David Sedaris, Jamie Lee Curtis and Martin Short discuss the impact of Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell‘s music is defined by an autobiographical confessional style of writing atop beautifully crafted finger-picked guitar work or subtly and carefully arranged piano pieces. Mitchell has inspired millions across the world, and here three entertainment greats weigh in on the impact that she had on their lives.
David Sedaris’s humour is largely autobiographical and self-deprecating, which is perhaps why he found a kinship with Mitchell during his college years. Discussing Mitchell’s 1976 album Hejira, Sedaris said: “I went to college and made friends, and they all listened to Joni Mitchell, which wasn’t the kind of music I would listen to. But Hejira was my introduction to her, and it just spoke to me at the time.”
“It’s an album about constantly moving and travelling,” Sedaris added. “Joni is not just travelling; she’s moving through a series of relationships. I’d never had a relationship at that point. I longed to have one, and all my ideas of how a relationship would be came from this album. And I hoped then when I had a relationship, it would end poorly, and I would be hurt and devastated and create art from it.” Just as Joni had.
Jamie Lee Curtis also paid special reverence to the iconic folk-jazz singer. She had grown up in Los Angeles, so she felt a special relationship with Mitchell’s track ‘California’. She explained that Mitchell’s song got her through some tough years at college when she was miserable and “homesick and couldn’t come home.”
Speaking nearly in tears, Curtis said: “Joni Mitchell’s ‘California’ I played in my room over and over and over again. It was my connection to my home, and I can’t tell you what it did to hear that song when I was so far away.” Fortunately for Curtis then, Mitchell’s comforting track was always close at hand.
However, arguably the people who feel the closest tie to Mitchell are her fellow Canadians, including comedian Martin Short. He said: “I’m a huge Joni Mitchell fan. She’s a Canadian artist; I’m Canadian”. Short then went on to explain the beauty of ‘For Free’ from Mitchell’s 1970 album Ladies of the Canyon.
Short said: “This is an amazing song, you just listen to the lyrics, and you’re taken right into the story of her basically seeing a busker on the corner playing this clarinet. And she starts reflecting on how much she gets paid, how much attention is given to her, and her fabulous life. And yet she is hearing a guy play who she thinks is equally or if not better music. And yet no one is stopping to pay attention to him.”
