000 re-recording

Mitchell re-recorded the song in a lush, orchestrated fashion for her 2000 album ''

''. The recording won arranger Vince Mendoza a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s). In April 2000, two months after the album's release, Mitchell sang the song with a 70-piece orchestra at the end of an all-star celebration for her at the

Hammerstein Ballroom The Hammerstein Ballroom is a ballroom located within the Manhattan Center at 311 West 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The capacity of the ballroom is dependent on the configuration of the room; it seats 2,500 people for theat ...

in New York City. The 2000 version is played during an emotional scene featuring

Emma Thompson Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress. Regarded as one of the best actresses of her generation, she has received numerous accolades throughout her four-decade-long career, including two Academy Awards, two British A ...

in the 2003 film ''

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''. It was also played during the

2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony The opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics was held on February 12, 2010, beginning at 6:00 pm PST (02:00 UTC, February 13) at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This was the first Olympic opening ceremony to ...

Certifications

Judy Collins version

Shortly after Mitchell wrote the song, Judy Collins recorded the first commercially released version for her 1967 '' Wildflowers'' album. In October 1968 the same version was released as a single, reaching number 8 on the U.S pop singles charts by December. It reached number 6 in Canada. In early 1969 it won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for Best Folk Performance. The record peaked at number 3 on ''Billboard''s Easy Listening survey and "Both Sides, Now" has become one of Collins' signature songs. Mitchell disliked Collins' recording of the song, despite the publicity that its success generated for Mitchell's own career. The Collins version is featured as the opening title music of the 2014 romantic comedy '' And So It Goes'', and as the end title music of the 2018 supernatural horror film ''

Hereditary Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic informa ...

''. It also features in the first teaser trailer for ''

Toy Story 4 ''Toy Story 4'' is a 2019 American computer-animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the fourth installment in Pixar's ''Toy Story'' series and the sequel to ''Toy Story 3'' ( ...

''. The song features prominently in the season 6 finale of TV show ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its f ...

'', and signals a moment of anagnorisis between Don Draper and his daughter Sally.

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Notable recordings

Mitchell's song has been recorded by many other artists over the decades. Among the best-known versions are: * Dion recorded the song under the title "From Both Sides Now" on his album ''Dion''. His cover reached number 91 in the US. * Euson released the song as a single in 1970, reaching number 7 on the

Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 ( nl, Nederlandse Top 40) is a weekly music chart compiled by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40''. It started as a radio program titled "Veronica Top 40", on the offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veroni ...

. *

released a version as a duet with British singer

for the 1991 motion picture ''

Switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...

''. It was the only chart appearance for Clannad on the Canadian '' RPM'' 100 Singles Chart. *

Emilia Jones Emilia Annis I. Jones (born 23 February 2002) is an English actress. She played the lead role of Ruby Rossi in the Academy Award-winning 2021 film '' CODA''. She has received several accolades, including a Screen Actors Guild Award and a nomin ...

performed the song for the 2021 film ''

CODA Coda or CODA may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Movie coda, a post-credits scene * ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television *''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...

'', as her character's audition for the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

. During her performance, she signs the lyrics in

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is expre ...

to her watching family, all of whom are deaf.

References

{{authority control 1967 songs 1968 singles Songs written by Joni Mitchell Joni Mitchell songs Judy Collins songs Dion DiMucci songs 1991 singles Clannad songs Paul Young songs Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) Song recordings produced by Joni Mitchell Song recordings produced by Paul A. Rothchild Elektra Records singles