The five best covers of Joni Mitchell’s ‘A Case Of You’
There’s a reason why ‘A Case Of You’ has been covered by hundreds of artists, just as there are many reasons why many musicians regard it as one of the greatest Joni Mitchell songs ever written. Graham Nash, for instance, described it as “beautiful”, saying, “There are so many brilliant songs. I tend to go towards a simple song, and one of my favourites is ‘A Case Of You.’ I think it’s an unbelievably beautifully recorded, simple folk song. It’s beautiful.”
Written as a means of tackling others’ inability to write great songs about breakups, ‘A Case Of You’ saw Mitchell confronting the error of her ways, taking accountability for her own actions, and pursuing happiness by reflecting on everything she had done wrong in the relationship. Written like her most intimate confession, the song was a desperate ploy to face her own shortcomings and emerge out of the other side. As she said: “You have to pull the weeds in your soul when you are young, when they are sprouting, otherwise they will choke you.”
The song was so open and intimate that David Crosby was blown away the first time he heard it. However, people as close to Mitchell as Crosby knew that this wasn’t a unique achievement; Mitchell knew how to go away and pen a handful of songs that were even better than anything her counterparts could ever dream of. All of her songs were secrets shared with the outside world—pieces of her she allowed others to see, dreams she had left behind, and new ones she had her eye on.
Prince loved ‘A Case Of You’ so much that he started sending her fanmail, written in a way that made her team discard them without realising who they had come from. Emerging from her gorgeous album Blue, the song captivated many because of its duality, with Mitchell lamenting love and loss as though they were experiences to honour rather than reject. The person she sings about might have been her soulmate, but losing them pales compared to owning who she has become and will be.
‘A Case Of You’ naturally became a beacon of inspiration for many, with countless artists putting their name to different variations, some remaining loyal to the original, with others venturing into distinctive territory. Here are five of the best covers.
The best covers of ‘A Case Of You’:
Prince
As someone who was famously anti-cover, Prince‘s cover of ‘A Case Of You’ emerged as poignant for several reasons. Firstly, he must have regarded Mitchell’s reputation and artistry so highly that he felt they matched his own, as he usually viewed those around him as mere reflections of the industry’s dark commercialism.
Secondly, the cover came at a pivotal moment for the star, particularly after he performed it alongside hits like ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ and ‘I Would Die 4 U’, which makes it clear he regarded Mitchell as a worthy companion alongside the explosion of his own career. The cherry on the top was Prince’s letters to the singer, which he used to express his deep admiration for her, even if the only person who understood it was himself.
Tori Amos
Quite possibly the most emotional rendition of the song, Tori Amos‘ version of ‘A Case Of You’ emerged starkly stripped-back with a heightened sense of fragility, highlighting Mitchell’s words in an even more poignant light. It doesn’t take much to detect the emotionality of Mitchell’s work, as her songs appear like snippets of conversations of confessional secrets waiting to be heard.
However, Amos achieved the seemingly impossible by holding her words more tenderly, enabling its innate vulnerability to come to the fore, almost like the song could have been her own. While nobody ever can perform a Mitchell song better than the original, Amos’ take on the classic comes strikingly close, capturing the song’s emotional depth with a level of intensity that only someone with a deep understanding of the original could deliver.
Graham Nash
Graham Nash first met Mitchell in Canada in 1967. Like everything else they went on to achieve together, it felt veiled in a certain poeticism, like they were always fated to cross paths. As he put it: “The Hollies were playing a show there and Joni was playing at a local club. There was a party thrown for us after our show, and when I entered the room, I noticed a beautiful woman sitting down with what appeared to be a large bible on her knees.”
Covering ‘A Case Of You’ seemed just as prophetic, given Nash’s lifelong adoration for his musical counterpart. Like many things he says and does when the subject of Mitchell arises, the song is delivered with a sense of understanding, or rather knowing, considering Nash has always been forthcoming about his inferiority when the two are in the same room, whether figuratively or metaphorically. But his rendition of the song reveals even more secrets, like a magical sprinkle of the old times, even if most memories have faded into the distance.
Brandi Carlile
In stark contrast, Brandi Carlile made the song even more grounding, focussing on the emotionality of the original and leaving little room or space for any other interpretation. In her version, the song maintains the authenticity of the original with an added layer of immediacy, making its reflective message take on something a little more commanding.
Carlile has covered Mitchell before, but what makes this particular one stand out is the ferocity with which she makes it her own, almost as though she pushed aside her pre-existing adoration of the singer to focus on making it as close to her style as possible. It pays off, as the result is a track that comes across as though the words are her own, giving it even more weight than ever.
James Blake
When Mitchell penned ‘A Case Of You’, she likely didn’t anticipate it would one day sound the way it did when James Blake caught wind of it. With his rendition, the gritty realism of her world had been smoothened with more ambience and use of spatial elements, transforming it into a more haunting experience.
With Blake’s rendition, however, the song’s appeal shifts slightly, becoming less of a confessional glimpse into lost love and more a lamentation of the haziness of memory. The atmospheric quality makes it feel like faded emotions and experiences, giving it an ethereal quality that flits in the ether with little grounding.
