by David Yaffe
344“Most of my heroes are monsters”: David Wild, “Q&A: Joni Mitchell,” Rolling Stone, October 15, 1992.
345“I live in British Columbia”: Joni Mitchell, “Interview—Intimate & Interactive,” YouTube video, from MuchMusic, Intimate and Interactive, September 23, 1994.
347“I had a child”: Charles Gandee, “Triumph of the Will,” Vogue, April 1995.
31. SEE YOU AT THE MOVIES
This chapter draws on interviews with Joni Mitchell, Larry Klein, Brian Blade, Wallace Roney, and Vince Mendoza conducted in the years 2013–2015.
354“With Larry Klein sliding around”: Greg Kot, “Rock Review, Joni Mitchell at United Center,” Chicago Tribune, October 26, 1998.
356“I’m interested in your creative process”: Camille Paglia, “The Trailblazer Interview,” Interview Magazine, August 2005.
363“It was quite amazing”: Mark Bego, Joni Mitchell (Latham, MD: Taylor Trade, 2005), 300.
366“I’m quitting after this”: James Reginato, “The Diva’s Last Stand,” W, December 2002.
366“I have this weird, incurable disease”: Matt Diehl, “It’s a Joni Mitchell Concert, Sans Joni,” Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2010.
32. CURTAIN CALL
This chapter draws on interviews with Joni Mitchell conducted in the years 2007 and 2015.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I must begin by thanking Joni Mitchell, for her music, for her impact on my thinking and feeling, for inspiring my writing and my teaching, for instructing me on the human heart and suspended chords and so much more, and for talking to me with such candor and revelation for so many hours, conversations that I will take with me for the rest of my days. We had several interviews in 2007 and several more in 2015, and she revealed more and more of herself every time. I told her once that, long before I met her, she was my teacher. She always will be.
I am very grateful to my agent, Chris Calhoun, my impassioned advocate and dear friend. His rock-solid belief in the book and in me was crucial to making it a reality all the way through.
Deepest gratitude for my editor, Sarah Crichton, for her support of this book, her patience, her vision, and her impeccably high standards. Being locked in with her during the editing process put me against the wall and made me be better than what I thought was my best, over and over again. She gave me an education in the written word that I will take with me as long as I move that blinking cursor across the screen. I owe her everything.
I am also thankful to Kate Sanford and Rob Sternitzky at FSG; John McGhee (copyeditor); Rebecca Caine and Chandra Wohleber (proofreaders); and Robert Guinsler at Sterling Lord Literistic for helping the book at crucial junctures and in essential ways.
To Amy Leal, my magnificent ex-wife, for her beauty and truth. She gave me the deepest love and support when the book was hatched and underway, and she offered her inimitable literary and spiritual wisdom on the pages she read. I am in awe of her devotion to our son, Julian, who I hope will grow up to read these pages and love music.
I am grateful to everyone who read this book in manuscript form and offered their suggestions and improvements. Jaya Chatterjee took exceptional care of the manuscript and its author. I am also deeply grateful to the late Charis Conn, Jamie Malanowski, and especially Veronica Chambers, for her resourcefulness and superb literary instincts. Thank you to the supersmart Julia Mead for her assiduous fact-checking. For writerly advice and assistance and friendship, I thank David Hajdu.
Syracuse University gave me extremely generous time to write when they named me the Dean’s Fellow in the Humanities from fall 2013 through spring 2015. I am especially grateful for the support of Nancy Cantor, Eric Spina, George Langford, Gerry Greenberg, Karin Ruhlandt, Kal Alston, Harvey Teres, Silvio Torres-Saillant, Brooks Haxton, and Ken Frieden. Syracuse has given me academic freedom, which includes teaching students about Joni—a joy beyond measure.
