''Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm'' is the 13th studio album by Canadian singer and songwriter Joni Mitchell, released in 1988. It was her third for

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

. The album features various duets with guest artists such as Peter Gabriel on "My Secret Place",

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album '' Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (1 ...

on "Cool Water", Don Henley on "Snakes and Ladders",

Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is a British-American singer, songwriter, and musician. He first achieved fame in the 1970s emerging from the London punk rock scene as the lead singer o ...

and

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the la ...

on the track "Dancin' Clown". Henley also performs backing vocals on "Lakota", and

Wendy and Lisa Wendy & Lisa (briefly known as Girl Bros.) are a music duo consisting of Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman. They began working with Prince in the early 1980s and were part of his band the Revolution, before branching out on their own and releasin ...

perform backing vocals on "The Tea Leaf Prophecy (Lay Down Your Arms)".

History

In early 1986, Mitchell and

Larry Klein Larry Klein (born March 17, 1956) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is based in Los Angeles. He began his career as a bassist, playing with jazz artists Willie Bobo, Freddie Hubbard, Carmen McRae, Joe Henderson, Bobb ...

visited Peter Gabriel's Ashcombe House recording studio near Bath, England. Since Gabriel had mostly finished his album '' So'' by that time, he offered Mitchell and Klein the use of his studio if they wanted to record. They did, and the result was the track "My Secret Place" which was a duet between Mitchell and Gabriel. Mitchell told ''Musician'' magazine about this song: "It's a love beginning song. The song's about the threshold of intimacy. It's a shared thing so I wanted it to be like the Song of Solomon, where you can't tell what gender it is. It's the uniting spirit of two people at the beginning of a relationship". In February 1987, Mitchell saw

performing his hit version of the William Bell R&B ballad, " To Be a Lover" on the Grammy Awards show. She felt he captured the original spirit of rock'n'roll along with a new spark of energy, and would be perfect for a cameo on her song "Dancin' Clown". Idol came over to Mitchell's studio one evening a few days after the Grammys and recorded his part, complete with yelps and howls. Mitchell told Macleans magazine about this pairing up: "It was for the contrast he provided. It's a great little cameo for him, and he brings real life to the part." Later,

recorded his cameo on the same song. About ''Chalk Mark'', Mitchell told interviewer Kristine McKenna: "I've discovered that with your focus no longer on finding a mate, you get a heightened sense of community, and I've become a bit more political – not too political though". ''Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm'' was released in March 1988, and the song "Snakes and Ladders" (featuring Don Henley) was issued as a pre-release single to radio stations in January 1988.

Themes

Contemporary commercialism is addressed in the songs "Number One", "Lakota" which deals with the destruction of Native American culture and the unusual "The Reoccurring Dream" was constructed from samples Mitchell collected by recording TV commercials on her VCR for 2 weeks. "Cool Water" (a Mitchell rewrite of the

Bob Nolan Bob Nolan (born Clarence Robert Nobles; April 13, 1908 – June 16, 1980, name changed to Robert Clarence Nobles in 1929) was a Canadian-born American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a founding member of the Sons of the Pioneers, and compo ...

original) also discusses water pollution. War is explored in two very different stories: "The Tea Leaf Prophecy (Lay Down Your Arms)" tells the tale of Mitchell's parents meeting during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

after a surprisingly prophetic tea-leaf reading, while "The Beat of Black Wings" is about an embittered Vietnam vet named Killer Kyle, who found it difficult to get the sound of helicopter blades out of his head. This song may be based on a scene from the film adaptation of ''

The Looking Glass War ''The Looking Glass War'' is a 1965 spy novel by John le Carré. Written in response to the positive public reaction to his previous novel, ''The Spy Who Came in from the Cold'', the book explores the unglamorous nature of espionage and the da ...

''.Comment o
Joni Mitchell.com
Retrieved on 1 August 2010 In the more straightforward lovesongs, Mitchell sings of intimacy in "My Secret Place", and young, rambunctious love in "Snakes and Ladders" and "Dancin' Clown".

Release

The first official single from the album was "My Secret Place". Released in March 1988. The video, shot by Dutch photographer and filmmaker Anton Corbijn on grainy, atmospheric black-and-white film featuring Mitchell and Peter Gabriel, got some airplay on

VH-1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communi ...

