Don Juan's Reckless Daughter Lyrics - Joni Mitchell

I'm Don Juan's reckless daughter 

I came out two days on your tail 

Those two bald-headed days in November 

Before the first snowflakes sail 

Out on the vast and subtle plains of mystery 

A split tongue spirit talks 

Noble as a nickel chief 

Striking up an old juke box 

And he says: 

"Snakes along the railroad tracks." 

He says, "Eagles in jet trails ..." 

He says, "Coils around feathers and talons on scales ... 

Gravel under the belly plates ..." 

He says, "Wind in the Wings ..." 

He says, "Big bird dragging its tail in the dust ... 

Snake kite flying on a string." 

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I come from open prairie 

Given some wisdom and a lot of jive! 

Last night the ghosts of my old ideas 

Reran on channel five 

And it howled so spooky for its eagle soul 

I nearly broke down and cried 

But the split tongue spirit laughed at me 

He says, "Your serpent cannot be denied." 

Our serpents love the whisky bars 

They love the romance of the crime 

But didn't I see a neon sign 

Fester on your hotel blind 

And a country road come off the wall 

And swoop down at the crowd at the bar 

And put me at the top of your danger list 

Just for being so much like you are! 

Photos 

You're a coward against the altitude-- 

You're a coward against the flesh-- 

Coward--caught between yes and no 

Reckless this time on the line for yes, yes, yes! 

Reckless brazen in the play 

Of your changing traffic lights 

Coward--slinking down the hall 

to another restless night 

As we center behind the eight ball 

As we rock between the sheets 

As we siphon the colored language 

Off the farms and the streets 

Here in Good-Old-God-Save-America 

the home of the brave and the free 

We are all hopelessly oppressed cowards 

Of some duality 

Of restless multiplicity 

(Oh say can you see) 

Restless for streets and honky tonks 

Restless for home and routine 

Restless for country-safety-and her 

Restless for the likes of reckless me 

Restless sweeps like fire and rain 

Over virgin wilderness 

It prowls like hookers and thieves 

Through bolt locked tenements 

Behind my bolt locked door 

The eagle and the serpent are at war in me 

The serpent fighting for blind desire 

The eagle for clarity 

What strange prizes these battles bring 

These hectic joys-these weary blues 

Puffed up and strutting when I think I win 

Down and shaken when I think I lose 

There are rivets up here in this eagle 

There are box cars down there on your snake 

And we are twins of spirit 

No matter which route home we take 

Or what we forsake 

We're going to come up to the eyes of clarity 

And we'll go down to the beads of guile 

There is danger and education 

In living out such a reckless life style 

I touched you on the central plains 

It was plane to train my twin 

It was just plane shadow to train shadow 

But to me it was skin to skin 

The spirit talks in spectrums 

He talks to mother earth to father sky 

Self indulgence to self denial 

Man to woman 

Scales to feathers 

You and I 

Eagles in the sky 

You and I 

Snakes in the grass 

You and I 

Crawl and fly 

You and I