"Both Sides, Now" | ||||
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Song by Joni Mitchell from the album Clouds | ||||
Released | 1967 | |||
Studio | A&M, Hollywood, California | |||
Genre | Folk rock | |||
Length | 4:32 | |||
Label | Reprise | |||
Writer(s) | Joni Mitchell | |||
Producer(s) | Joni Mitchell, Paul A. Rothchild | |||
Clouds track listing | ||||
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"Both Sides Now" | ||||||||||||||
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Single by Judy Collins | ||||||||||||||
from the album Wildflowers | ||||||||||||||
B-side | Who Knows Where the Time Goes | |||||||||||||
Released | 1968 | |||||||||||||
Format | 7-inch single | |||||||||||||
Genre | Folk, baroque pop | |||||||||||||
Length | 3:14 | |||||||||||||
Label | Elektra (EK-45639) | |||||||||||||
Writer(s) | Joni Mitchell | |||||||||||||
Producer(s) | Mark Abramson | |||||||||||||
Judy Collins singles chronology | ||||||||||||||
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"Both Sides, Now" is a song by Joni Mitchell, and one of her best-known songs. First recorded by Judy Collins in 1967, it subsequently appeared on Mitchell's 1969 album Clouds. She re-recorded the song in a lusher, orchestrated version for her 2000 album Both Sides Now; this version was subsequently featured on the soundtrack to the 2003 film Love Actually and was performed by Sara Bareilles during the 89th Academy Awards' In Memoriam homage.
Mitchell wrote "Both Sides, Now" in March 1967, inspired by a passage in Henderson the Rain King, a 1959 novel by Saul Bellow.
"Both Sides, Now" is written in F-sharp major. Mitchell used a guitar tuning of E–B–E–G♯–B–E with a capo at the second fret. The song uses a modified I–IV–V chord progression.
In April 2000 Mitchell sang the song with a 70-piece orchestra at the end of an all-star celebration for her at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. The version was featured on the soundtrack of the movie Love Actually.
Judy Collins recorded the first commercially released version of the song, shortly after Mitchell wrote it, for her 1967 Wildflowers album. In October 1968 it was released as a single, reaching #8 on the U.S. pop singles charts by December. It reached #6 in Canada. In early 1969 it won a Grammy Award for Best Folk Performance. The record peaked at #3 on Billboard's Easy Listening survey and "Both Sides, Now" has become one of Collins' signature songs.