Joni Mitchell - The Sire Of Sorrow (Job's Sad Song) Lyrics

let me spit out my bitterness

It takes Joni Mitchell to tell God about his arse.

supère chanson en mémoire du livre de Job dans la Bible, merci Joni

i now have her 2007 album shine. i must admit to being a little disappointed with it. will listen to it more. I think Indigo is probably her last strong effort.

It is a hymn to the human condition. One for the ages, one never to forget.

I have often wondered if Joni' songs come from her life experiences as some of them seem to
have a lot of personal experiences included in the words,how ever she does it well she tells a very nice musical storie

I prefer the version with the men in the background. So much more haunting.

yes, the Travelogue version 2002
Joni's voice is...not the same
it's a painful voice... like those words

It's like putting reality on trial. Phenomenal

And in the centuries to come students will be asked to "Compare and contrast William Shakespeare with Joni Mitchell" and what a question that will be ...

21 dislikes as of today... Who are these people?? Explain what you don't like. Please.

"Let me speak
Let me spit out my bitterness
Born of grief and nights without sleep
And festering flesh
Do you have eyes?
Can you see like mankind sees?
Why have you soured and curdled me?
Oh, you tireless watcher
What have I done to you?
That you make everything I dread and everything I fear
Come true
Once I was blessed
I was awaited like the rain
Like eyes for the blind
Like feet for the lame
Kings heard my words
And they sought out my company
But now the janitors of Shadowland
Flick their brooms at me
Oh, you tireless watcher
What have I done to you?
That you make everything I dread and everything I fear
Come true? (Man is the sire of sorrow)
I've lost all taste for life
I'm all complaints
Tell me why do you starve the faithful?
Why do you crucify the saints?
And you let the wicked prosper
You let their children frisk like deer
And my loves are dead or dying
Or they don't come near
(We don't despise your chastening
God is correcting you)
Oh, and look who comes
To counsel my deep distress
Oh, these pompous physicians
What carelessness!
(Oh all this ranting, all this wind
Filling our ears with trash)
Breathtaking ignorance
Adding insult to injury!
They come blaming and shaming (Evil doer)
And shattering me
(This vain man wishes to seem wise
A man born of asses)
Oh you tireless watcher!
What have I done to you?
That you make everything I dread and everything I fear
Come true?
Already on a bed of sighs and screams
And still you torture me with visions
You give me terrifying dreams!
Better I was carried from the womb straight to the grave
I see the diggers waiting, they're leaning on their spades
(Man is the sire of sorrow
Sure as the sparks ascend)
Where is hope?
While you're wondering what went wrong?
Why give me light and then this dark without a dawn?
(Evil is sweet in your mouth
Hiding under your tongue)
Show your face!
(What a long fall from grace)
Help me understand!
What is the reason for your heavy hand?
(You're stumbling in shadows
You have no name now)
Was it the sins of my youth?
What have I done to you?
That you make everything I dread and everything I fear
Come true?
(Oh your guilt must weigh so greatly)
Everything I dread and everything I fear come true
(Man is the sire of sorrow)
Oh, you make everything I dread and everything I fear come true"
Songwriter: Joni Mitchell

The melody!

Put this on in the car LOUD and try to sing along, keep up with that emotion. brilliance.

Joni Mitchell is a genre all her own * We've been singing together for 50 years * Lucky Me ! Much Love Joni ***

I think I've just listened to this 45 times.

that's all ?

Beautiful song writing ...so haunting ,,join Mitchell's best album in my opinion...this really expresses job afflictions in such detail

Like Shakespeare's King Lear.

We can all understand Hamlet - we've all been young, all had to make the choices between thought and action, between duty and morality.

But we've not been Lear - which one of has shaken our fist at God, shouted "Am I not old like thee!" and defied Him to judge us, which if us has been set adrift, seen all we have cast on the waters to sink or be carried away?

Lear is just too big for us.

The Sire of Sorrow is just too big - no matter how many times I listen to it, I know that I have still not encompassed it in my mind.

But I *will* continue to listen.

After all, I do have another maybe twenty years....

Seven minutes and six seconds of so sad and beautiful emotions.

the last great joni album?

Namaste Om definitely.

Thank you Joni.

💖💖👍👍💖💖

i think in my subconscious i dreamed that songs like this would exist in the world

We waste so much precious time hating each other, judging those we are close to, even.

She knows the Book of Job.

