My Vietnamese childhood and teenage days: From Vietnamese poetry recitals to Chopin and then Joni Mitchell

 Both sides now, and the circle game.  

Yes, that was part of my teenage days in Saigon, pre-1975.  There was a young, teenage Chinese actress who sang Joni Mitchell's Circle Game to me in a Chinese movie. 

Our house was near a cinema theater named Rap chieu bong Thanh Van, duong Le van Duyet Saigon gan cho Hoa Hung.  

Joni was so down-to-earth and sincere and expressive and meaningful.  She delivered songs of the heart: those beautiful notes and symbolic words, typifying the musical soul of contemporary America in transition: the latter half of the 20th century: the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, assassinations, hippies and beatniks, bell-bottom pants and long-sleeved T-shirts, dancing a gogo, etc. 

Yes, all those did get to a free South Vietnam, pre-1975. There was the countryside burnt with warfare, and divisiveness of the people, but there was also the hope of the middle-class...