Joni Mitchell, ‘The Hissing of Summer Lawns’ – Depressing Summer Songs

A word of caution from Joni Mitchell to anybody jealous of the one-percenters -- the big house and life of leisure you're dreaming of may lead you to nothing more than a pretty depressing summer.

Mitchell's song, from her 1975 album of the same name, is told from the point of view of a kept woman whose lover has locked her up in a big mansion on a hill where she can only "see the valley barbecues from her window sill." She bides her time checking for weak spots in the compound's barbed wire fence and dreaming of what life goes on beyond her gilded cage.

Hear Joni Mitchell Perform 'The Hissing of Summer Lawns'