Joni Mitchell

Joni is 72 today. I grew up on her music. My dad was (still is, let’s be honest) besotted with her. He’d take a walk out to Ames record shop in town to buy every new LP of hers on the day of release. Last time I asked him, he reckoned Blue was his favourite album of hers, and why not? It’s a classic. It’s up there for me too. But there are one or two other albums that vie for top spot: Hejira, for example. And The Hissing of Summer Lawns. Here are six songs of hers from those three albums I’d happily take to a desert island with me (ask me again next week and I might choose a different six…):

Little Green (Blue)

Heart-rending song about the girl Joni Mitchell gave up for adoption in 1965.

Edith and the Kingpin (The Hissing of Summer Lawns)

A lush song about a gangster and his squeeze. I remember being hypnotised by the economy and beauty of the simple line: His eyes hold Edith/His left hand holds his right.

Shades of Scarlett Conquering (The Hissing of Summer Lawns)

Another effortlessly gorgeous couplet: Out in the wind in crinolines/Chasing the ghosts of Gable and Flynn.

Amelia (Hejira)

Joni’s guitar. Jaco’s fretless bass. Amelia Earhart. I dreamed of 747s over geometric farms…

Refuge of the Roads (Hejira)

Joni’s guitar. Jaco’s fretless bass. Wanderlust. These are the clouds of Michelangelo/Muscular with gods and sungold/Shine on your witness in the refuge of the roads

Blue (Blue)

Acid, booze and ass, needles guns and grass, lots of laughs…

Happy birthday, Joni. Get well soon.