Jimmy Webb explains how Joni Mitchell changed songwriting
The influence of Joni Mitchell on songwriting is unparalleled. She used soft folk and jazz to soundtrack achingly vulnerable tales of love, freedom, and societal issues, always delivered with endearing poeticism and wit. The truth that infused her songwriting would change the art form forever.
Mitchell has become a reference point for a whole new generation of women with guitars, each of them looking to depict their experiences through song as she once did. From Lana Del Rey to Taylor Swift, the influence of Mitchell on modern songwriting cannot be understated. But there is one song that songwriter Jimmy Webb suggested found particularly affecting.
Reflecting on the significance of Mitchell’s magnum opus, the 1971 Blue, for The Guardian, Webb opted to speak about the album’s penultimate track, the devotional and dazzling ‘A Case Of You’. The song is just as relevant and beautiful now as it was upon its first release over half a century ago – over the years, it has been covered by Tori Amos, Prince and James Blake.
The song represents the pinnacle of Mitchell’s songwriting. From the opening lines, her unique talent and witty vulnerability are apparent. “Just before our love got lost you said, ‘I am as constant as a northern star,’” she sings, “And I said, ‘Constantly in the darkness, where’s that at? If you want me I’ll be in the bar.’” It’s effortlessly personal, with a touch of humour.
As Webb recalls, he first saw Mitchell perform at the Troubadour in Los Angeles in 1968, where he was immediately struck by her on-stage vulnerability: “this golden-haired beauty playing gorgeous chords and singing with mind-blowing abandon in terms of what she was willing to reveal about herself.”
When Webb first heard ‘A Case Of You’, he was further taken by how confessional and intimate her songwriting was: “She first played ‘A Case Of You’ for me at A&M studios. She was transitioning from guitar to piano, and the chords were more modern, complex and dissonant. Lyrically, she was really pushing the envelope in terms of the confessional songwriter.”
Recalling the beautiful lyrics of the song, he continued, “‘I could drink a case of you,’ she sings, ‘and still be on my feet.’ She’s saying that her love for someone is in her blood like holy wine, but even as she’s swept away, she’s going to survive. Her lyrics were deeply personal revelations, shocking sometimes. She changed how people write songs.”
Mitchell certainly did change how people wrote songs. Her unflinching openness has now become a mainstay in modern indie folk, though none have quite matched her songwriting prowess.
Revisit ‘A Case Of You’ by Joni Mitchell below.
