Mitchell, Joni - The Three Great Stimulants Lyrics






I picked the morning paper off the floor
It was full of other people's little wars
Wouldn't they like their peace
Don't we get bored
And we call for the three great stimulants
Of the exhausted ones
Artifice, brutality and innocence
Artifice and innocence
No tanks have ever rumbled through these streets
and the drone of planes at night has never frightened me
I keep the hours and the company that I please
And we call for the three great stimulants
Of the exhausted ones
Artifice, brutality and innocence
Artifice and innocence
Oh and deep in the night
Our appetites find us
Release us and bind us
Deep in the night
While madmen sit up building bombs
And making laws and bars
They'd like to slam free choice behind us
I saw a little lawyer on the tube
He said, "It's so easy now, anyone can sue."
"Let me show you how your petty aggravations can profit you!"
Call for the three great stimulants
Of the exhausted ones
Artifice, brutality and innocence
Artifice and innocence
Oh and deep in the night
Appetites find us
Release us and blind us
Deep in the night
While madmen sit up building bombs
And making laws and bars
They're gonna slam free choice behind us
Last night I dreamed I saw the planet flicker
Great forests fell like buffalo
Everything got sicker
And to the bitter end
Big business bickered
And they call for the three great stimulants
Of the exhausted ones
Artifice, brutality and innocence
Artifice and innocence
Oh these times, these times
Oh these changing times
Change in the heart of all mankind
Oh these troubled times





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Mitchell, Joni The Three Great Stimulants Comments
  1. d.... m....

    I picked the morning paper off the floor
    It was full of other people's little wars
    Wouldn't they like their peace
    Don't we get bored
    And we call for the three great stimulants
    Of the exhausted ones
    Artifice, brutality and innocence
    Artifice and innocence
    No tanks have ever rumbled through these streets
    and the drone of planes at night has never frightened me
    I keep the hours and the company that I please
    And we call for the three great stimulants
    Of the exhausted ones
    Artifice, brutality and innocence
    Artifice and innocence
    Oh and deep in the night
    Our appetites find us
    Release us and bind us
    Deep in the night
    While madmen sit up building bombs
    And making laws and bars
    They'd like to slam free choice behind us
    I saw a little lawyer on the tube
    He said, "It's so easy now, anyone can sue."
    "Let me show you how your petty aggravations can profit you!"
    Call for the three great stimulants
    Of the exhausted ones
    Artifice, brutality and innocence
    Artifice and innocence
    Oh and deep in the night
    Appetites find us
    Release us and blind us
    Deep in the night
    While madmen sit up building bombs
    And making laws and bars
    They're gonna slam free choice behind us
    Last night I dreamed I saw the planet flicker
    Great forests fell like buffalo
    Everything got sicker
    And to the bitter end
    Big business bickered
    And they call for the three great stimulants
    Of the exhausted ones
    Artifice, brutality and innocence
    Artifice and innocence
    Oh these times, these times
    Oh these changing times
    Change in the heart of all mankind
    Oh these troubled times
    Source: LyricFind

  2. S.... N....

    The industry nothinged Joni. They took down everything she put up. Why would she not nothing them back?

  3. n.... w....

    The fretless bass work on this song , Ethiopia and much of the album was a great addition and colors the songs very well

  4. s.... ....

    Oh these troubled times

  5. c.... r....

    I totally forgot about well not totally forgot as right now Joni's song's state what exactly is going on in the U.S. i.e. "Dog eat Dog" and this song as well......................Man she is beyond her time......Thank's Joni...

  6. T.... D....

    She didn't predict anything ............ it's just, nothing has changed....... :(

  7. J.... H....

    She's calling out Trump in this song

    J.... H....

    Jimmy Haun — this song from the 80s? lol...

    J.... H....

    more correctly, she's calling out men LIKE Trump! which unfortunately there are many of and have always been

  8. k.... ....

    what does she mean?

    k.... ....

    listen poetically

    k.... ....

    Watch CNN for 10 minutes.. their whole narrative in 3 words.

    k.... ....

