#3 Joni Mitchell, 'Blue' (1971)

Previously #30

The quintessential singer-songwriter record. ‘Blue’ would become the blueprint for singer-songwriters to come (there was absolutely no pun intended here). “Like all of my albums, “Blue” came out of the chute with a whimper. It didn’t really take off until later. Now there’s a lot of fuss being made over it, but there wasn’t initially. The most feedback that I got was that I had gone too far and was exposing too much of myself. I couldn’t tell what I had created, really. The initial response I got was critical, mostly from the male singer-songwriters. It was kind of like Dylan going electric. They were afraid. Is this contagious? Do we all have to get this honest now? That’s what the boys were telling me. “Save something of yourself, Joni. Nobody’s ever gonna cover these songs. They’re too personal,” Joni Mitchell said in an interview with Cameron Crowe in June 2021. Mitchell laid it all out on the table with this one. She had just ended a 2-year relationship with Graham Nash, going straight into an intense relationship with James Taylor.

The songs draw upon these two relationships, as well as one with an American named Carey Radnitz, the subject of the namesake lead single. ‘Blue’ was written about James Taylor, referencing his heroin addiction; “Acid, booze, and ass/Needles, guns, and grass,” as was ‘All I Want,’ on which she wears her heart on her sleeve, baring her soul; “All I really, really want our love to do/Is to bring out the best in me and in you too.” And that’s the key theme throughout the record. Mitchell was completely transparent on this album, bearing no secrets, telling no lies. “there's hardly a dishonest note in the vocals. At that period of my life, I had no personal defenses. I felt like a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes. I felt like I had absolutely no secrets from the world and I couldn't pretend in my life to be strong. Or to be happy. But the advantage of it in the music was that there were no defenses there either,” Mitchell said in 1979. On second single, ‘California,’ Mitchell longs to come back to her adopted home, so much so that she’ll even kiss a “Sunset pig” i.e. a policeman on Sunset Boulevard. She details the relationship with Radnitz in this one too; “I met a redneck on a Grecian isle/Who did the goat dance very well/He gave me back my smile/But he kept my camera to sell/Oh, the rogue, the red red rogue/He cooked good omelets and stews/And I might have stayed on with him there.” ‘My Old Man’ is one about Nash and includes one of my favourite Mitchell lyrics, “He's the warmest chord I ever heard/Play that warm chord, play and stay, baby.” “I'm so hard to handle/I'm selfish and I'm sad/Now I've gone and lost the best baby/That I ever had,” sings Mitchell on ‘River,’ another one for Nash. Her lyrics could not be more honest. She tells it as it is, uses her music as a cathartic way to work through the heartbreak. Her voice is phenomenal. This was a standout record for me last time. At #30, she was the highest placed solo female artist. Similarly this time, she’s once again the highest placed solo female artist. Truly well deserved. The Top 10 last time had no women in it. For the most part, it was made up of white guys (and Marvin Gaye). Things are different this time around. Joni Mitchell sailed through the glass ceiling of the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time. Incidentally, I coincidentally listened to this record on the 50th anniversary of its release. Some things are just meant to be. Another record that deserves your full attention. It’s more and more special with each listen.

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