Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell

by David Yaffe

It is an omen that something very, very bad will happen when the mud dries and the hippies go home. That garden they had to get back to—it was an illusion.

It was a very grey, kind of sleety, drizzly L.A. morning. And we got to the house in Laurel Canyon, and I said—‘You know what? I’ll light a fire. Why don’t you put some flowers in that vase that you just bought?’ Well, she was in the garden getting flowers. That meant she was not at her piano, but I was … And an hour later ‘Our House’ was born, out of an incredibly ordinary moment that many, many people have experienced.”

“Girl, you make me see pictures in my head,”