Joni Mitchell the first lady "folk"? If she is a "folk singer" then so are Neil Diamond, James Taylor, Carol King, Jackson Brown, Neil Young and a host of others not named Peter Paul and Mary. Did the writer of this piece and the people who give Grammys ever really listen to Joni Mitchell?
I pretty much agree. That said, her performance of "Both Sides Now" last night was haunting, and for me personally, devastating. Just last week I received a diagnosis of esophageal cancer. It seems we caught it early and my prognosis is actually pretty good. Still, it's a gut punch, and I'm still processing it. Watching Joni last night was just an unbelievably moving experience for me. By the time she reached the final verse about "life", I was bawling like a little baby. A catharsis in the Aristotelian sense. God bless you Joni.
Could not agree with you more Eli. You nailed it and in a way I wish they would have left well enough alone. There will never be another Joni. She is for the felt of heart forever encapsulated in our memories through the seasons of our life. Not for the theater of awards shows (of which we can't stand and never watch). It was more sad to us, yet I also understand Brandi Carlile's genuine love of her and others like Tanya Tucker.
I'm just happy to see her perform. I don't care if it's at the Grammy's or a Starbucks. I didn't pay enough attention to Joni in the 70's and 80's. Can't make up for lost time, but last night was emotional and I'll gladly take it.
I like Mitchell's music, but this phenomenon is hardly confined to her. Most great artists of the 60s and 70s were ignored by the Grammys. The first Grammy the Rolling Stones ever received was their Lifetime Achievement Award many years after their prime. Same with Led Zeppelin.
Certain awards make sense, like a Super Bowl trophy, an Olympic Gold Medal and even Nobel Prizes in Science. But the last one begins to delve into subjective judgement. One person’s scientific breakthrough maybe another persons end of the world. By the time we reach the Golden Globes it’s all politics, profit and corruption. In short from objective to subjective merit, award shows slide on an absurdity scale.
Perhaps nothing proclaims this more than the annual award whiners. Your Kanyes, Jay Z’s, Ana Duvernays and now the author of the above article. They take that which is subjective and attempt to apply objective standards. “My wife has more grammies than...zzzzzz” or objectively pointing out racial disparities in Oscars but not accepting that objectively that most voters and box office subjectively judged “Selma” to be subpar fare.
What the author and others of the whinging class hope for is their audience will recalibrate their subjective compass to align with theirs. So the Oscars added objective racial qualifiers no matter how absurd the notion of a black Cleopatra maybe. They added a more intersectionally correct contingent of voters because objective surveys told them people often vote with their identities. So to this end, I suggest the Recording Academy take heed and seed their legions with aging boomers still addled with folk tunes from 50 years ago to rig some justice and Jay Z just pay some judges to subjectively come correct. The Hollywood Foreign Press figured all this out ages ago.
Roberta Flack winning in 72 is in no way an insult to Mitchell. The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face is as timeless as any of Mirchell’s singles. Fight me.
Hejira was probably the most listened to album I ever owned, and I am 15 years younger than her, and a straight white married male. (40 years) Her expression of anxieties associated with the mating years always connected.
Joni Mitchell's music is unique and distinctive and brings me back to a very different time (the 1960's). Awards or not, she will continue to be appreciated long after she leaves us.
This made me want to listen to Joni. But wait, I can’t because she pulled her music from Spotify over Joe Rogan’s opinion on COVID.
And I’m just going to throw this out there: the Grammys may be horrible for never really recognizing Joni’s genius, but turns out, Joni as a person is also no longer worthy of her music. Her decision to perform at the Grammys? it’s just another sign of her fall from the counter culture into the mainstream.
Thank you. I love Mitchell's songs, and if there's a better lyricist in the history of whatever genre she's in, I can't think of him or her.
One quibble: 𝘉𝘭𝘶𝘦 is definitely one of the greatest albums, but Best Song that year should have gone to 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘗𝘪𝘦 (and it seemed like salt in the wound to have McLean perform 𝘝𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 at the Grammys). 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘐 𝘚𝘢𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘦? Please.
Joni Mitchell the first lady "folk"? If she is a "folk singer" then so are Neil Diamond, James Taylor, Carol King, Jackson Brown, Neil Young and a host of others not named Peter Paul and Mary. Did the writer of this piece and the people who give Grammys ever really listen to Joni Mitchell?
