Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now

• Book.
• Joni Mitchell.

Joni Mitchell was one of the defining singer/songwriters of the late 1960s and ’70s - a fixture of the era’s California music scene who went on to make albums that continued to be thoughtful, innovative and original throughout her career. Behind her effortlessly haunting voice was the soul of a musical junkie who in her youth had adored Ray Charles, Chuck Berry and The Everly Brothers. Behind her lyrics lay a true poet’s sensibility, and the thing that bound everything together — her literate folk hippie-era songs of love and loss, her forays into jazz, pop and electronic music, her playing and her painting — was her inextinguishable creativity. This unique in into the life and work of Joni Mitchell distils 40 years of original interviews with the legendary singer/songwriter by broadcast journalist Malka Marom. The two first met in a Toronto coffee bar in 1966 before Joni Mitchell found mainstream success, and their first interview took place in 1973. Over the years more interviews followed with Marom enjoying privileged access as their friendship developed and endured. The thread running throughout these interviews is that of an endlessly creative life. Whether crafting music and lyrics, painting or poetry, Joni Mitchell has always prized the freedom to make her own voice heard. This beautifully illustrated book includes Mitchell’s fine art and selected lyrics, celebrating the life and work of a truly original woman who helped shape the music of her generation and that of so many musicians who have followed. In Both Sides Now: Conversations With Joni Mitchell, Marom encourages Joni to examine her creative impulse, on the way discussing childhood and aging, love and loss, accl and criticism, poverty and affluence. It makes for a compelling portrait of a uniquely and variously talented woman.