Other friends helped me make it through. I am especially grateful to Jeff Cassvan, John Matteson, Matthew Gasda, Krin Gabbard, Aram Veeser, Keri Walsh, Joe Hooper, Fred Kaufman, Adam Shatz, Ansel Elkins, Severin Garanzuay, Tony Torn, Lee Ann Brown, Nick Mills, Elon Green, Adam Bradley, and Salima Yacoubi-Soussane. Jessica Firger and George Hodgman were very helpful in the beginning. Sheila Weller did a huge favor for me near the end. I am thankful to Idil Mese and everyone else who helps keep my music going. And to Monica Lawty, who introduced me to Joni’s music when I was fifteen, and who is a wonderful source of laughter and being for real.
I am especially grateful to my friend Bob Faggen for appointing me as the Gould Faculty Fellow in the Humanities at Claremont McKenna College, where I taught my first Joni Mitchell class, which included a field trip to Laurel Canyon. Bob also facilitated an unforgettable evening with Leonard Cohen, whose insights I was honored to record for this book.
Les Irvin, webmaster of jonimitchell.com, has been extraordinary in referring me to the right people to get me the information I needed when I needed it. I also talked to Tony Simon many times, and he was also enormously helpful in referring me to Joni’s friends from back home. Larry Klein went above and beyond, and I learned so much from our conversations and exchanges. I am also very grateful for conversations with Sharon Bell Veer, Jeanine Hollingshead, Sharolyn Dickinson, Lorrie Wood, John Uren, Nick Jennings, Murray McLauchlan, Buffy St. Marie, Leonard Cohen, Judy Collins, David Crosby, Dick Cavett, Ron Stone, Russ Kunkel, Annie Ross, Boyd Elder, Joan Baez, Kinky Friedman, Ronee Blakely, Garth Hudson, J. D. Souther, Larry Carlton, Max Bennett, Robben Ford, Chaka Khan, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Mike Gibbs, Peter Erskine, Sy Johnson, Nathan Joseph, Rafi Zabor, Sue Mingus, Donald Fagen, Thomas Dolby, Peter Asher, Greg Leisz, Brian Blade, Vince Mendoza, Wallace Roney, Sue McNamara, Simon Montgomery, Lee Mergner, Sam Stone, and Daniel Levitin.
I am very happy to dedicate this book to my parents, Martin and Connie Yaffe, who supported me in my lifelong quest to discover the music and spread the word. They met in Toronto, where my father played five-string banjo with Ian and Sylvia in the same clubs where Joni got her start a year later. They moved on to another life and raised me. This book is for the part of my father who sang “Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream” and the part of my mother who is still a gypsy dancer.
INDEX
The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your e-book reader’s search tools.
A
A&M Records, 129, 207, 247, 250, 274
Abstract Expressionism, 29
Academy Awards, 4
Acuña, Alejandro, 255
Adams, Bryan, 294, 322, 333, 334
Adderley, David, 78
Adler, Lou, 130
AIDS, 290, 343
Airto, 255
Alberta Ballet, xii, 370–73
Alberta College of Art and Design, 28–30
