‘California’: the “delightful” Joni Mitchell song that reminds James Taylor of home
“Joni had succeeded in music. She had a house and an automobile and wanted to have fun and see the world,” said James Taylor when reflecting on the period in Joni Mitchell’s life when she was writing Blue, “After a year or two of travelling in Europe with her portable dulcimer, she came back with lots of songs and ideas. We moved in the same circles and ended up together.”
Taylor was close with Mitchell and got to see her creative process. She wasn’t flamboyant with her writing, she simply took herself to quiet places where she could tap out melodies and pen lyrics, but this was all she needed when it came to putting together some of her most famous tracks.
Blue is her most famous album. It has a deep and profound beauty buried within it. While Mitchell might not employ all the bells and whistles available to her on the record, the simplicity of her music is what makes it so wonderful. When she sings, there is connection and vulnerability in her voice, and it resonates so much that Blue is still considered a classic decades later.
“It was a calm, peaceful, amazing, creative time,” said Taylor. “She quit smoking, and her voice was excellent. She was at the height of her powers. It felt natural and easy for me to play on the album. There were very few people in the sessions. Blue’s brilliance lies in its minimalism. It thrives on her voice, melody and personality. It’s pure Joni.”
To say the beauty lies in its minimalism is a fair assessment of what makes Mitchell’s music stand out. She is one of the best guitar players to ever pick up a six-string, but while many people show their talent by maximising the amount they can play, Mitchell could put together guitar passages that were constantly questioning and filled with rhythm.
“When I play guitar, I hear it as an orchestra,” she noted. “The top three strings being horn section, the bottom three being cello, viola, and bass – the bass being indicated but not rooted.”
She was often dubbed as being a musician who only wrote sad music, and that was true for a lot of her songs. Her property caretaker once said she should try writing a happy song, and they believed the best way to do this would be to create during the day. “He said, ‘You’re a cheerful person, Joni. But you write all these melancholy songs. I think it’s because you write them at night. Why don’t you try writing a song in the daylight?’” She recalled.
She was capable of writing happy songs and did so frequently. There are a number of examples, but one is the track that James Taylor said reminded him of home. Written while she was travelling, the song ‘California’ is one of his standouts from the acclaimed album Blue.
“California, which she wrote in Paris, is a coming home song,” he conclusively declared. “After travelling, your home has a different context within the world, and California captures that. It’s delightful, personal and genuine.”
