The Secret Torment of Joni Mitchell

PJ Media ^ | 1 Sep 2014 | Ed Driscoll

[Rummyfan]

Other than the self-hating misanthropy of “Big Yellow Taxi” (“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” Yes, and over the last 150 years, “they” also put up electric lights, air conditioning, the polio vaccine, and err, the musical instruments, concert halls, record players, radio and TV networks, and the commercial aviation that made your career possible), I’ve enjoyed a number of Joni Mitchell’s songs, and her adventurous musical spirit. But this article in today’s London Daily Mail paints a picture of a very tormented 70-year old soul:

Reflecting on her childhood, Mitchell reveals she was terribly affected by Bambi, particularly the scene where the deer’s mother was trapped in the fire. It was an unlikely spark for her artistry. The traumatic scene made her obsessively draw pictures of fire and deer running, in an attempt to exorcise it from her mind.

‘I think maybe that’s the beginning of my contempt for my species and what it does. How ignorant it is of sharing this planet with other creatures. Its lack of native intelligence, common sense, or spirituality addressed to the earth…’, she told the author.

[ops33]

No, always thought she was a poor singer.

[Smokin' Joe]

ROTFLMAO! That’s a riot!

[kanawa]

Whatever her faults, I give her credit for choosing adoption rather than abortion for her child.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

The whole movie is like that.

[outofsalt]

She’s so vain she probably thinks this post is about her.

[Scoutmaster]

A Carly Simon reference in a Joni Mitchell thread?

[Scoutmaster]

I agree about her poetry and songwriting, with one unfortunate exception: 1969's Chelsea Morning, from the album Clouds.

Hillary named her daughter based on that song.

[mad_as_he$$]

I always thought Joni was torturing the rest of us.

[GreenHornet]

Reflecting on her childhood, Mitchell reveals she was terribly affected by Bambi, particularly the scene where the deer’s mother was trapped in the fire.

Country legend Johnny Cash, on the other hand, was not tormented by that scene. Instead, it inspired the lyrics for one of his biggest hits: "I fell into a burning ring of fire....."

(Okay, I made that up!)

[AppyPappy]

Court and Spark is one of my favorites. It’s a great “I just got dumped” album.

[Blogatron]

Woman couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket.

Ditto that! Her paintings are even worse.

[Cboldt]

Have you seen the live version of "Free Man in Paris?" Nice work by all.

-- I just don't have it in me to snipe at this woman who has brought so much beauty into the world, even if it seems deserved. --

She had and has much more influence in the music world than in the political world, and she really was and is a musical and lyrical artist. IIRC, she is also impatient with "dependency," ala people choosing to live on the dole. She's no slouch.

[kjam22]

Now that I look at and think about it, a person might be justified in feeling contempt toward the species when he or she has been paying attention to current events long enough. Gossip, lies, innuendo, rape, murder, animal cruelty, character assassination, politics of personal destruction, professional jealousy, war, terrorism...If you’ve never experienced doubt, disappointment and disgust at what people are capable of when they are at their worst then congratulations, you must have found your heaven on earth.

And the problem is that people are often at their worst...

[Carlucci]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyG7aHt1cnc

[bert]

Poor joni is right. She is extremely fortunate that she never learned of Mary Newland because if she had, Joni would have died of abject, incurable depression.

Here is Mary's contribution to the Bambi lovers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeJ2VV9KmVo

[dmz]

Gotcha.

There is a pretty big gulf between ‘can’t carry a tune in a bucket’ and you not liking her voice.

She has no significant pitch issues on any recording I’ve heard or when I saw her in concert back in the day.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

It’s the dope.

[Lake Living]

‘I think maybe that’s the beginning of my contempt for my species and what it does. How ignorant it is of sharing this planet with other creatures. Its lack of native intelligence, common sense, or spirituality addressed to the earth…’, she told the author.
Like a lot of people I think Joni forgot this Author – and His solutions…

God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 1:27God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. 1:28God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

[T-Bone Texan]

You said:

"...I have been accused of living in a dream world...."

Hey, it works if you work it!

[informavoracious]

It was 1965. Abortion was not legal. Sure, you could get one, but it wasn’t easy or cheap.