Two Grey Rooms
Encyclopedia
"Two Grey Rooms" is an original ballad written and performed by Canadian musician Joni Mitchell
. The song concludes her 1991 album Night Ride Home
and was its final single as well as Mitchell’s final single for Geffen Records
.
Mitchell wrote a wordless vocal melody and instrumental accompaniment for the song in 1982 during her Wild Things Run Fast
sessions. She titled it "Speechless." Lyrical inspiration escaped the songwriter until 1989, when she encountered the story of New German Cinema
director Rainer Werner Fassbinder
, who, amid the repression of Germany’s antigay Paragraph 175
laws, was left broken-hearted by a male lover in his youth.
In a 1996 interview with the Los Angeles Times
, Mitchell says of the song:
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
. The song concludes her 1991 album Night Ride Home
Night Ride Home
Night Ride Home is the fourteenth album by Joni Mitchell, released in 1991. It was the last of four albums she recorded for Geffen Records....
and was its final single as well as Mitchell’s final single for Geffen Records
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
.
Mitchell wrote a wordless vocal melody and instrumental accompaniment for the song in 1982 during her Wild Things Run Fast
Wild Things Run Fast
Wild Things Run Fast is Joni Mitchell's eleventh studio album and her first for Geffen Records. Released in 1982, it represents her departure from jazz to a more 80s pop sound....
sessions. She titled it "Speechless." Lyrical inspiration escaped the songwriter until 1989, when she encountered the story of New German Cinema
New German Cinema
New German cinema is a period in German cinema which lasted from the late 1960s into the 1980s. It saw the emergence of a new generation of directors...
director Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...
, who, amid the repression of Germany’s antigay Paragraph 175
Paragraph 175
Paragraph 175 was a provision of the German Criminal Code from 15 May 1871 to 10 March 1994. It made homosexual acts between males a crime, and in early revisions the provision also criminalized bestiality. All in all, around 140,000 men were convicted under the law.The statute was amended several...
laws, was left broken-hearted by a male lover in his youth.
In a 1996 interview with the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Mitchell says of the song:
It's a story of obsession ... about this German aristocrat who had a lover in his youth that he never got over. He later finds this man working on a dock and notices the path that the man takes every day to and from work. So the aristocrat gives up his fancy digs and moves to these two shabby gray rooms overlooking this street, just to watch this man walk to and from work. That's a song that shows my songs aren't all self-portraits.
Video
A video for "Two Grey Rooms" was shot with Mitchell as the song’s protagonist. With she as the lone actor, and a barren flat overlooking a blighted landscape as the sole setting, the sepia-and-white clip – perhaps an homage to Fassbinder’s occasional style – portrays the crippling ennui of the song’s setting. Lauded by fans, the work remains rarely seen, having been programmed to an elusive adult contemporary audience with only modest rotation. Fan-created video accompaniments to the song routinely appear on youtube.com, but a posting of the official video on that site has been interrupted as of August 2007.Covers and Versions
- Chaka KhanChaka KhanChaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
performed a cover of "Two Grey Rooms" for the 2005 tribute album Joni Mitchell: Songs Chosen By Her Friends and Fellow Musicians on StarbucksStarbucksStarbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
’ Hear MusicHear MusicHear Music, also known as StarCon is the brand name of Starbucks' retail music concept and record label. Hear Music began as a catalog company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1990 before being purchased by Starbucks in 1999.-Concept:...
label. - "Speechless," the wordless vocal and instrumental bed for "Two Grey Rooms," was released as “Two Grey Rooms (Demo Version)” on 2003’s Joni Mitchell: The Complete Geffen Recordings (disc 1, track 12); the same compilation offers a slightly extended recording of the lyric version (4 mins., 14 secs., up from Night Ride HomeNight Ride HomeNight Ride Home is the fourteenth album by Joni Mitchell, released in 1991. It was the last of four albums she recorded for Geffen Records....
's 3 mins., 57 secs.). - Canadian pop-jazz singer Lori CullenLori CullenLori Cullen is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Her style draws on a diverse blend of pop, folk and jazz influences.Cullen's most recent album, That Certain Chartreuse, is an album of covers, featuring songwriters such as Bee Gees, Gordon Lightfoot, Suzanne Vega, King Crimson, Kurt Swinghammer and...
covered the song on her 2006 album Calling for Rain.