albums, Mitchell’s: Blue, xi, 4, 41, 128, 129–49, 158, 161, 163, 174, 196, 197, 199, 219, 220, 259, 291, 298, 322, 338, 346, 360, 370; Both Sides Now, 359–66; Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm, 5, 326–32, 335; Clouds, 77, 86–101, 162, 308, 360, 371; Court and Spark, 135, 138, 171–89, 197, 207, 220, 223, 279, 280, 290, 360; Dog Eat Dog, xv, 289, 307–18, 322, 324, 331, 337, 351, 354, 359; Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter, 187, 253–62, 265, 274, 281, 299, 301, 309; For the Roses, 27, 152, 153, 156–64, 167, 171, 173, 174, 194, 359; Hejira, xv, 32, 217, 219–24, 228–42, 245, 279, 281, 299, 301, 309, 329, 344, 348, 351; The Hissing of Summer Lawns, 87, 92, 194–98, 210–17, 229, 234, 255, 280, 291, 300–301, 309; Ladies of the Canyon, 113, 114–21, 122, 262, 360; Miles of Aisles, 187, 190, 193; Mingus, 87, 267–78, 280–83, 299, 309, 330, 339; Night Ride Home, 255, 337, 339–42; Shadows and Light, 232, 282, 308; Shine, xii, 357, 369, 370; Song to a Seagull, 14, 70–81, 90, 98, 188, 244, 338, 360; Taming the Tiger, 351–53; Travelogue, 227, 359, 365; Turbulent Indigo, 336–37, 342–45, 353; Wild Things Run Fast, xvi, 288, 292–302, 307, 309, 330, 365. See also covers, album; specific albums and songs
Alias, Don, xii, 243, 252, 259–60, 284, 349, 364; Mitchell and, 243, 259–60, 270–71, 281, 284–88
Allen, Woody, 109, 169
“All I Want,” 130–31, 133–35, 136, 239, 370
Alpert, Herb, 129
Altman, Robert, 152, 183
Amchitka, 127
“Amelia,” 223, 230, 239–40, 299, 354
American Idol, 362
American Masters documentary, 15, 352
American Way benefit, 350
Amnesty International concert, 309, 322–26, 327, 330, 334, 343
Amsterdam, 167
Andersen, Eric, 237–38
Anderson, Kelly Dale. See Gibb, Kilauren
Anderson, Leroy, 25
Anderson, Myrtle McKee, 3–8, 342; relationship with daughter Joni, 5–8, 17, 20–26, 34, 38, 107, 125, 132, 141, 285, 286, 337, 347, 358
Anderson, Roberta Joan. See Mitchell, Joni
Anderson, William, 3, 5–8, 25, 95, 342; relationship with daughter Joni, 6–8, 20, 25, 26, 34, 107, 125, 285, 347, 358
Annie Hall (movie), 301
antiwar movement, 99–101, 117, 332, 333
AOR, 298
Apple Records, 316
Armatrading, Joan, 129
Armstrong, Louis, 263
Armstrong, Peter, 13
“Arrangement, The,” 115
Ashcombe House, 321
Asher, Peter, 258, 291; as Mitchell’s manager, 258, 291, 305, 316–17
astrology, 10–11, 83, 99, 109, 207, 213
Asylum Records, 152, 163, 181, 283; Mitchell on, 152, 163–64, 187
Atwood, Margaret, 12, 18
B
Bacharach, Burt, 58, 129
Badrena, Manolo, 255
Baez, Joan, 30, 38, 47, 52, 64, 67, 75, 93, 129, 200, 324; “Dida,” 207–208; Dylan and, 80, 200–205; Mitchell and, 38–39, 200, 203–209, 257, 346; on Rolling Thunder Revue tour, 200–209
Baker, Chet, 173
Baldwin, James, 140
“Ballerina Valerie,” 76–77
ballet, xii, xiv, 13, 101, 299; The Fiddle and the Drum, xii, 101, 370–73
Band, The, 67, 90, 202, 222, 244–46, 333; Last Waltz concert, 244–46; Music from Big Pink, 244; “The Shape I’m In,” 246; “Tears of Rage,” 246
Bangles, “Manic Monday,” 291
“Banquet,” 347
“Barangrill,” 193
Bardin, Brantley, 283
Basie, Count, 173, 272
bass, 221–22; fretless, 222, 274; Larry Klein on, 292–94, 321–23, 351, 354, 355; Charles Mingus on, 263; Pastorius on, 221–22, 230, 232–34
BBC, 89, 128, 152, 180, 307
Beach Boys, Pet Sounds, 142