This song tells the truth

What have I done to my tireless watcher, that i get no rest. Thank you Joni.

We are stumbling in shadows ... This is a great song.

Straight from the book of Job. Her own brilliant paraphrasing. I love you Joni. Thank you for putting into words what I've felt in my heart for almost 50 years.

living with Morgellons is a curse. It is painful and so much more....fallen one, watcher why,,,,, what have I done to you......so far fallen you are....but honestly..your so out of here..got to get back to the garden.. watcher go back to where u are from..c u there Joni...back there...where u belong.

Joni, your lyrics do not compromise. This world cares to little about its philosophers.

Soulful and haunting.

this album to me was a masterpiece.

💚🎶🙏🏾🌼🔌🧠💐✳️❤️

Absolutely agree...

And so here we are, the twilight days of 2017; the year is hardly born. From over twenty years ago these words seem to haunt us and are even more timely today and resonate with the anxieties that I am sure so many of us feel.

I’ve listened to it so many times over the past few years. Nothing touches the sense of cataclysmic recklessness the way Joni does here.

The problem of evil in 7 minutes. Untouchable.

Catterick...!

hellochicago2 And didnt it add to the vibe of the episode?! Class.

Just watched Catterick not thirty minutes ago. 🙂

wonderful wonderful wonderful. Only bettered by the even more chilling version in Travelogue. Check it out if you haven't already.

I have to agree 100% - this is an amazing performance and the fully orchestrated take on Travelogue is one of the greatest moments in modern popular song.

Joan & Wayne... Nuff said...

", , , and look who comes to counsel my deep distress. . . these pompous physicians . . what carelessness. . . "

She always seems to sing what I am feeling in my soul before I even know it, amazing talent and blessing she is

Some of Joni's finest work ever, IMO.

She's one of the finest musicians, ever. A treasure among treasures.

Brilliantly executed. Down to the Middle East tempo of the days of the Old Testament

Spectacularly gorgeous lyrics

For those who aren't bible studiers, this song is based on the story of what happened between God and his faithful servant, Job, which is detailed in the bible's Book of Job (pronounced like Joe with a b on the end.) It's kind of curious that she did this piece of work on the Book of Job because I never saw any other evidence that's she's a bible studying believer. Don't know what to say about that except she did an amazing job of putting the story of Job into really beautiful music.

Joni's suffering is Job's, Job's is the suffering of mankind. Whether we're religious or not, we all suffer trials we struggle to make sense of, that we strive to push past, through the misery, confusion and anger. We'll all fail to overcome that suffering, so then we at least try to make sense of it, to find some meaning in the pain, but so often we never do. That's the true cruelty of this song, the desperate meaninglessness of our helpless torment. At least Job had someone to blame.

Annie Keller she said in a rolling stone interview “no it’s not about me - it straight out of bible”
The Bible has many great stories you don’t need to be a christian to enjoy.
I read fiction all the time so it’s not a stretch 😇

She did the same with her song ‘My Secret Place’ from the album “Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm,” adapting the Song of Songs, brilliantly, of course, as only she can do.

@welshpenguin7 it is absolutely about Job from the bible. What are you smoking???? I'm an atheist but this is painfully obvious!!! Why don't you put aside your hatred for one moment and appreciate the beauty of an ancient biblical folk tale???? Told by a master singer songwriter?

@m NO. Job was a rich man and lost EVERYTHING. He was stricken by disease and had boils all over his skin. That is what the song is about sung beautifully by Joni. I'm not religious but don't twist the narrative to suit your weird warped perspective.

Everything about the song is perfect - the sad, haunting melody, the background bluesy sax, most especially the lyrics, and her guitar work is some of the best ever. Love how she has Job's "friends" speaking in the voice of the background singers. The only thing missing is the end of Job's story where God finally frees him from all his woes and gives him much more than he had at first as a reward for not turning against God during his ordeal. The more I listen to this song, the more I want to listen to it again and again. Thank you, Joni Mitchell, for putting Job's heart cry to brilliant music.

I agree with your post. The central theme to Job's story is in Job 3:25
For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of has befallen me.

A beautiful and brilliant song. 😊🎵🎵🎵

Thankyou ! That is a great analysis of Joni's most complex work

Such a gorgeous song. Makes me cry every time.

Sadly prophetic . Please get well, Joni. You are much admired & loved.

