Chelsea Morning

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“Chelsea Morning”
Single by Judy Collins
Released	1969
Format	7" 45 rpm
Genre	Folk rock
Writer(s)	Joni Mitchell

"Chelsea Morning" is a song written by Joni Mitchell that was released as a single by Judy Collins in 1969. Mitchell's recording appears on her album Clouds, from the same year.

"Chelsea Morning" was actually written before the release of her first album, but was not recorded by Mitchell until Clouds, partly because it had already been released by other artists.

The song was inspired by her room in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. The inspiration for the first verse comes partly from the distinct décor of her apartment. While in Philadelphia, Mitchell and friends had made a mobile from shards of colored glass they had found in the street and wire coat hangers, which filtered the light coming into her room through the window and created the "rainbow on the wall". ^[1]

During coffeehouse performances of this song in the late 1960s, Mitchell explained that the famous stained glass was rescued from the salvaged windows of a demolished home for unwed mothers.

The lyrics of this song demonstrate Mitchell's talent with imagery, and her strong use of visual inspiration which come from her background in visual art. "The sun poured in like butterscotch and stuck to all my senses."

British folk-rock group Fairport Convention released the song on their eponymous debut album in June 1968.

Neil Diamond also covered the song, as did the Sergio Mendes group, Brasil '66, and others. The song is also part of the the soundtrack for the movie After Hours.

Bill and Hillary Clinton have stated that their daughter Chelsea is named for the Judy Collins version of the song; she now lives in the Chelsea neighborhood in New York.

[edit] References

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