“Fall flat”: Joni Mitchell on the reason why others fail to cover her songs
Joni Mitchell is one of the most-covered artists of all time. Aside from her obvious position as a well-rounded musical legend, her music gives others an avenue to explore the words of someone else, reimagining experiences that formed the basis of Mitchell’s makeup. While some do this incredibly well, others, according to the singer herself, lack one crucial ingredient.
Mitchell’s music was never created to be experienced casually. Throughout her entire discography, she has poured pieces of herself into her art, providing glimpses into the person she once was and who helped her become the person she is today. As a leader of the singer-songwriter boom, she reinstated what it meant to write from the heart with music that feels both personal and accessible.
Several songs come to mind when discussing Mitchell’s legacy, from the haunting reflections within ‘A Case of You’ and her personal lamentation in ‘Little Green’ to the more metaphorical navigation of freedom and loneliness in ‘Amelia’. Albums such as Blue and Court and Spark have also set a new standard for creative expression while guiding the industry between eras.
However, while Mitchell remains the master of her own craft, delivering her songs as an outsider poses another unexpected challenge: how to emulate the same level of emotion Mitchell felt when she first wrote and performed the songs. This is usually one of the biggest challenges when it comes to artists covering others’ songs, and sometimes, they deliver the songs with more emotional intensity than the originality intended.
According to Mitchell, however, this is precisely what makes her music so magical. Discussing this during an interview with Cameron Crowe, she addressed whether performing feels like playing a character, to which she said it’s more a case of embodying those thoughts and feelings that made the songs great in the first place. “It’s not like [playing a character]. It’s, you know, the words to the song are your script,” she said. “You have to bring the correct emotion to every word. You know, if you sing it pretty – a lot of people that cover my songs will sing it pretty – it’s going to fall flat. You have to bring more to it than that.”
That said, not every song comes from a period of immense reflection or pain. Sometimes, they pour out of Mitchell’s heart naturally, more from a place of openness and love than anything else. Being so embracing of love—in all its forms—has enabled her to keep reaching, no matter what her next venture might look like. As she put it in the same interview: “I’ve loved quite a few people, and by that I mean I really feel happy in their company. That’s pretty much it – the joy of someone’s company. That’s what I call love.”
Perhaps this is why covering Mitchell’s song seems like an insurmountable task. For starters, Mitchell has a unique melting pot of characteristics and mannerisms that make her artistry so impactful. Secondly, each has its share of nuances, whether stemming from Mitchell’s own experiences or worldview, making it nearly impossible to replicate the lived authenticity of her sound.
