Posted on 04/26/2010 6:26:23 PM PDT by Artemis Webb
"What is the big deal about Bob Dylan?" Julia Schrenkler wondered on Gather.com three years ago. Well, according to fellow folkie Joni Mitchell, he's a plagiarizing fraud.
"Bob is not authentic at all," Mitchell tells the Los Angeles Times. "He's a plagiarist, and his name and voice are fake. Everything about Bob is a deception. We are like night and day, he and I."
True, Dylan's name is a "fake" -- he was born Robert ... um, Zimmerman -- but he'd have to be some kind of crazy to invent a voice like his current subterranean croak. Let's assume she's talking about his Woody Guthrie-isms of the '60s, just to be on the safe side.
But Mitchell (birth name: Roberta Joan Anderson, btw) doesn't restrict her remarks to male performers of her generation, letting us know that "Grace [Slick] and Janis Joplin were [sleeping with] their whole bands and falling down drunk."
Well, yes, but what of the Canadian-born Mitchell's own work? Time for a little self-examination, perhaps?
"My work is set against the stupid, destructive way we live on this planet," she announces. "Americans have decided to be stupid and shallow since 1980. Madonna is like Nero; she marks the turning point."
Ladies and gentlemen, Joni Mitchell: Special Ranting 2010 Edition. Approach her at your own risk...
(Excerpt) Read more at knittingcrochet.gather.com ...
Maybe in that case the song “Idiot Wind” applies to Joanie.
Maybe in that case the song “Idiot Wind” applies to Joanie.
That’s a real compelling analysis — though I believe he did write “I’m a Fool to Love You.” I think the fact that he changed the face of popular singing (from crooner to swooner) will weigh heavily in his favor.
She does seem a little harsh on Mr. Zimmerman...I enjoyed both of them a great deal back in the 60s/70s. Saw Joni at Stegman Hall, University of Georgia back in 1975 and wrote the headline about her concert for the “Red & Black” newspaper the next day.....gettin’ old....miss those days.
I saw Dylan in concert about four years ago. In the scripted announcers introduction to him he was mentioned as being born again and there was something about his, “Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”.
She said in an interview that she and Geraldo Rivera are great friends- their friendship goes all the way back to college days. Enough said.
Hey Joni, I never liked a single song you ever did, and for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one either.... so just STFU!
I actually used to love Little Richard interviews. Talk about someone who has a grudge. He did not have a good word to say about anyone. Quite frankly, he and other early black rock acts have good reasons to be upset. Its just great to listen to it rather than the sleep-inducing, normal “I love this one and I love that one” banalities.
“Maybe in that case the song “Idiot Wind” applies to Joanie.”
Heh heh...yep....exactly...it’s a wonder that she still knows how to breathe.
HMMMM..... I’m gonna have to go w/Dylan on this one. I’ve read and seen dozens of interviews, documentaries, and “biopics” of him, and don’t recall him ever saying a single disparaging word about anyone (well, except that clueless Mr. Jones). On the other hand, he has withstood the slings and arrows of his “peers” with nonchalance and aplomb for decades.
Just my opinion...
Joni Mitchell has always been one of my favorite musicians, but this sort of back-stabbing of fellow musicians just turns me off.
I mean, what is the point?
Do artists who do this believe that sniping about their former peers raises their withered status among the public who once adored them? Are they so desperate for attention that they see this sort of ugly behavior as their only route to relevance?
It’s sad. Just sad.
Too bad about Joni. She has a nice voice until she gets that yodeling thing going. Ugh.
Yep...don’t like Dylan, and never worshiped at his altar, but I recognize that he was an original. Hey...Ty Cobb was arguably the greatest baseball player ever, but NOT a nice man.
Or maybe she ain’t changed a bit.
Joni Mitchell consciously tried to recreate Bob Dylan's rise to fame.
Five years after Dylan had become a star, she moved to New York City from the Midwest, changed her name, and started playing open mic nights at Greenwich Village folk clubs.
But she did not make it like Dylan had. She met David Crosby at a Florida nightclub and he brought her back to LA and convinced his record company to let him produce an album of her music.
Given her failed attempt to imitate Dylan's career arc and the likely very unplatonic story of how she first got her big break, I'm going to guess that her criticisms of Slick and Joplin are similarly hollow.
Slick was the draw for the Jefferson Airplane - she was actively recruited by the bandmembers to leave Great Society and sign on with them.
Janis Joplin was actively recruited by Big Brother and the Holding Company.
Neither Slick nor Joplin slept their way into recording contracts.
Long straight hair, yes - big mouth, no.
Joni Mitchell was once one of the finest rock musicians on the planet. She was an extraordinary songwriter and lyricist, and had a decent set of pipes.
And she could play a guitar. Man, could Joni play.
But Sinatra didn’t write nor was even able to read music. His voice (in his prime) and interpretive skills were unmatched though.”
Exactly. But ooooh, that phrasing...unmatched.
Okay, I can go along with that. By the Sixties, Frank had become more of an icon than a trendsetting singer.
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