Shine (Joni Mitchell Album) - Track Listing

Track Listing

1. "One Week Last Summer" – 4:59
   • This song won the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.
2. "This Place" – 3:54
   • In a recent interview, Mitchell referred to a "second guitar song they decided to whittle down this mountain behind my sanctuary and sell it to California as gravel for McMansions."
3. "If I Had a Heart" – 4:04
   • "If I Had a Heart, I'd Cry" is a reaction to the state of the environment and what Mitchell called the current "holy war." In February 2007, The New York Times described the song as "one of the most haunting melodies she has ever written." Of the impetus that inspired her to write the song, Mitchell explained, "My heart is broken in the face of the stupidity of my species. I can't cry about it. In a way I'm inoculated. I've suffered this pain for so long. …The West has packed the whole world on a runaway train. We are on the road to extincting ourselves as a species."
4. "Hana" – 3:43
5. "Bad Dreams" – 5:41
   • "Bad Dreams" was inspired by a comment Mitchell's grandson made at the age of three: "Bad dreams are good, in the great plan." In a March 2007 BBC2 radio interview with Amanda Ghost, the singer jokingly said she'd promised to "cut him in" on the song's profits.
   • "Bad Dreams Are Good" lyrics appeared as a poem in The New Yorker, September 17, 2007.
6. "Big Yellow Taxi (2007)" – 2:47
   • In March 2007, The Guardian reported that Shine will feature a "new version" of Joni's 1970 environmentally-themed hit single.
7. "Night of the Iguana" – 4:38
   • Based upon the play The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams.
8. "Strong and Wrong" – 4:04
9. "Shine" – 7:29
   • Toronto Globe and Mail described this song as "a lush lullaby for the soul."
   • Lyric makes reference to the "Reverend Pearson" (Carlton Pearson).
10. "If" – 5:32
    • This song is based on the poem of the same name by Rudyard Kipling. The jazz-inflected piece features Herbie Hancock playing piano at the live show.