A Purple Musical Appreciation #thread on Joni Mitchell @JoniMitchellcom (JM) & the enormous & lifelong influence she had on Prince.

"Mind if I turn on the radio?"
"Oh, my favorite song" she said
And it was Joni singing "Help me I think I'm falling"

The influence that Joni had on Prince cannot be understated or underplayed, it was MASSIVE.

More than any other artist, she perhaps had the greatest influence on him.

Prince held a lifelong love affair with her music & he wasn’t coy about publicising it time & time again.

On this thread, I am going to take you through:

1. - What he said about Joni
2 - How Joni influenced his work
3 - What Joni said about him
4 - Some of my favourite Joni songs spanning the course of her 50 year career.

A week before he passed he walked into Electric Fetus (his fave wrecka stow) & he purchased a number of CD’s, one of which was JM’s seminal album “Hejira”.

An album that he was no stranger to, having studied, dissected & breathed every note of that album many years over.

But “Hejira” was not his favourite JM album, it was one called “The Hissing of Summer Lawns” (THOSK) released in 75’ which he praised in many interviews, constantly vocalising his love for it.

“The last album I loved all the way through was The Hissing of Summer Lawns” (RS 85’)

In 2015 in an interview with EW Magazine Joni was in his current favourite 10 artists, a position she must have occupied in his list for over 40 years. https://ew.com/article/2015/09/15/prince-10-favorite-artists/

PRINCE ON JM

“Joni Mitchell taught me a lot about colour & sound, and to her, I’m very grateful” (MTV 1985)

“I love all Joni’s music..I do her songs just to keep her name out there. Joni’s music should be taught in school, if just from a literature standpoint.”- (2004)

Here’s Wendy recounting the time Prince introduced her to JM on her 20th birthday & a further time when they went to JM’s Malibu home for dinner & Prince played his version of “A Case of U” - read the Vulture snapshots below for Joni’s reaction

Joni’s seminal album “Hejira” appeared as a co-star/extra in the movie “Under The Cherry Moon”.

One has been circled ( http://Prince.Org )

See if you can spot the other.

Andre Cymone also said JM was probably his favourite artist from a lyrical standpoint.

The “Hejira” album reminded him of the “whole time period when we were working on Prince’s first album”.

He further added “Refuge of the Roads” (Hejira album) was one of my favorites.

About “Refuge” he said:

“That song reminds me of being in San Francisco. It was the soundtrack to our reality back then.

Owen Husney was Prince’s manager at the time. He was a very knowledgeable dude about a lot of stuff. I think he and his wife, Brit, turned us on to Joni”

Prince on Lisa & JM:

"Lisa [Coleman] is like my sister...she'll play what the average person won't. She'll press two notes with one finger, so the chord is a lot larger, things like that. She's more abstract. She's into Joni Mitchell, too." (Rolling Stone 85’)

During the ATWIAD release in early February 1985 Joni was amongst the special guests for the WB listening party.

It has been recounted:

“..as the high pitched flute that begins "Around the World in A Day"
lilted from the speakers,
Prince & Lisa walked in holding flowers”

When Beyonce inducted Prince in the U.K. Music Hall of Fame in 2004 which he attended, he said:

“These days when I meet young artists I try to hip them to the words of Joni Mitchell, and the tightness of Tower of Power, and the arrangements of Earth, Wind & Fire”.

A Case of U

He has had a long love affair with this song & has said:

"...one of my favorite songs 2 sing because the melody is so heartbreaking. The lyrics read as tho the writer is extremely enamored with the subject and yet the melody sounds as if they are about to break up”

He added:

“[the record] has such a haunting feel that it would make the hardest thug shed tears"

(L.A .Times 2005)

His first live performance of this song was in August 1983 at a benefit show in Minneapolis & he started with the second verse

"I am a lonely painter..."

Prince continued to play this song live throughout his career up to the final Piano & Microphone Tour in 2016.

He last played it at The Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, USA on 14th April 2016.

Not only did he play “A Case of U” live, he also recorded it many times.

In 2002 he included it on the ONA Piano album.

He also gave Joni “special thanks” in the liner notes too.

A piano rehearsal also featured on the Piano & Mic 83’ album posthumously released in 2018.

In 2007, he contributed his cover of the track on a compilation in tribute to JM which also included Bjork, Annie Lennox & KD Lang amongst others.

His slightly edited version (removing the final coda) was given the original title - A Case Of You (as opposed to U).

JM INFLUENCES

The earliest clue of the influence JM had can be traced back to Prince’s sophomore album & the song “When we’re dancing close & slow”.

On a verse of “Coyote” from the Hejira album JM sings:

“He drags me out on the dance floor
And we’re dancing close and slow”

The earliest public acknowledgement he gave to JM was a thank u in the Dirty Mind liner notes.

Then on Controversy her name appears on the back cover.

The 82’ unreleased “Lust U Always” paraphrases JM’s cover of a track called “Twisted” which appeared on her “Court & Spark” album which also featured “Help Me” which we’ll come on to later.

If you look at the whole lyrics of both songs you willl find discernible similarities:

Lust u always:
My analyst assured me that U were just a phase

Twisted:
My analyst told me
That I was right out of my head

At 1:49 on “Twisted” there’s that old man/Bob George/Cloreen Bacon Skin voice too.

Is is possible Prince got it from this?