On This Day in 1971, Joni Mitchell Bared Her Soul on One of the Greatest Albums of All Time

On this day (June 22) in 1971, Joni Mitchell released Blue. It was an intensely honest and emotional release in which Mitchell bared her soul to the world. Songs like “Case of You,” “Carey,” “California,” and “This Flight Tonight” have become cornerstones of her discography. In the decades since its release, it has been hailed by multiple critics as one of the greatest albums of all time.

Mitchell saw some success with her first three albums. However, issues in her personal life led her to take a break from performing. In early 1970, she left the United States to backpack around Europe. While in Greece, she found the inspiration for a handful of songs. She also ended her troubled relationship with Graham Nash while abroad. Their relationship and its eventual end inspired more music. Her decision to put a child up for adoption in the 1960s also haunted her, adding more fuel for her creative process.

According to her website, one of the biggest influences on this album was Bob Dylan’s “Positively Fourth Street.” She called the song a “revelation” that opened up new avenues of songwriting. “Oh my God, you can write about anything in songs,” she thought after hearing it.

Joni Mitchell Reflects on Blue

“The Blue album, there’s hardly a dishonest note in the vocals,” Joni Mitchell said. “At that period of my life, I had no personal defenses. I felt like a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes. I felt like I had absolutely no secrets from the world, and I couldn’t pretend, in my life, to be strong or to be happy. The advantage of the music was that there were no defenses there, either,” she explained.

Several life events inspired songs from the Blue. The end of Mitchell’s relationship with Graham Nash, her ongoing relationship with James Taylor, and putting her daughter up for adoption in 1965 were the major contributors, though.

“Why I wrote the songs on Blue, the point is that soon after I’d given up my daughter for adoption, I had a house and a car and I had the means and I’d become a public figure,” she recalled. “The combination of those situations did not sit well. So, I kind of withdrew from music, began to go inside, and question who I was. Out of that, Blue evolved.

“We had to close the doors and lock them while I recorded Blue,” Joni Mitchell recalled in a 1996 interview. “I was in a state of mind that, in this culture, would be called a nervous breakdown. In pockets of the Orient, it would be considered a shamanic conversion,” she added.

She recalled playing Blue for Kris Kristofferson. “God, Joan, save something of yourself,” he exclaimed upon hearing it. “He was embarrassed by it,” she reflected. “I think, generally, at first that people were embarrassed by it, that in a certain way it was shocking, especially in the pop arena.”

Featured Image by Jim McCrary/Redferns

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