LIBRARY: Articles      A Conversation with Joni Mitchell   Print
by Jody Denberg September 9, 1998  Q "Harlem in Havana" is the
opening song of your first album of new material in four years,
which is "Taming the Tiger." Joni, "Harlem in Havana" sounds
like -- it sounds like an invitation to a big party.  A It does,
yeah, in a certain way. What -- it is an attempt to recreate the
sound at the end of a mile-long midway. There was a midway that
came up from Florida and played in my hometown every summer. And
at the very end of it was the double Ferris wheel, Club Lido was
along the side, Dancing Waters, the Caterpillar, the Motorcycle
-- Cyclotron or whatever it was -- all of these things with
their own generators. So there was a tremendous cacophony. And
the one place that we were all forbidden -- any kid that I knew
anyway -- we were forbidden to stop in front of Harlem in
Havana. Our parents said, "Don't let me catch you there." All it
was was black burlesque. And every hour on the hour, the band
would come