    I didn't fully "get it" til Trump arrived on the political scene. Here's an apt example of his & the right's historic Three Great Stimulants;


    Artifice: Mexico doesn't send its best; they're rapists & murderers.
    Brutality: Separating families, putting kids in cages.

    Innocence: Acting like their brutality is in the name of some righteous cause (keeping America safe).

  9. T.... T....

    Is there really a “bad” Joni album? I don’t think so. Critics can say what they want but Dog Eat Dog was one of her best. They also claimed that The Hissing of Summer Lawns wasn’t good but it’s perhaps my favorite album of hers. But I have yet to hear a bad Joni album. 💕

    T.... T....

    I like pretty much all of her stuff.... except this one. In this album, she was a bit too preachy and aggressive with sharing and trying to win over others to her opinion.

  10. r.... c....

    i love this song and album, i was shocked when i a saw how underrated it is. Joni is a legend.

  11. A.... ....

    What are the 3 great stimulants? I’d assume cocaine to be one..

    A.... ....

    AnonsCrossfader she says it right in the song: brutality artifice and innocence

  12. s.... ....

    Oh these changing times...

  13. G.... C....

    her last great record

    pure, sweet love

    G.... C....

    Have you heard Night Ride Home?

    G.... C....

    @modifiedcontent Or Turbulent Indigo or Taming the Tiger?

  14. L.... L....

    Incredible song!

  15. J.... W....

    The picture of the wrecked car on the album cover is telling. About this time, she & Larry were involved in a head-on accident with a DUI on 101. She says they would have been killed had they been riding in a small car. From a Musician Magazine interview in about '85...

  16. 3.... ....

    It's as if she could see 30 years into the future. What vision.

  17. d.... b....

    Now it would be "4 great stimulants....you'd have to include victimhood. So many people are addicted to it.

    d.... b....

    +jake b it'd be innocence (stupidity)

  18. D.... A....

    Great songs, terrible 1980s studio production.

    D.... A....

    that is very much a matter of taste, sir! I think the production is great!

    D.... A....

    I disagree. It's perfect.

    D.... A....

    Please enlighten us all with one or 2 examples of "terrible 1980's studio production"?

  19. r.... ....

    From her best album in my opinion - Dog Eat Dog.
    For the Roses in second place.
    Court & Spark a close third......I can keep going cause I have them all......

    r.... ....

    ronster369 1)Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter 2)The Hissing of Summer Lawns 3) Wild Things Run Fast 4)Hejira

  20. c.... ....

    By far one of the best Joni albums of her career. Totally underrated. It's highly prophetic.

    c.... ....

    I just heard this waking up this morning at 4:45 pm. Highly prophetic indeed! I never bought this album in the day, despite her being one of my very favorites....Suppose it was too much of a change for me or I'd already lost track of her...... Going to listen to it now.now( It Was underrated...)

  21. E.... H....

    The Three Great Stimulants

  22. p.... ....

    yes very creative but the early digital studios had some limits overall  as is shown by the early tracking on drums , still good messages come through

  23. p.... ....

    thanks for the post yes  iremember this one  ,uncovering the american path and modernist presciptions will listen for first times in 20  years or so

  24. R.... P....

    For me one of the best albums ever

    R.... P....

    Same here!

  25. u.... ....

    This album is not regarded as one of Mitchell's best.  Could anything be more inane?  "Dog Eat Dog" and "Chalkmark in a Rainstorm" are as good as "Blue" or "Hejira." 

    u.... ....

    What about "impossible dreamer"? That vision of a pure heart in the midst of a brutal world always gives me pause. All the unfulfilled idealists. 

    u.... ....

    @Noe Berengena Joni's best song about romantic disillusionment was "The Last Time I Saw Richard." But I was referring to the whole albums of "Hejira" and "Blue," not just two songs. (And I do like "Impossible Dreamer.")

  26. 4.... ....

    Sheer genius on both this song and the whole album. 

  27. D.... a....

    brilliant album.

  28. R.... W....

    EPIC!!! x