There were several surprises for me in the documentary. Firstly, (to name a few) what a hard childhood and adolescence she'd had; I never realised she had had a relationship with Graham Nash, though I knew there were musical links between her and CSNY; I didn't realise she never went to the Woodstock festival though she penned the most famous song about it .
She had a small town upbringing in Saskatchewan, Canada, experiencing a lonely childhood watching the railway line and dreaming of one day escaping. When she eventually did, it was to art school, the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, seeing music merely as a way to support herself.
However in 1964 she was pregnant; the baby was given up for adoption and kept a secret, though some of her songs obviously refer to this : 'Your kids are coming up straight; My child's a stranger; I bore her, but I could not raise her'. Her and her daughter were not re-united until 1997.
On meeting Chuck Mitchell, she married him in the hope that they would take her child out of the foster home, but this didn't happen. They became a performing duet, moving to the U.S., but Joni wasn't fulfilled or happy with this partnership, a couple of years later leaving Chuck to explore her own style and write her own material. As a solo artist she also arranged her own bookings, unusual for that time especially as a woman, working the coffee houses and folk clubs. Her innovative guitar style was partly due to a left hand weakened by polio as a child; her lyrics were seen as puzzling and impenetrable. She says that hearing Dylan personalizing lyrics was like a key opening a door for her. 'I feel every bit of trouble I'm grateful for you know, bad fortune changed the course of my destiny, I became a musician.'David Crosby saw her playing and took her to Los Angeles to introduce her to his music circle, managing to persuade Reprise Records to release her first album, Joni Mitchell, or Song to a Seagull, without the folk-rock overdubs, just pure Joni. In 1969, Clouds included her songs that had already been covered by other artists, including Both Sides Now which had been recorded by Judy Collins in 1967 (and is now her most covered song numbering 587 versions); she painted the artwork for the album and has carried on doing this on ever since. She has viewed painting and music as being like crop rotation, with painting clearing the head after an intense bout of composing.
Ladies of the Canyon included piano in addition to guitar, plus her own version of the song Woodstock, written when she missed the spectacular event because she had her first television interview, though she seems to prefer smaller more intimate concerts so may not have been that comfortable there.
Searching for a new vocabulary, she sang 'duets' with the bass guitar of jazz virtuoso bassist Jacob Estorius; this partnership later led to Wayne Shorter also joining her. Charlie Mingus contacted her when terminally ill, choosing to do his final project with her.
Her next albums saw a return to pop songwriting, recording with bassist Larry Klein who she married in 1982. The eighties also saw her experimenting with synthesizers and drum machines, and collaborating with Peter Gabriel, Tom Petty, Willie Nelson, Billy Idol and others. Many of her songs included elements of protest. Her real return to form in terms of popular songwriting was with Turbulent Indigo in 1994.Taming the Tiger in 1998 was promoted by a return to regular concert performances, a final set of original songs before a decade of other pursuits. It has been suggested that she possibly lost interest in composition after her reunion with her daughter.
So what has she been up to since that incredibly moving dvd? Apparently she has the mysterious Morgellons syndrome, so is working to help public understanding of that; she has produced an album of orchestral remakes of old material, Travelogues; a concept album of covers and own material, Both Sides Now; and Shine, the first album of new songs in 9 years. Though her voice has less range and is lower as she gets older, I prefer it; she herself maintains that it is more expressive, and that any limitations are more a result of the after effects of polio than a life time of smoking. Who knows. But her songs and music have always been a result of experience and adversity, so you just have to accept them for what they are. And enjoy.
April 2013 sees the publication of a new book on the poetry of her songs, Gathered Light .
