Canadian singing and songwriting legend Joni Mitchell is as expressive in person as she is in the texts of her songs. Here are a few of the Los Angeles-based artist's observations, culled from her recent interview with the Herald:
On being Joni Mitchell, a recording artist who explores new territory with each of her albums:
"People always resist the changes I go through. Every time you change, you lose part of your following, and hopefully gain a new one - although I do have a loyal audience that has been along for the whole ride."
"I just ignored the 'dog race' (especially during the latter part of her career, Mitchell says). I didn't have a lot of hits. I stayed nicely underground. Once you get to make a hit, then the pressure's on you to make another one.
"I didn't try to make hits, I tried to make albums, which I saw as a form like opera or a symphony. And it took that much time and energy to make a good one (album)."
On why she is considered a recluse:
"How many times do they say I'm a recluse? I eat my meals in public every day. Where do they get this? Is it because they're lazy, or have no integrity? They don't do anything to check on facts."
"That's not hard - I'm a smoker. I mean, how many places can you smoke? That eliminates a lot."
On the press:
"You can be 99.9 per cent assured that contemporary journalism has dropped into the bucket. It's stupid and dumbed-down, like everything else.
"In the last 10 years, I didn't listen to anybody's music, so that became the favourite sport - asking some casual questions and then getting you to diss on somebody."
On being labelled a 'folk singer:'
"It's ridiculous to call me a folk singer. I'm a composer. What do I have to do to change this? They want to pigeonhole me and they can't, so they do anyway - 'folk singer.' I haven't been a folk singer since 1965. That's when I stopped singing 'folk songs.'"
On critics:
"I'm very disappointed at the stupid criticism levied against my later work. They still look at the numbers. It used to be Court and Spark (1974) that was the greatest thing I ever did. Then Blue (1971) over time outstripped the numbers, and tthat became the greatest thing I ever did. The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975) was completely dumped on. There was a lot of musical innovation on that one, but it was too jazzy for them - I had stepped outside my orthodoxy there.
"With Hejira (1976), the writing went up another leg - it stood alone on the printed page. They dumped on that. Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (1977) - they dumped on that.
"Then along came the Mingus (1979) album which, as I was warned by my manager, would lose me FM airplay. I would be 'excommunicated.'
"I thought, 'That's impossible.' Turned out, they were right. It never got on the airwaves again.
"But I would do it again in a minute for the education of stepping deeply into jazz. That's when my friendship with Herbie (Hancock) began. And I made my best friends in that camp."
On her post-Impressionist painting style, a la Van Gogh and Gauguin:
"I wasn't really ambitious for them (her paintings) I knew it was retro. I know it's the kind of painting people like, but it's nothing to enter the art world with. They'd make mincemeat out of me for it.
"I did have a couple of shows, but they were only exhibitions. And when the press asked me about the paintings, I said I'd painted them to go with my couch.
"(My painting) is not going to set the art world on its ear, but I don't care. I don't want to get into that."
On American Idol:
"It's ridiculous. Basically, it's karaoke."
"In my parents' generation, if you were going to sing, you knew it. There were so many great new talents. In my own generation there weren't as many, although people refer to our time as the 'golden age of music.' I think that's absurd.
"Sophistication went out the window in my generation. It became a bad word. 'Funky' came in."
On whether people today actually get the message in her songs:
"Do I feel like I've influenced culture? Or even made a dint in it?
"No. I mean, it's sort of escalating towards disaster. You hope the pen is as mighty as the sword, and can effect change. But you don't even know sometimes if the change you effect will be nothing like what your intentions were.
"You just never know what the consequences are going to be, and that always makes me intimidated to step in."
On the fundamental challenge facing us all:
"The trouble with the human animal is you can't find a universal truth that unites us all. We always end up dividing.
"You'd think you could find some uniting constant, but it's just the nature of the beast to turn to conflict, I guess - unless you have a common enemy. And we do this time."
Printed from the official Joni Mitchell website. Permanent link: https://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=1566
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