Joni Mitchell: The singer Freddie Mercury was “constantly awed” by
May is a good time to determine the cultural impact of musicians. With two bank holidays, the streets of British cities are lined with stag dos marching down the streets, fully clad in fancy dress, and so a game of classic musician bingo is on offer for people watchers like me. Of course, Elvis is on the list, as is uber-modded Liam Gallagher, but perhaps the most common of them is Freddie Mercury à la Live Aid.
It’s because Mercury’s 1985 performance is one of those rare musical moments that transcend time. And as brilliant as he was, it wasn’t the sum of a much wider parts. Take The Beatles, for instance, iconic and culture-shifting in their own right, but their achievement of that is credited over the course of a decade. Rarely do we see an individual moment, a show, capture the zeitgeist quite like Mercury did that day at Wembley.
While it cemented Queen’s place in the history books of music, it affirmed something we all secretly knew but were perhaps too afraid to admit: that Mercury was, at that time, the greatest living performer. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand, responding to his chorus of “Ay-Oh’s” one minute, while waiting in complete silence the next, as the prospect of his vocals soaring off into the stratosphere tantalised fans.
Despite the composition of their sprawling rock ballads, it was Mercury’s voice that set them apart from the rest. Their counterparts in the 1970s and early 1980s leaned into more characterful and nuanced vocal styles, that hinged less on technical perfection and more on rugged nuance.
But as is human nature, it’s only right that you yearn for the attributes you don’t have. And even at the dizzy heights of musical success, where you would assume self-assurance is a given, there is always someone else nearby, doing it slightly differently and making you question your own approach.
Joni Mitchell had that impact on many artists. Somewhere between Mercury’s stunning technical approach and the storytelling charisma of say Bob Dylan, Mitchell carved a legacy of her own in during the late 21st century and became the envy of artists all over. Including Mercury, who said, “I enjoy Joni Mitchell tremendously, and am constantly awed by her vocal phrasing as well as the amazing things she writes.”
There are parallels to be drawn between the way both artists traverse melodies and play with their intonation to emphasise storytelling. ‘Coyote’ feels almost like the whimsical cousin of say ‘Killer Queen’ for example. But perhaps where both artists crossed over was their ability to understand their true sense of self, to play to their own strengths and tell their stories authentically.
“The things that I look back on and sort of shrug off, maybe in a weak moment, grimace over,” Mitchell once admitted, when reflecting on her own style, continuing, “are the parts when I see myself imitating something else. Affectations as opposed to style.” On finishing recording, she was rarely caught doing that, nor was Mercury. Two artist, steadfast in their approach to authenticity, who, despite their starkly contrasting styles, stand side by side in the pantheon of greats.