Brilliant!

this condition is sad.

i love when utterly clueless self appointed experts waste my time bitching about musicians and artists. thanks for all the sophomoric analysis and utterly wrongheaded comments (like peter gerstenzang). might want to check the title of the song for the obvious, einstein.  the day i think youtube "journalists" might be able to create anything as good as joni's worst, i might pay attention to their opinion.  since that will probably never happen, i'll file all of it in the appropriate receptacle.

@halfmonk Well said. Peter Gerstenzang's first name is all too appropriate, since the guy's an utter DICK!

It's okay. It's our Joni. Shed your (righteous) anger. I heart this track above most others on Turbulent Indigo, except the title track with the weird Joni time signature, etc. Fuck the haters who don't get it.

right on ,mr. halfmonk! So good to know that there are eloquent people like you. Greetings from The Netherlands

incredible beauty .. love you joni

Beautiful, powerful ~ sorrowful. Amazing.

@Catherine Tammaro It IS beautiful, it is amazing but...it's a downer. :(

Yeah, well, sometimes life's like that.... at least Joni has the major chops to describe it so beautifully! :))

It can be very therapeutic, cathartic too

I find this song so very uplifting, even while or maybe because it's a "downer."

@MrBastilleDay I definitely don't put this song on unless I'm ready to cry :)

"Kings heard my words and they sought out my company....but now, the janitors of Shadowland flick their brooms at me."

Sublime, and in my opinion--at her lyrical prime.

You tireless watcher what have I done to you that you make everything i dread and everything I fear come true

Why crucify the saints ? The book of Job in the Bible is one of the most amazing stories I have ever read !

I could listen to this for eight hours on instant replay and never tire of it (and I have) . thanks you Saint Joan lol 

I'M JEALOUS. I'd be in a rubber room. I get physically exhausted and mentally and emotionally friend when I think about Joni...or even...on many occasions when I play her music. It's not a Bad thing...just "bad" for my silent (unchallenged) self.

peter, you don't get the song, you need to hear the album for context

You honestly think this holds up against her strongest work? The melody is minimal and it's like her interview, self-pitying, angry and why don't you love me anymore?And she keeps saying SHE'S the saint. It's pop music, folks.

@TaylorInsight1
Sometimes profanity is called for, IMO. If it offends your delicate sensibilities, that's your problem, not mine. It's not as if Joni, herself, hasn't used profanity in a few of her songs, btw, so your statement backfires in that regard, as well.

@Peter Gerstenzang that's just it Peter ... she isn't pop .. poet is more like it

@JD Amiss JD, good point. THough, if I may add, without trying to come across as knowing, I have read or rather seen in interviews Mitchell refer to herself as in that select group of literary songwriters, vs. poetic.

She may have been quoting some writer, or paraphrasing...but something about how it (poetry?) is like muddying up the waters, grabbing at what arises, somehow a tad more contrived or trying, maybe, to be clever. 

I am sure I have butchered it, and lost you, and again, not disparaging poetry...but I think she has said, as far as categorizing folks, if you're going to put me anywhere, put me with Bob and Leonard (Cohen), i.e. that literary style.

What I think may truly separate her, apart from that 3 octave voice and 50 plus open tunings and the writing (and that authentic, free spirit) is something that I have no talent whatsoever at, but as a dabbler in writing (and songs, too) I can at least realize--namely that she is a PAINTER first, in her mind. It really lends a uniqueness as to the songwriting.

Best to you.

Yes I do think this is as great as Clouds, Blue, For The Roses, Court And Spark, Hissing Of The Summer Lawns, etc. 😊🎵🎶🎼

I think it IS her strongest work.

1:06 when everything falls in... brilliant Joni... He sees all Joni... all your talent comes from Him.

It's just so Joni, it just kind of chokes me up.  The way she just puts it out there blows me away.  To be able to position the vocals in the ways she does to punctuate the instrumentation...  They seem to just float along together.  Anyone ever try to do that?  It ain't easy!  She doesn't play the music.  She really lets the music play her.

The Easy Edge yep. You nailed it. She's being.....human. Expressive through her music/lyrics.

I know EXACTLY what you are saying. Exactly. Well, pretty exactly, I am not you.

john allore you ARE me. and I AM you. Lol. In that respect JM is saying it to US.

Never heard something so full of emotion ever.

@Fansy Bonez you get it. X

Hauntingly beautiful, Wow the vocals are amazing...

I hear, oh you dial-less watcher...

tireless watcher

Abandoned, the dark night of the soul.

She says everything the heart and mind feels, such a beautiful soul.