Joni Mitchell and Me

I came upon a child of God

He was walking along the road and I

Asked him, Tell me where are you going

And this he told me

He said, I’m going down to Yazgur’s farm

Going to join in a rock and roll band.

Going to get back to the land and try and set my soul free.

We are stardust. We are golden. And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden. - Woodstock

I’m guessing it was around 1974. That year marked the first year of my love affair with the poetry, melodies, and musicality of Joni Mitchell. The album was Court and Spark.

“All the people at this party they’ve got a lot of style. They’ve got stamps of many countries, they’ve got passport smiles, some are friendly, some are cutting, some are watching it from the wings, some are standing in the center giving to get something” – People’s Parties

I’m not alone when I say that Joni tapped into deeper waters. She let us into her life and she shared her most delicate and complex emotions. Singer/Songwriters hadn’t really gone that autobiographical before; no one was offering that clear of a window. She spoke to me. She could describe her emotions so articulately that you could almost smell them. I listened to a lot of other bands and acts...but when I wanted to create a backdrop for introspection I went to Joni Mitchell. Her specific focus was usually not mine (as I was a 14 year old boy) but it didn’t really matter. She painted such an amazing picture that I couldn’t help but listen, and care. The colors were too attractive to walk away from.

Joni wasn’t singing songs about a "Tequila Sunrise”. She was all business. There was very little room for anything frivolous. Her poetry was never frivolous. She wrote poems and put them to music….at least that is how it all sounded to me.

"There's a man who sends her medals
He is bleeding from the war
There's a jouster and a jester and a man who owns a store
There's a drummer and a dreamer
And you know there may be more
She will love them when she sees them
They will lose her if they follow
And she only means to please them
And her heart is full and hollow
Like a cactus tree
While she's so busy being free" - Cactus Tree

There are many musical expressions in the world…some make you want to dance, some make you want to cry, and so on. Joni’s music always made me want to think…to look out at the horizon, or the clouds. Her music compelled me to process my life more completely, or maybe she just created the perfect backdrop for my solitude. I listened to her in empty cars, while driving. I always played her when I headed north on the 101, on my way to San Luis Obispo and beyond. That stretch of highway will always be Joni terrain for me.

There were many sublime songs, but none stopped me in my tracks like “Amelia” from the 1976 album, “Hejira”. I had never heard anything quite like it before, or since. Her guitar tuning, and strumming style was breathtaking. The poetry was absolute. It’s quite possibly the most significant song of my life. It’s my “To Kill a Mockingbird”. It’s my “Rushmore”.

"I was driving across the burning desert

When I spotted six jet planes

Leaving six white vapor trails across the bleak terrain

It was the hexagram of the heavens

it was the strings of my guitar

Amelia, it was just a false alarm

A ghost of aviation

She was swallowed by the sky

Or by the sea, like me she had a dream to fly

Like Icarus ascending

On beautiful foolish arms

Amelia, it was just a false alarm" - Amelia

Joni has left a huge footprint on American culture. She has been a huge gift in my life. It’s not likely to fade anytime soon. She is the gold standard for the authenticity of the singer/songwriter. She is 100% real--what you see from her is true, unadulterated Art and not an attempt to please anyone; it just worked out that way. She doesn’t bowl you over with her celebrity the way Ariana, Beyonce, and Lady Gaga can…she blows you away with her depth, her transparency, and maybe even her independence. She’s not trying to keep up with anyone. Make no mistake....all these female stars know all too well what Joni is all about. They know the path she has forged.

What a strange, strange boy
He still lives with his family
Even the war and the navy
Couldn't bring him to maturity
He keeps referring back to school days
And clinging to his child
Fidgeting and bullied
His crazy wisdom holding onto something wild
He asked me to be patient
Well I failed
"Grow up!" I cried
And as, the smoke was clearing he said
"Give me one good reason why!

A thousand glass eyes were staring
In a cellar full of antique dolls
I found an old piano
And sweet chords rose up in waxed New England halls
While the boarders were snoring
Under crisp white sheets of curfew
We were newly lovers then
We were fire in the stiff-blue-haired-house-rules

- Strange Boy