Poll--The Weakest Link: Joni Mitchell HITS, Round 5

"Chelsea Morning" and "Woodstock" have been eliminated.

Single elimination from here on out.

Discussion Question:
When did you first hear Joni Mitchell? What was your initial impression of her?

8 Woodstock (Round 4)
9 Chelsea Morning (Round 4)
10 Carey (Round 3)
11 Urge For Going (Round 3)
12 You Turn Me On I'm A Radio (Round 2)
13 Raised On Robbery (Round 2)
14 Come In From The Cold (Round 1)
15 Chinese Cafe/Unchained Melody (Round 1)

 

California.

I would have first heard Joni herself when Big Yellow Taxi was a hit. Unbeknown to me I had already heard several songs written by Joni and recorded by others: Chelsea Morning, Both Sides Now, Woodstock, The Circle Game. Night In the City was also familiar to me when I got the Seagull album, so I know I heard it somewhere, but can't say if it was a cover or Joni herself.

The first time I properly listened to Joni was when friend introduced me to the albums For the Roses and Court and Spark.

 

This is next to impossible now. “California,” I guess.

DQ: I might have heard her before, but the first time I recall being aware of Joni was when “Help Me” was on the radio in the mid-'70s. And Court and Spark was the first album I heard, though I don’t recall when exactly—maybe the early '90s. (My album collection didn’t really take off until the CD era.)

Anyway, I was hugely impressed.

 

Big Yellow Taxi.

The first Joni Mitchell song I heard was Big Yellow Taxi, through Amy Grant's cover version in 1994. Of course, I had no idea of the history as I was six at the time. I bought my first Joni Mitchell album (Blue) at Circuit City when I was 16, which would have been in 2004. I loved her instantly. Female singer-songwriters were and have remained one of the major components of my listening diet since I started listening to music.

 

"Big Yellow Taxi" - Slightest of the remaining songs amidst emotional heavyweights

I had heard some of Joni's hits on the radio as they came out in the '70s, but I stereotypically dismissed her as a good songwriter but weak performer, so the cover was always better. Thankfully my opinion of her expanded considerably as I heard more of her material (and I grew up myself). For a time the only Joni I had in my collection was a guest spot with CSNY at a 1974 concert - to put in kindly they do not mesh - and I think that little piece (on an audience tape no less) also (unfairly) impacted my impression of her.

 

California

DQ: pretty sure first Joni songs I heard were on the Tom Rush album. Back in the day that was always being played at Capitol Theatre in Portchester at set changes. First Joni Album I listened to was probably Clouds. Didn’t see her live until Both Sides Now orchestral tour.

 

I knew of Joni Mitchell before I ever heard her. My mother had CSNY's DEJA VU and I saw that Joni Mitchell wrote "Woodstock" so I knew that song. Probably the first I heard her was when "Help Me" and "Free Man In Paris" were hit singles. I liked both songs. They were definite pay attention to songs when they came on the radio!

 

Circle Game

First heard Joni via the airwaves when her song "Help Me" was a hit---was extremely impressed by her. The first album of hers I bought was Blue, and I was very impressed by that as well.

 

I first heard “Help Me” in 1974. I liked it, but at 8 years old, my mind at the time didn’t explore anything that was beyond top 40 AM radio. What actually got my interest in Joni was seeing “Coyote” in The Last Waltz as a teenager........though didn’t really buy any of her albums until CDs started.

 

"River"

DQ?: the "Help Me" single, on the radio, as a 10 year old kid- totally dug it!

 

I first heard Joni Mitchell after she had been a well-established musician for decades and I was getting into music for the first time. I knew her name long before I knew her music. At first, I didn't really like her music very much. Even at the peak of my love for folk-rock and singer/songwriter music of the 60's and 70's, I never really liked her music all that much. It wasn't until last fall that I started seriously listening to her music and really enjoying it.