Beatles, 74, 115, 149, 234, 279, 290, 316; “Hey Jude,” 248; Sgt. Pepper, 70, 71, 73, 141; “Tomorrow Never Knows,” 241
“Beat of Black Wings, The,” 331, 332–33, 371
Beats, 226, 267
Beatty, Warren, 60, 165, 166, 168–69; Mitchell and, 168–69, 170, 183
Beck, Jeff, 28, 81
“Be Cool,” 292, 365
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 152–55, 365; Eroica Symphony, 248; Ninth Symphony, 248
Bell, Sharon, 7, 12–13, 17, 20, 23, 32, 33, 235–39, 301
Bellow, Saul, Henderson the Rain King, 44, 51
Bennett, Max, 174–75, 191, 192–93, 212, 217, 222–23, 230, 232
Bergman, Ingmar, 133, 240, 296
Berklee School of Music, 313
Berlin, Irving, “White Christmas,” 136
Berliner, Jay, 142
Berlin Wall, fall of, 333–35
Bernstein, Joel, 160, 228–29
Berosini, Estrella, 116, 118
Berry, Chuck, 9
Beyoncé, 159; Lemonade, 76
Bible, 11, 202, 203, 239, 267, 292, 296–97, 344–45
Big Sur festival, 133
“Big Yellow Taxi,” 3, 4, 9, 41, 76, 114, 115, 119–20, 262, 281, 325; Dylan cover of, 119; environmentalism and, 119–20
Billboard charts, 66, 90, 164, 178, 193
Bishop, Elizabeth, 218
Björk, 159
“Black Crow,” 230, 240–41, 243
black culture, and Mitchell, 207, 209, 231, 256–60, 265, 271–72, 277–78, 284–85, 296, 333, 359
Blade, Brian, 348–53, 365, 369, 371; Mitchell and, 348–54
Blakey, Art, 254
Blakley, Ronee, 152
Bleecker Street, 40, 93–94, 199
Bloomfield, Mike, 47
“Blue,” 139, 143, 145–46, 185
Blue, xi, 4, 41, 128, 129–49, 158, 161, 163, 174, 196, 197, 199, 219, 220, 259, 291, 298, 322, 338, 346, 360, 370; cover art, 130; dulcimer on, 133–34, 135, 147; emotional vulnerability of, 131–44, 148–49; influence of, 140–49; recorded in Studio C, 129–30; reviews, 138–39, 143–44, 148–49; sales, 138, 141; songs, 130–39, 143–48; success of, 138–49. See also specific songs
Blue, David, 207
“Blue Boy,” 115
“Blue Motel Room,” 230, 299
Blue Note, 254, 275, 375
blues music, 176, 231–32, 256
“Boho Dance, The,” xv, 29, 159
Bonnie and Clyde (movie), 168
Bono, 323
“Born to Take the Highway,” 39
“Both Sides, Now,” 4, 32, 44–51, 57, 59, 64, 69, 73, 87, 90, 94, 101, 144, 194, 198, 210, 223, 247, 281, 357, 369; Both Sides Now version, 361–63; Clouds version, 90, 94, 101, 105; Collins cover of, 47–50, 64, 90, 94, 101, 105, 361; repeated trope in, 45; song structure, 45–46; success of, 47–50; tuning, 50–51
Both Sides Now, 359–66; reviews, 366; sales, 366; songs, 359–63; tour, 363–65. See also specific songs
Bowie, David, 4, 200, 282
Brand, Oscar, 39
Brando, Marlon, 109, 133, 141
Bread and Roses festival, 217, 276
Brecht, Bertolt, 38, 308
Brecker, Michael, 221, 281
Breese, Wally, 347
British Columbia, Mitchell in, 150–56, 158, 159, 160, 163, 170, 240, 243, 345, 368
Brown, James, 173, 234, 344
Brown, Ray, 233
Browne, Beatrice, 167
Browne, Ethan Zane, 344
Browne, Jackson, 50, 117, 167–68, 309, 343; “Fountain of Sorrow,” 344; marriage to Phyllis Major, 236–38, 344; Mitchell and, 167–68, 169, 171, 236–38, 343–45; “Not to Blame” and, 343–44
Bruce, Jack, 222
Buddhism, xiv, 54, 99, 131, 147, 275; Mitchell and, 225–28, 236, 241–42, 293, 338–39; Tibetan, 225–26; Zen, 54, 63, 99
Buffalo Springfield, 79, 104
