Shine on good will
Let your little light shine
Welcome to new subscribers and regular readers! Thank you for joining me for today’s song from 2007, “Shine” by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. If you’d like to hear the song before you read about it, I’ve included a YouTube video below the article. Below, you’ll find my interpretation of some of the lyrics which are written in italics.
✳️ Note: The level of this article is for students with a TOEIC of 550+, Eiken Pre-1, CEFR B2. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below.
(684 words)
Joni Mitchell wrote this song in 2007. Problems with economic inequality, environmental destruction, school shootings, and the The Iraq War were ongoing.
The lyrics in Shine talk about both the good and bad things we face in life. They are based on a song that is taught to children in school in church, This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. It means the child will let her or his “light” (or goodness) shine even when times are difficult.
Oh, let your little light shine
Let your little light shine
Some of the problems mentioned are greed from big companies, hurting the environment, and unfair leaders.
Shine on Vegas and Wall Street, place your bets
Shine on all the fishermen with nothing in their nets
Shine on rising oceans and evaporating seas
Shine on our Frankenstein technologies
Shine on science with its tunnel vision
Shine on fertile farmland buried under subdivisions
Oh, let your little light shine
Oh, let your little light shine
And yet, we continue our daily lives as usual:
Shine on the dazzling darkness that restores us in deep sleep
Shine on what we throw away and what we keep
The song talks about Reverend Carlton Pearson, a Christian who did not believe that there was a hell you could be sent to forever:
Shine on Reverend Pearson who threw away the vain old God
(He) Kept (Charles) Dickens and Rembrandt and Beethoven and fresh-plowed sod
Shine on good earth, good air, good water and a safe place for kids to play
Shine on bombs exploding half a mile away (perhaps to stop them)
Most of us have experienced a traffic jam. Drivers can become very frustrated. Some get angry if another driver does something wrong. We might shout at them or call them a bad name (asshole). Some people don’t stop at a red light because they are looking at their cell phones. The song says, “shine” on them, too.
Shine on world-wide traffic jams honking day and night
Shine on another asshole passing on the right
Shine on the red light runners busy talking on their cell phones
The song also points out how some religious people act, not always in a kind way. For example, it talks about the Catholic Church and other churches not showing enough love. A “prison” can be the teachings that tell people they are sinners and will not go to heaven unless they behave a certain way.
Shine on the Catholic Church and the prisons that it owns
Shine on all the churches, they all love less and less
There are good things that happen as well. For example, we are happy and grateful when we see our friends or family succeed. We enjoy laughter and helping one another (good will).
Shine on a hopeful girl in a dreamy dress
…
Shine on good humor, shine on good will
But there are problems with leaders of countries to send their soldiers to war:
Shine on lousy leadership licensed to kill
Shine on dying soldiers in patriotic pain
The next line mentions violence done in the name of a god, whether it is fighters defending their homeland or an attacking force that says god is on their side.
Shine on mass destruction in some god's name
The next lines may be talking about people who choose a different path. In order to stay healthy in mind, they try to heal themselves by not giving in to society’s demands and by trying to live true to themselves.
Shine on the pioneers, those seekers of mental health
Craving simplicity, they traveled inward past themselves
May all their little lights shine
Charles Donovan wrote a review of this song (1). He wrote, “It asks for a clarifying, holy light to descend on every injustice and outrage, presumably in the hope that, once illuminated, they can be ended.”
In other words, the song is asking for a light to shine on all of the problems we are facing and, hopefully, heal them.
Shine could be as simple as taking care of your neighbor when times are hard.
Question
The form of the verb “shine” is in the imperative tense. It’s like giving someone an order, for example, “Stand up!”, “Listen!” “Shine!” Who do you think is the subject of the verb?
Vocabulary
greed 貪欲
evaporate 蒸発する
tunnel vision 極端に視野が狭いこと
fertile 肥沃な
buried 埋もれた
subdivisions 住宅地
dazzling まばゆい
vain 虚栄心
fresh-plowed sod 耕したての芝
traffic jams 交通渋滞
honking クラクションを鳴らす
asshole ろくでなし
grateful 感謝する
lousy ひどい
mass destruction 大量破壊
crave 切望する
clarifying 明らかにする
descend 降りる
injustice 不正
outrage 憤慨
presumably おそらく
illuminated 光りに照らされた
imperative tense 命令形
Sources
Donovan, C., & Mitchell, J. (2022, November 15). Joni Mitchell’s “Shine” is more timely and apt than ever. PopMatters. https://www.popmatters.com/joni-mitchell-shine-review: Accessed 10 January 2025.
Gabriel, T. (2023, November 21). Carlton Pearson, pastor deemed a heretic for denying hell, dies at 70. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/21/us/carlton-pearson-dead.html Accessed 10 January 2025.
The ongoing history of protest music. (2023, November 7). https://www.ongoinghistoryofprotestsongs.com/2023/11/07/ten-joni-mitchell-protest-songs/ Accessed 10 January 2025.
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World Central Kitchen (provides food to disaster areas around the world) https://wck.org/donate
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