“It’s stupid”: the performance that made Vashti Bunyan give up music
Inspiration can work in various ways. While some people might be so moved by a piece of music that it encourages them to make something themselves, others feel the opposite. They don’t believe they could ever match what they’ve just experienced, so they don’t even try. The latter happened with Vashti Bunyan, as one Joni Mitchell performance she saw led to her giving up music for three decades.
She was fascinated by music from a very young age. She would stare at records on the turntable and be perplexed by how they worked. “That’s what started my fascination with recorded music,” she said. “I just didn’t understand how those wiggly lines on the vinyl translated into these sounds!”
From there on, she was always going to make music and steadily started to develop her taste. She had an affinity for words and storytelling, which steadily led to the likes of Bob Dylan, and she continually found herself listening to what the bard had to offer. As somebody with such a unique vocal tone and way with words, Dylan captured her love for music and helped it grow.
“I found The FreeWheelin’ Bob Dylan in a shop. I knew ‘Blowing in the Wind’ from my boyfriend at school, but he refused to teach it to me because he thought Dylan songs should not be sung by a girl. That relationship didn’t last long, but at least it led me to Bob Dylan’s existence,” she said, “So when I saw that album in the window in the Village, I immediately pounced on it—it opened my mind and educated me more than anything else had ever done. It also made me want to be a wandering singer myself.”
Bunyan practised making her own music and, in turn, managed to get enough of a reputation that she was able to start recording and releasing music. Unfortunately, her career wasn’t the most successful. “By the time I was 20, I’d made a single with [Rolling Stones manager] Andrew Loog Oldham, ‘Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind’. Over the next five years, a lot happened to me musically,” she said, “But it ended with me leaving the music business and my family and everybody…”
Bunyan refers to the writing and recording of her debut album, Just Another Diamond Day. Unfortunately, this album didn’t do too well at the time, and compared to some of her heroes who had inspired her to make music, it was a complete flop. Like many people, this was enough for Bunyan to question her place within the music industry, but it was a performance by an artist she admired that eventually convinced her to quit. Not Bob Dylan, but another phenomenal voice in the world of folk music.
“One of the reasons I gave up music so early was seeing Joni Mitchell on an old black-and-white TV. She was singing ‘Both Sides Now’, and I was so overwhelmed by her brilliance that I thought I could never come anywhere close to that,” she recalled, “So I turned away from music altogether.”
Bunyan continued: “Looking back, it’s stupid. I shouldn’t have compared myself to other people. But with Joni Mitchell, it was really hard not to. She was so clearly extraordinary and she seemed to say everything that I’d ever wanted to say or do by bringing simple, acoustic music into the mainstream and have it be of value.”
Joni Mitchell had this effect on many people; her astounding voice, paired with her unique guitar playing, meant that many considered her one of the best musicians out there at the time. Her live shows would grab people and force them to listen, to be moved throughout, and they would come out of those rooms as changed people because of the elusive power contained within her music.
Mitchell always said that she approached her guitar as if it were an orchestra, using the top three strings as the horn section and the bottom three as the bass, viola, and cello. She also played chords differently from other people, referring to them as “Chords of inquiry,” which meant, “They have a question mark in them. They’re sustained. Men don’t like them because they like resolution, just like they do in life.” This allowed her to be emotive with her guitar playing and singing.
David Crosby once said she was “Like a band in the way you approach a chord and string the melody together.” He added, “It’s these odd tunings that have tripped up thousands of artists trying to figure out how to get ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ to sound like her ‘Big Yellow Taxi’.”
Bunyan was moved by Mitchell’s playing, but not in the right way. It led her to believe she wasn’t good enough, so she quit music. Her album did end up getting a cult following, and once it was re-released, it launched the second phase of her music career three decades later. It’s a shame that her love of Mitchell stopped her from making music for a while, but it’s good her work was recognised, and she returned to music eventually.