Buggles, “Video Killed the Radio Star,” 290–91
Burden, Annie, 116, 117
Burden, Gary, 117
Burundi drums, 288
Bush, Kate, 321
Byrds, 68, 102
Byron, Don, 366
C
cabaret, 38
“Cactus Tree,” 80–81, 88, 98, 183, 299
Cafe Au Go Go, 40, 57, 93
Calgary, 28–33, 370–73
“California,” 136, 139, 146–47, 342, 343
California, 32, 116, 146–47, 157; Board of Equalization, 288, 305; Laurel Canyon scene, 102–13, 116–18, 136; Mitchell moves to, 70, 73, 102–103
Camus, Albert, 54, 55, 234–35; Notebooks, 1935–1951, 234
Canada, 3–18, 20, 65, 79, 81–83, 89, 95, 98, 107, 116, 150–56, 157, 231, 244, 248, 284–85, 370–73; Gemini Award, 345; Mitchell’s childhood in, 3–18, 19–27, 91, 140–41, 235–36, 341–42, 358, 372; Sunshine Coast, 150–56, 158, 159, 160, 163, 170, 240, 243; Toronto music scene, 33–35, 66–67, 73
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), 19
Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, 3, 12, 284–85
Cannon, Geoffrey, 116
Capote, Truman, 109
“Carey,” 132, 134, 136
Carlton, Larry, 175–76, 181, 184, 191, 197, 230, 240, 303
Carnegie Hall, 106–107, 14
5, 251; Mitchell’s debut at, 106–107, 325; 1972 Mitchell performance, 156–57, 161
“Car on a Hill,” 180–81, 197
Carr, Emily, 152
Carson, Rachel, 119–20; Silent Spring, 119–20
Carter, Jimmy, 268
Carter, Ron, 250, 363
Carter, Ruben “Hurricane,” 198–99, 207, 209
“Case of You, A,” 62–63, 136, 147–48, 160, 172, 292, 304
Cash, Johnny, 138, 343
Castaneda, Carlos, 206; Teachings of Don Juan, 206
Cavett, Dick, 107, 109; Mitchell on TV show of, 107–11
CBS This Morning, 351
Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm, 5, 326–32, 335; songs, 328–32. See also specific songs
Changes magazine, 265
Chapman, Tracy, 294
Charles, Ray, 9, 128
Charlotte Observer, 280
Chelsea Hotel, 93
“Chelsea Morning,” 50, 56, 73, 87, 90, 93–94
Cher, 157, 171
“Cherokee Louise,” 341–42
Chicago, 84, 365
Chicago Tribune, 280, 354, 355
Child ballads, 30, 32
“Chinese Café,” 292, 294, 301–302, 347, 356, 367
Chisholm, Shirley, 157
Chödrön, Pema, 226–27
Christianity, 11, 202, 203, 239, 267, 292, 296–97, 344–46
Christie, Julie, 183
Cicalo, Hank, 130
cigarettes, xii, 158, 208, 214, 289, 295–96, 304–306, 318, 374, 375
“Circle Game, The,” 3–4, 50, 59, 73, 90, 114–15, 144, 262, 302, 357; Ladies of the Canyon version, 114–15, 119, 120
Circus magazine, 191
civil rights movement, 88, 290
Clapton, Eric, xvi, 69, 78, 81, 117, 136, 244
Clash, 244
classical music, 13, 152–55, 177, 238, 248, 249, 275
Cliff, Jimmy, 315; “Vietnam,” 100
Clinton, Chelsea, 94
Clouds, 77, 86–101, 162, 308, 360, 371; cover painting, 86–87; production, 91–93; songs, 90, 93–101. See also specific songs
cocaine, 204, 208, 218–24, 228, 229, 239–42, 282, 303, 316
Coconut Grove, Miami, 68–70, 71, 97
Cohen, Leonard, xiv, 4, 47, 49, 53–63, 72, 74, 86, 93, 96–97, 103, 116, 170, 182, 234, 236, 324; “Bird on the Wire,” 60–61; Buddhism and, 99, 147; “Don’t Go Home with Your Hard-On,” 74; “Joan of Arc,” 59–60; “Master Song,” xiv; Mitchell and, 53–63, 97–98, 143, 145, 147–48, 151, 167, 199, 266, 338–39; at Newport, 52–53, 54; “So Long, Marianne,” 74; Songs of Leonard Cohen, 53, 54, 56, 72; “Suzanne,” 55, 56
