Joni Mitchell: A Canadian legend

Canadian singer and songwriter Joni Mitchell is a legend.

Source: https://ultimateclassicrock.com/joni-mitchell-80s-songs-ranked/

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When I heard Joni Mitchell had agreed to perform at the Grammys, I tried to think back to when I first heard her sing.

She was a household name in the 1980s when I started listening to music, but I really couldn’t name a single song she sang.

The first time I recall seeing Joni Mitchell sing was as part of Northern Lights, a group of Canadian performers assembled in 1985 to record “Tears Are Not Enough”, a single intended to be a fundraiser for African famine relief.

It was later that I heard more about her life and music. Tha included the fact she was born in Fort Macleod, not too far away from where I was born, and even closer to where I live now.

But it all started in the 1980s for me.

The legend
To be honest, Joni Mitchell was more an idea than anything for me when I really got into music in 1984. Her name was always mentioned among the greatest Canadian artists of all time, yet I don’t recall hearing her on the radio at that time.

We also used to do current events in social studies class in Grade 7 and 8, and I recall hearing about both Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.

The first time I heard her was when she was among other Canadian legends.

“Tears are Not Enough”
Famine was ravaging Ethioipia in 1984 and the world, and its performing artists, took notice. Bob Geldof and Midge Ure led the way, creating a group of artists called Band Aid to raise some money through the release of their song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”

The Americans followed suit in 1985 with “USA for Africa” and the song “We Are the World”. As part of that album, a group of Canadian artists called Northern Lights recorded their own fundraising song called “Tears Are Not Enough”.

It was amazing, and remains one of my favourite songs of all time.

It starts with Gordon Lightfoot singing, “As every day goes by, how can we close our eyes”, followed by Burton Cummings singing, “Until we open up our hearts,” then Anne Murray singing “We can learn to share and show how much we care.”

Then she was up.

“Right from the moment, that we start.”

That was my introduction to Joni Mitchell.

On the radio
Later in 1985, I was listening to the radio. I think it was LA-107 which was album-oriented rock and the announcers talked as much about the albums as the singles that came from them. They started talking about Joni Mitchell and this new album she released called “Dog Eat Dog”. One of the singles I heard was “Shiny Toys”. Wikipedia reveals “Shiny Toys” was the second single released off “Dog Eat Dog”, but LA-107 was always playing more than one single off a new album. That was the essence of album-oriented rock.

Sadly, neither “Shiny Toys” or any other song from “Dog Eat Dog” hit the top 40.

That was pretty much my exposure to Joni Mitchell in the 1980s.

Prolific career
However, as the years went on, I heard and learned more and more about Joni Mitchell.

Before I really got into music, I actually heard a lot. I say I learned it by osmosis. It was just music I heard coming from my brother’s room, my sister’s clock radio, or the radio on the school bus or at one of my many relatives.

It turns out, I had picked up a fair bit of Joni Mitchell’s music by osmosis.

There were songs such as “Big Yellow Taxi”; “Free Man in Paris”; and of course “Both Sides Now”. She has also won Grammys for Best Folk Performance; Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist; Best Pop Album; Best Album Package; Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album; Album of the Year; Best Pop Instrumental Performance; Best Album Notes; and Best Folk Album.

These awards span her first win in 1969 to her most recent win in 2024. She was also awarded a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in 2002.

She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

Mitchel has variously been called one of the greatest songwriters ever and one of the most important and influential female recording artists of the late 20th Century.

Parting thoughts
Back in the ‘70s, ‘80s and even ‘90s in Canada, we heard a lot about our own artists due, in part, to Canadian Content regulations. We heard them all the time and, with CBC and CTV television, heard about them a lot too. So, names such as Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Burton Cummings, Gordon Lightfoot and Dan Hill were around a lot.

Yet, it was hard to see how they fared south of the border with peasant vision except for American shows such as “Solid Gold” and “Entertainment Tonight”.

Over time, I saw how big an influence Joni Mitchell had all over the world.

The most recent example for me was a show that became one of the most popular of the past few years – “This is Us”.

The show is about three siblings all born the same year in Pittsburgh. Their mother, Rebecca Malone Pearson, is one of the main characters. Through flashbacks we learn she aspired to be a singer. She even travelled out to California to try her luck at making it as a performer.

She was accompanied out there by Jack Pearson, the man who would become her husband and the father of her children.

When they were driving out there, she talked about her dreams.

“I want to be like Joni Mitchell,” she said.

Along with all the great music she wrote and performed, all the awards and accolades, that proves Joni Mitchell truly made it, and has left a lasting impression.