 

Free Man In Paris

As a child I would watch T.V. At 4 in Seattle I saw the Kennedy assassination (I thought my Mom was crying about something else). At 8 I got a corner bed set and moved into the living room with the T.V. I stated falling asleep to the T.V. watching Dick Cavett /Joey Bishop/Johnny Carson. I'd been to music for years (4/5) and reading my parents & sisters album covers.

Dick Cavett did a Woodstock show, and I had heard of all the artist on this show (Jefferson Airplane, David Crosby, Steven Stills and Joni Mitchell). She didn't go to Woodstock, so as not to miss being on the show. I saw the whole show that night. Joni talked to Dick and played 4 songs "Chelsea Morning", "The Fiddle and The Drum" from the Clouds LP. She also played 2 song that as of the August 19, 1969 airing, were unreleased songs, "Willy" and "For Free". "Ladies Of the Canyon" was released in April 1970. After that show I knew that she was an amazing musical tallent, I made a good guess!

My favorite thing is, that I can watch it any time i'd like, on Dick Cavett's Rock Icons DVD set!

 

"Big Yellow Taxi" needs to go.

My first contact with Joni Mitchell was when I heard "For Free" on the radio around 1986.
Surprisingly, it was not "Ladies of the Canyon" which was the first album I bought, but "Hejira" which I stumbled upon at a record fair one or two years later.

 

Bump

 

Ooh, careful. Did you hurt yourself?

 

I must have heard various Joni songs performed by her and Judy Collins on FM radio back in the early 70s. I liked them but didn't
have any strong reaction to them. In the mid 70's a local radio station played all her albums from the first through Miles of Aisles.
I then became a JM fanatic. She is still my favorite musical artist. I agree with many who consider her the best songwriter ever.
At least she "gets" to me like no other.

 

Both Sides Now

DQ: In 1985, Prince mentioned The Hissing Of Summer Lawns as the last album he loved all the way through. So that was the album I should listen to, since I absorbed everything related to Prince (great way to discover music btw ). Easy to understand that that wasn't the best introduction to Joni's music (way too complex at the time), so it took a while before I dared to listen to another album from Joni. That must have been Blue, because of A Case Of You (beautiful live version done by Prince in 1983) or Court and Spark (because of Help Me, as mentioned in The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker).

 

I first heard Joni around 1990 when I picked up a used LP of "Ladies of the Canyon."

 

Voting for "The Circle Game".

I first heard and took notice via an album called Best of the Test, I had bought it for some of the other artists thinking it had live recordings from The Old Grey Whistle Test, but it was just a compilation of regular studio tracks. Anyway, this had "Barangrill" (from For The Roses) on it (strange choice, but I guess she had performed it on the show), and I really liked that one (this was at a point when I didn't have many albums, so I probably played it more than I would have if I had had more choice, thus giving the unknown artists more chance). When I later bought some of her albums I realized I had heard songs such as "Woodstock" and "Big Yellow Taxi" before, and I was also familiar with "This Flight Tonight" via the Nazareth cover.

 

Final Bump

 

California. Nothing wrong with it but its getting to be a hard choice from here on in.....

My introduction to Joni Mitchell's music came in 1971 when I was 9 years old. Among a box of 7" singles in the family home that was largely made up on Tamla Motown records were a few rock singles such as Big Yellow Taxi/Woodstock, Elton John's Your Song, The Beatles' Let it be and Free's All Right Now. Out of curiosity I played every single A and B side in the box as part of my induction into music (and playing records).

My initial impression was mildly positive if I'm honest. I liked both sides of the single but with no other material by her to spark a deeper interest it sort of just existed in that box and got played every so often.

It would be around 7 years later when I next heard a Joni Mitchell song, when my brother purchased Don Juan's Reckless Daughter which had a big impact on me at the time and is still one of my favourite albums of hers.

Jericho in particular became something of a special song - one of those desert island disc choices that one makes from time to time when asked what are your top ten songs of all time.

 

link to Round 6:
Poll--The Weakest Link: Joni Mitchell HITS, Round 6