"Trouble Child" by Joni Mitchell
- kathayes999
- Dec 14, 2021
- 6 min read
Give this song a listen before reading my analysis:
Lyrical Analysis
In an interview shortly following the release of this album, Joni mentions her struggle with depression and her experience seeing a psychiatrist with unsatisfying results. It is pretty fitting then that the lyrics of “Trouble Child” seem to describe a stay in a psychiatric hospital or a detention center. There is language like "sterilized room" and "trouble child" that evoke images of psychiatric intervention as well of themes of passive suicidality, losing connection with oneself and others, and dehumanization. Here are the full lyrics with evidence for a psychiatric setting bolded:
Up in a sterilized room Where they let you be lazy Knowing your attitude's all wrong And you got to change And that's not easy Dragon shining with all values known Dazzling you, keeping you from your own Where is the lion in you To defy him when you're this weak And this spacey <-- this state could be induced by psychiatric meds So what are you going to do about it You can't live life and you can't leave it <-- dissatisfaction with life Advice and religion, you can't take it You can't seem to believe it The peacock is afraid to parade You're under the thumb of the maid You really can't give love in this condition <-- mental health in the way of connection Still you know how you need it They open and close you <-- can be referring to psychiatrists Then they talk like they know you They don't know you They're friends and they're foes too Trouble child Breaking like the waves at Malibu So why does it come as such a shock To know you really have no one Only a river of changing faces Looking for an ocean They trickle through your leaky plans Another dream over the dam And you're lying in some room Feeling like your right to be human Is going over too <-- detention facilities can be dehumanizing
Well, some are gonna knock you And some'll try and clock you You know it's really hard to talk sense to you Trouble child Breaking like the waves at Malibu
In his review of Court and Spark, Rolling Stones reporter Jon Landau suggests that the final lines of the chorus represent the “breaking of another’s spirit:” “You know it’s really hard to talk sense to you / Trouble child / Breaking like the waves at Malibu.”
What about the narrative pronouns? The song stays in second-person covert for the entire time. What is interesting about the choice to use second-person covert is that the situation described is very specific for a random hypothetical person. There is also intimate personal beliefs discussed that can be interpreted as the speaker’s beliefs. For these reasons, I think it is possible that the subject “you” is actually the speaker talking to themself. The following lines of the fourth stanza are a good example of information too personal and specific to be directed at a hypothetical person:
So why does it come as such a shock To know you really have no one Only a river of changing faces Looking for an ocean They trickle through your leaky plans Another dream over the dam
The song also seems to criticize psychiatric intervention. There is very little positive language regarding the environment the speaker is in. It is implied that there is a lot of idle time with these lines:
Up in a sterilized room Where they let you be lazy
And you're lying in some room Feeling like your right to be human Is going over too
It is also implied that the speaker has a difficult time trusting the professionals who counsel them:
They open and close you Then they talk like they know you They don't know you They're friends and they're foes too
"Trouble Child" paints a picture of a speaker hurting and lacking direction in an environment that does not seem to be helping their mental state.
Formal Analysis
Check out this detailed transcription of “Trouble Child.” This helped me greatly in figuring out the meter and hypermeter of the song.
Although the lyrics are accurate, I disagree with my lyrics source on the form of the song. Instead of all verses, I think there are two choruses due to a change in energy and timbre. There is a change in energy and timbre in the second half of each verse, too, that makes me think the verses could actually be split into verses and pre-choruses, but the energy drops back down with a return to the gritty electric guitar motif that establishes the mood of the first half of the verse. The fun of this song is that the form is unclear, which is likely why my source for lyrics and I have different opinions on what it is. Here is what I think is the rough form of the song:
4 bar intro
Verse 1 + instrumental interlude (18 bars)
Up in a sterilized room Where they let you be lazy Knowing your attitude's all wrong And you got to change And that's not easy Dragon shining with all values known Dazzling you, keeping you from your own Where is the lion in you To defy him when you're this weak And this spacey
Verse 2 (16 bars)
So what are you going to do about it You can't live life and you can't leave it Advice and religion, you can't take it You can't seem to believe it The peacock is afraid to parade You're under the thumb of the maid You really can't give love in this condition Still you know how you need it
Chorus 1 (12 bars)
They open and close you Then they talk like they know you They don't know you They're friends and they're foes too Trouble child Breaking like the waves at Malibu
4 bar interlude nearly identical to the intro
Verse 3 (16 bars)
So why does it come as such a shock To know you really have no one Only a river of changing faces Looking for an ocean They trickle through your leaky plans Another dream over the dam And you're lying in some room Feeling like your right to be human Is going over too
Chorus 2 (12 bars)
Well, some are gonna knock you And some'll try and clock you You know it's really hard to talk sense to you Trouble child Breaking like the waves at Malibu
Instrumental outro nearly identical to the intro (4 bars)
1 bar muted trumpet solo
Transition into “Twisted,” the next song on the album
It's tricky to say where the verse ends and the interlude begins. They sort of overlap, with the instrumental interlude starting 2 bars from the end of the verse (around 0:51 in the video). It is reasonable to say that the verse is 16 bars followed by a two-bar interlude but because the riff starts and makes a four-bar phrase, I find it makes more sense to say that it starts 2 bars from the end of the verse.
Up in a sterilized room Where they let you be lazy Knowing your attitude's all wrong And you got to change And that's not easy Dragon shining with all values known Dazzling you, keeping you from your own Where is the lion in you To defy him when you're this weak And this spacey <-- guitar riff starts here
There is quite a bit of hypermetric disruption in this song. First, the 4-bar intro alternates between ¾ and 4/4. This figure happens again after chorus and after chorus 2. Then, there are brief instrumental transitions between verses that disrupt and confuse the flow of the song. This song is also joined attacca with “Twisted,” making the end of the song unclear.
What is the point of the form being so loose and tangential? The speaker of the song seems to be living in a haze, suffering from the lack of direction and loneliness of their environment. The form of the song reflects the speaker’s struggle, creating a sort of haze itself.
Timbre Analysis
The timbre of this song has interesting connections to the lyrics that influence the song’s meaning.
The song opens with a low, gritty riff on the electric guitar. This riff recurs whenever the speaker of the song mentions something related to their poor mental state and perspective. Here are the full lyrics with the words where the guitar riff starts bolded:
Up in a sterilized room Where they let you be lazy Knowing your attitude's all wrong And you got to change And that's not easy Dragon shining with all values known Dazzling you, keeping you from your own Where is the lion in you To defy him when you're this weak And this spacey So what are you going to do about it You can't live life and you can't leave it Advice and religion, you can't take it You can't seem to believe it The peacock is afraid to parade You're under the thumb of the maid You really can't give love in this condition Still you know how you need it They open and close you Then they talk like they know you They don't know you They're friends and they're foes too Trouble child Breaking like the waves at Malibu So why does it come as such a shock To know you really have no one Only a river of changing faces Looking for an ocean They trickle through your leaky plans Another dream over the dam And you're lying in some room Feeling like your right to be human Is going over too
Well, some are gonna knock you And some'll try and clock you You know it's really hard to talk sense to you Trouble child Breaking like the waves at Malibu
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