River

Joni Mitchell wrote sort of a heartbreaker of a holiday song back in the 70s.  Her song, "River", is on her album, Blue.  I've always loved that album for its intimacy and Joni's vocals, which at that time were pristine.

In those days, she was doing a lot of work with James Taylor, who did his own version for his holiday album a few years ago.  I actually own the Hallmark version of JT's album, but he later released one that included a few more songs that were on other albums that I already owned.

Here she is listening to James sing her song.

My YouTube friend shargram also covered it, quite decently, I might add… which inspired me to try it too.  I see now that a shitload of people have done "River" on YouTube.  

Nevertheless, though this song is equivalent to a musical 'ho, I think it turned out pretty.

  

Joni Mitchell...

I didn't discover singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell until the late 1990s.  I had heard a lot about her, but never actually heard her... Or, I was only familiar with her mid 70s song "Help Me", which was played a lot on adult contemporary radio stations...

And maybe "Free Man In Paris", though I never really paid attention to who sang it...

And I knew about Judy Collins singing "Both Sides Now", not knowing that Joni Mitchell had written it.

I actually think I like Judy's version better.

In the late 90s, I came into a couple of greatest hits albums with Joni Mitchell's music on it.  I really got into it and enjoyed a lot of songs I missed when they were more timely.  Since I am a big James Taylor fan, it's crazy that I wouldn't listen to music from his ex.  On her awesome album Blue, he contributed a lot of guitar.

Sadly, as Joni got older, her voice changed.  She was (and probably still is) a chain smoker.  I remember seeing a video of her painting-- besides being a writer, singer, composer, and guitar player, she can also paint...  and the whole time, she was chain smoking like a chimney.  She's also pretty old now.  Her voice is much lower than it was in the 70s...

"The Magdalene Laundries" is a very poignant song about unwed pregnant teens who were forced to work in a laundry in Ireland... I think this song is amazing, even if it is depressing, but Joni's voice is very different here than it was before.

And no song captures how different her voice is now like her 2006 rendition of "The Man I Love".

It's been awhile since I lasted listened to Joni Mitchell.  I might have to put her on this weekend and revisit some of my favorite songs by her.