A couple of weeks ago, I booked a summer trip to and , two of the four main Balearic islands in Spain. Since then, I have done approximately zero things to prepare for my travels except listen to ’s legendary 1971 album over and over again, specifically the fitting lyrics from her song “California”: “So I bought me a ticket, I caught a plane to Spain, went to a party down a red dirt road / there were lots of pretty people there, reading , reading .” Anyone who knows me can confirm this anecdote to be true.
As a lifelong Joni fan (we’re on a first-name basis here), I never miss an opportunity to soundtrack my life to her songs. But as I was revisiting yet again, in the leadup to both my Spain trip and the album’s 53rd anniversary today (!), I was struck by how much Joni’s travel-inspired lyrics continue to resonate even 53 years later. Maybe especially 53 years later.
Listening to it now, as we’re heading into yet another glorious summer travel season, I can’t help thinking it’s the throwback travel vibe we all need to carry with us over the next few months. Given its name and its blue cover, many people tend to think is a somber album, or a sad breakup album. But while it is indeed filled with raw vulnerability and despair, and it does cover the dissolution of a relationship, it’s also a groundbreaking travel tale at its core, one that documents the singer’s quest to find herself on the road during her tumultuous twenties (it came out when she was 27.