, where it premiered in May 1988. The video was directed by photographer and film director Anton Corbijn, perhaps known best for his many music videos for Depeche Mode. ''Billboard'' magazine's Steve Gett reviewed the album and awarded it an early rave. Other reviews were mostly very favorable, and the fact that there were cameos by many well-known musicians brought it a great deal of notice. "Most of the stuff for the isn't-Joni-wonderful club is on side two", noted Fred Dellar in '' Hi-Fi News & Record Review''. "There's a

-assisted version of the

Sons of the Pioneers The Sons of the Pioneers are one of the United States' earliest Western singing groups. Known for their vocal performances, their musicianship, and their songwriting, they produced innovative recordings that have inspired many Western music perf ...

' hoary old 'Cold icWater' that is so immaculately re-shaped it sounds like next year's thing." The album improved on the chart position of her previous album, 1985's ''Dog Eat Dog'', peaking at number 23 in Canada, 45 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, and number 26 in the UK. To promote the album, Mitchell also travelled to the UK in May and appeared on the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

music show ''Wired'' where she performed "Number One" and gave an exclusive world premiere of the song "Fourth of July", which would later be retitled "Night Ride Home" and be recorded as the title track for her next album. She also visited Australia and appeared on several television shows including '' The Midday Show with Ray Martin'', ''Rock Arena'', and the morning show '' Sunday'' where she again performed "Number One" and "Fourth of July". ''Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm'' was nominated for

Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The awar ...

at the 1989 Grammy Awards, but lost to

Tracy Chapman Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. Chapman is best known for her hit singles "Fast Car" and "Give Me One Reason". Chapman was signed to Elektra Records by Bob Krasnow in 1987. The following year she released ...

's "

Fast Car "Fast Car" is a song by American singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman. It was released on April 6, 1988, as the lead single from her 1988 self-titled debut studio album. Chapman's appearance on the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute helped the s ...

Track listing

Personnel

Track numbering does not match the LP listing (above); it refers to CD and digital releases of the album. * Joni Mitchell – vocals, guitar, keyboards, drum programming on 7, 8 *

Manu Katché Manu Katché (born 27 October 1958) is a French drummer and songwriter of Ivorian descent. He has worked extensively as a session musician, notably with Sting and Peter Gabriel, and his solo albums as a bandleader are largely in the jazz fusion ...

– drums, percussion, talking drum on 1, 7; snare drum on 2; background vocals * Steve Lindsey – organ on 2 *

– bass; keyboards on 1, 3, 4, 8; congas on 6; programming; background vocals on 5 * Michael Landau – guitar on 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9; background vocals on 5 *

Steve Stevens Steve Stevens (born Steven Bruce Schneider; May 5, 1959) is an American guitarist. He is best known as Billy Idol's guitarist and songwriting collaborator, and for his lead guitar work on the theme to ''Top Gun'' – " Top Gun Anthem" – for ...

– lead guitar on 5 *

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Dav ...

– saxophones on 10 *

Thomas Dolby Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher. Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including "She Blinded Me ...

– marimba on 5 * Peter Gabriel – guest vocalist on 1 * Benjamin Orr – background vocals on 2, 7 * Don Henley – background vocals on 3, 8 *

Iron Eyes Cody Iron Eyes Cody (born Espera Oscar de Corti, April 3, 1904 – January 4, 1999) was an American actor of Italian descent who portrayed Native Americans in Hollywood films, famously as ''Chief Iron Eyes'' in Bob Hope's '' The Paleface'' (1948) ...

– guest vocalist on 3 *

Wendy Melvoin Wendy Ann Melvoin (born January 26, 1964) is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Prince as part of his backing band The Revolution, and for her collaboration with Lisa Coleman as one half of the duo Wendy ...

– background vocals on 4 * Lisa Coleman – background vocals on 4 *

– guest vocalist on 5 *

– guest vocalist on 5 * Julie Last – background vocals on 5 *

– guest vocalist on 6

Charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1988 albums Joni Mitchell albums Albums produced by Larry Klein Geffen Records albums Albums produced by Joni Mitchell Albums recorded at A&M Studios Albums recorded at United Western Recorders