The first time Neil Young met Joni Mitchell
“Sweet Joni from Saskatoon,” Neil Young sang in 1973, “There’s a ring for your finger, it shines like the sun, but it feels like the moon.” There’s no subtlety to his subject matter, it’s clearly an ode to his long-time friend and fellow Canadian folk legend Joni Mitchell. The pair were years into their friendship at this point, but Mitchell and Young were taking musical inspiration from each other from the moment they first met.
The year was 1964, and it seems that the place to be was the University of Manitoba’s Fourth Dimension folk cafe. Mitchell and her husband Chuck were passing through the city, playing shows as a pair, when they stumbled upon Winnipeg local and future Godfather of Grunge, Young.
“I was 20. She was about 22, maybe one year older than me,” Young recalled during a conversation with Zach Sang. Similar in age and in musical interests, the folk enthusiasts got to talking and eventually played her one of his own compositions. “I got to know her and I played her ‘Sugar Mountain’. I played ‘Sugar Mountain’ for her,” he explained.
It would be over a decade before Young released the track into the world, but he was moved to show it to Mitchell and bolstered by praise he had received during his time in Toronto. “I told her I’d just been in Canada, in Toronto, and played that for a group called The Dirty Shames,” he explained, “There was this guy, Chick Robertson, The Dirty Shames, that said, ‘That’s a special song, you know… That song’s gonna be around for a while.’”
“And I’m saying to Joni, I’m saying, ‘This guy, Chuck, Chick Roberts, whatever his name was, he told me that this was a special song so I’ll play it for you, see what you think,’” he recalled. It certainly was a special song, one that would be around for a while, and one that stunned Mitchell on her first listen.
The folk songwriter was so taken by the track that she penned ‘The Circle Game’ not long after, “‘cause it got to her and she felt it too. She felt it in her own unique way, as well, obviously.” Their meeting spawned a beautiful and long-lasting friendship, as well as some gorgeous music. The pair still keep in touch, and Young maintains that she may well be “the greatest artist of our generation.”
Listen to ‘The Circle Game’ below.
