Hejira (song)

Hejira is the title track from Joni Mitchell's 1976 album. It is the 5th track on the album (the last song on Side One of the original vinyl LP), and the 2nd of 4 tracks on Hejira which fretless bassist Jaco Pastorius plays on.

The track itself feature a distinctive open tuning, B-F#-C#-E-F#-B, which allows Joni to play her distinctive "Weird Chords" and distinctive fingerpicking pattern.

Trivia

The song title is also the title of a chapter from David Sedaris' book, "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim." An excerpt from the book in which he explicitly mentions Joni Mitchell within the first paragraph of the chapter: "After six months spent waking at noon, getting high, and listening to the same Joni Mitchell record over and over again, I was called by my father into his den and told to get out." Then again on the second page of the chapter, here: "My sister Lisa had an apartment over by the university and said that I could come stay with her as long as I didn't bring bring my Joni Mitchell record." The chapter is decidedly melancholy much like the song itself.