Happy 80th Birthday Joni Mitchell

Friday is fun, because it's about music - with links and playlists and clips to look at. And today we celebrate one of the greats, one of my all-time favourites. One of your favourites too. (I hope).

Happy Birthday Joni Mitchell. I really have no idea what to say - beyond that. I’ve written about Joni Mitchell a lot. Prince, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Billie Holiday, Split Enz, and Joni Mitchell. And not necessarily in that order. Those are my key musical obsessions. (Someone will say Phil Collins too - so I’ll say it! And no shame).

I didn’t grow up listening to Joni Mitchell though, as I did with every other name on that list.

First I was aware of her, I was 13 or 14. No one listened to Joni Mitchell in my house. My mum taught me a lot of cool music stuff, but she didn’t listen to Blue or Court and Spark. (I can thank her for the Billie Holiday and Fleetwood Mac, but not the Joni). My dad was all about The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks, and Bob Dylan. Solid foundation. I doubt he’s ever - knowingly - listened to Joni Mitchell, to this day. My brother’s also a Stones guy. Big time. And loves Split Enz. He’s older, so he brought all sorts of cool/important things home from university for me to devour (John Coltrane and Miles Davis, The Doors and Led Zeppelin) but not Joni Mitchell.

She was one of the talking heads on a Rolling Stone History of Rock’n’Roll doco that I watched on repeat; taped from the TV. I’d study it as if there was a test. Even today, some Thursday nights or Friday mornings, bits and pieces from that doco (it was hosted by Dennis Hopper) still come into frame, giving me ideas…

Joni was on there. And around the same time she was a special guest on the Rogers Waters concert in Berlin celebrating the tearing down of the Wall. So, in fact, the first time I heard Joni sing it was Goodbye Blue Sky, and not one of her own tunes.

It wasn’t until I made it out of the house and down to Wellington for university that I started getting properly into the music of Joni Mitchell. Slowly, at first. I got the two compilations Hits and Misses, one was all the obvious stuff, the other was the deep cuts. I liked that one better. And then I started to collect the records. Tattered copies of Court and Spark and Blue, also Hissing of Summer Lawns - which blew my mind. Of special note, I read somewhere that it was both Prince’s favourite Joni album, and Morrissey’s favourite Joni album. I liked to think about that, their worlds so unconnected otherwise, but bound by that.

Slowly, but surely, I bought them all. And fell deeper and deeper under the spell. I read some bios, watched some docos and concerts, I bought a VHS tape of a 1990s concert she filmed for TV. I still go back and watch it on YouTube. It’s one of my favourite music things to watch. Great setlist. And killer band. It’s so good!

Earlier this year I shared my essay comparing the poetry and poetics of Joni Mitchell (underrated in this area) with Bob Dylan (great, of course, but he gets some sort of free pass). I wanted to make A Case For Her, she being Stardust, golden…The essay was for a university paper. And I passed. But it was easily the most fun, and the hardest I’ve ever worked on anything uni-related.

I’ve also shared with you, a while back, my love of the album Hejira. That’s my favourite Mitchell album, and some days it feels like my favourite album by anyone ever. I used to listen to that album several times a week. I had it on CD and vinyl - and would still stream it on my phone when I was out of the house, walking. It was the perfect soundtrack for everywhere, and all the time.

Then there’s the influence of Joni Mitchell. Towering. It’s all through my record collection. It’s probably all through your record collection too. Right?

If you need a good podcast to listen to there’s Year of The Joni. It’s a really good time. (From a very good set of series’ - Year of Stevie [Wonder] might have been my favourite). To help commemorate Joni’s 80th, the BBC has launched a new podcast/radio show, Legend: The Joni Mitchell Story which is sure to be great. It’s hosted by Jesca Hoop (her own music is worth checking out. I love her work!)
Verbatim is a “From the Archive”-styled dig the BBC is also offering. So check that out as well.

My birthday gift, or commemoration, is this YouTube playlist. I chipped away at making this during the week. It’s 80 clips - from single songs to full concerts, via documentaries, interviews, bootlegs, the very works. It’s some of my favourite Mitchell songs, albums, and performances. And there’s more I could have added - but we don’t need to always hear Big Yellow Taxi…

I’ve scattered a few things from the playlist here too, throughout. To give you a taste.

Of course, the greatest thing - really - is Joni being alive and well for her 80th birthday. She fell ill and it seemed, for a time, that we’d never see her in public again. We must thank Brandi Carlile for the work there. (Brandi Carlile’s memoir is a must read, and her own music is great too - funny thing that, these people going in to bat for Joni; doing their own great work on the side, that’s no doubt been informed by Mitchell’s magnificent prowess).

I’m sure I’ll write more about Joni Mitchell another time. That essay about her poetics had me feeling like I was just getting started; as if that topic could be a masters or PhD topic. Well, why not. I might not have been raised on the music of Joni Mitchell. But ever since I first heard it I’ve not been able to turn it off. Why would you want to? She’s a genius - as bandleader, songwriter, singer, guitarist. One of the very best. A musical giant.

I wish her a very happy 80th birthday (it was a couple of days ago - I’ll never forget when it is now, for my son Oscar shares the day with her!)

Brian Wilson, Bob Dylan and Sir Paul McCartney are all people I thought about when they turned 80. So why not Joni Mitchell too. Why not indeed. She has made as much of an impact on my life. She is sometimes more important than them. And always as important. Music is not a competition. Nor should it be. But I sometimes think - as she bridges gaps from the Dylan-esque/Judy Collins folk world to the Wayne Shorter jazz, making impressions on Morrissey and Prince and Laura Marling and so many others - that she is the very best.

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Now, it’s Friday, so there’s also some non-Joni Mitchell music for you too. There’s a short, sharp version of the weekly playlist. Still with 20 songs, but pared right back, run-time was. A tight one-hour of pop, R&B and rock’n’roll.