Joni Mitchell’s Californian anthem that started in a New York boutique: “What I drew”
The warm hills of Laurel Canyon felt like something of a natural home for Joni Mitchell.
Her heartfelt brand of folk perfectly suited the spiritualism of this burgeoning bohemian arts community that the vibrant Los Angeles was fostering. Slotting into a neighbourhood that boasted Crosby Stills and Nash as well as The Byrds and many other artists, Mitchell’s artistry continued to flourish while feeling inherently Californian.
Her wandering curiosity that began in her home country of Canada felt like it had reached a natural horizon in California, and so it was only right that Mitchell pen an album in ode to that feeling. Ladies Of The Canyon was a direct representation of that life, built around community and creativity, in a bid to oppose whatever conservative ideals existed outside the sheltered realms of the wooded neighbourhood.
But while large parts of the cultural lexicon credit the men of Laurel Canyon with forging its reputation – namely, the two aforementioned bands – Mitchell wrote a stunning track to ensure that the stories of the women who made up Laurel Canyon were heard instead.
‘Ladies Of The Canyon’ was a tribute to her three friends, Trina Robbins, Annie Burden, and Estrella Berosini, who all lived with her during that period in the late 1960s. The opening verse in particular was inspired by Robbins, who, like Mitchell, moved to LA in search of a new creative chapter.
But Robbins didn’t escape the quiet boredom of suburban America – now she had already forged a wildly successful career for herself while owning a clothing boutique in the Lower East Side of New York, and during that time in The Big Apple, Robbins was not only a shop owner, but also a comic book artist and clothing designer who created fashions for stars like Mitchell, Donovan, and Mama Cass.
Robbins subsequently became something of a style icon to the Laurel Canyon community. Mitchell recalled how she wore a string of beads that she referred to as love beads. They were something of a hippy staple that became increasingly stylised by the New York designer, who was then immortalised in Mitchell’s lyrics – “Trina wears her wampum beads / She fills her drawing book with line / Sewing lace on widow’s weeds / And filigree on leaf and vine.”
Robbins herself explained the later stages of Mitchell’s verse and how they contextualised her by saying, “The filigree is what I drew, the lace on widow’s weeds is because I made clothes that often featured antique lace sewn onto velvet mini dresses.”
The remaining two verses continue on, honouring Burden and Berosini also, with the former’s warm friendship being a source of lyrical inspiration while the latter’s upbringing in a circus environment allows Mithcell to delve deep into the bright creative worlds of that Californian community.
Through the narration of these three relatively unknown characters, Mitchell’s song provides a visceral view of Laurel Canyon and how it became a warm sanctuary for a generation of artists in the late 1960s, and subsequently delivered some of the best music of all time.