I pretty much agree. That said, her performance of "Both Sides Now" last night was haunting, and for me personally, devastating. Just last week I received a diagnosis of esophageal cancer. It seems we caught it early and my prognosis is actually pretty good. Still, it's a gut punch, and I'm still processing it. Watching Joni last night was just an unbelievably moving experience for me. By the time she reached the final verse about "life", I was bawling like a little baby. A catharsis in the Aristotelian sense. God bless you Joni.
Could not agree with you more Eli. You nailed it and in a way I wish they would have left well enough alone. There will never be another Joni. She is for the felt of heart forever encapsulated in our memories through the seasons of our life. Not for the theater of awards shows (of which we can't stand and never watch). It was more sad to us, yet I also understand Brandi Carlile's genuine love of her and others like Tanya Tucker.
I'm just happy to see her perform. I don't care if it's at the Grammy's or a Starbucks. I didn't pay enough attention to Joni in the 70's and 80's. Can't make up for lost time, but last night was emotional and I'll gladly take it.
I like Mitchell's music, but this phenomenon is hardly confined to her. Most great artists of the 60s and 70s were ignored by the Grammys. The first Grammy the Rolling Stones ever received was their Lifetime Achievement Award many years after their prime. Same with Led Zeppelin.
Concert for Bangladesh and first time ever I saw your face easily trounce Joni’s best material… not a good counter example.
Certain awards make sense, like a Super Bowl trophy, an Olympic Gold Medal and even Nobel Prizes in Science. But the last one begins to delve into subjective judgement. One person’s scientific breakthrough maybe another persons end of the world. By the time we reach the Golden Globes it’s all politics, profit and corruption. In short from objective to subjective merit, award shows slide on an absurdity scale.
Perhaps nothing proclaims this more than the annual award whiners. Your Kanyes, Jay Z’s, Ana Duvernays and now the author of the above article. They take that which is subjective and attempt to apply objective standards. “My wife has more grammies than...zzzzzz” or objectively pointing out racial disparities in Oscars but not accepting that objectively that most voters and box office subjectively judged “Selma” to be subpar fare.
What the author and others of the whinging class hope for is their audience will recalibrate their subjective compass to align with theirs. So the Oscars added objective racial qualifiers no matter how absurd the notion of a black Cleopatra maybe. They added a more intersectionally correct contingent of voters because objective surveys told them people often vote with their identities. So to this end, I suggest the Recording Academy take heed and seed their legions with aging boomers still addled with folk tunes from 50 years ago to rig some justice and Jay Z just pay some judges to subjectively come correct. The Hollywood Foreign Press figured all this out ages ago.
Roberta Flack winning in 72 is in no way an insult to Mitchell. The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face is as timeless as any of Mirchell’s singles. Fight me.
Hejira was probably the most listened to album I ever owned, and I am 15 years younger than her, and a straight white married male. (40 years) Her expression of anxieties associated with the mating years always connected.
Joni Mitchell's music is unique and distinctive and brings me back to a very different time (the 1960's). Awards or not, she will continue to be appreciated long after she leaves us.
She gave up her child to pursue a music career. I wish I hadn't read that.
Her music is timeless and beautiful and comes from the soul. Cary, Big Yellow Taxi, Circle Game, Little Green among my favorites.
Clearly the propaganda machine thinks they have influence and that makes their pathetically uninformed pronouncements worthy of scorn.
This made me want to listen to Joni. But wait, I can’t because she pulled her music from Spotify over Joe Rogan’s opinion on COVID.
And I’m just going to throw this out there: the Grammys may be horrible for never really recognizing Joni’s genius, but turns out, Joni as a person is also no longer worthy of her music. Her decision to perform at the Grammys? it’s just another sign of her fall from the counter culture into the mainstream.
Thank you. I love Mitchell's songs, and if there's a better lyricist in the history of whatever genre she's in, I can't think of him or her.
One quibble: 𝘉𝘭𝘶𝘦 is definitely one of the greatest albums, but Best Song that year should have gone to 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘗𝘪𝘦 (and it seemed like salt in the wound to have McLean perform 𝘝𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 at the Grammys). 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘐 𝘚𝘢𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘦? Please.
Mumbled poetry
Pithy accurate description