Monday’s Muse: Joni Mitchell

“...On stage, however, she is her own woman. Where Joan Baez is the embattled but still charming Joan of Arc of the non-violence crusade, and where Judy Collins is the regal, long-time lady-in-waiting of the folk-pop world, Joni Mitchell is a fresh, incredibly beautiful innocent/experienced girl/woman.

She can charm the applause out of audience by breaking a guitar string, then apologising by singing her next number a cappella, wounded guitar at a limp parade rest. And when she talks, words stumble out of her mouth to form candid little quasi-anecdotes that are completely antithetical to her carefully constructed, contrived songs. But they knock the audience out almost every time. 

In Laurel Canyon, where she shares a newly-purchased house with Graham Nash, Joni sits on an antique sofa and bemusedly shrugs her shoulders. She is talking about an offer from a giant Hollywood film company to write a movie – “on any theme I want to choose” – for a huge amount of money. She is talking about her book of poetry: “The poems are already written. It’s just an eclectic collection of all kinds of things I’ve done that I don’t know what else to do with them. I’m putting them into a book because I don’t like to lose anything.””

She has cheekbones that challenge the height of her fluttering vocals, her writing and compositions are said to have been influenced by the legendary Leonard Cohen, she’s hand-drawn or painted all of her own album covers, and her Canadian style was always bang on. With two straight plaits and compulsory bare feet, composer, singer, guitarist, painter, and poetess from Alberta, Canada Joni Mitchell is my summer muse.

{Excerpt above taken from an interview session between Joni Mitchell and Rolling Stone Magazine, 1969.}