The Motown song that shaped Joni Mitchell’s career: “It was so influential to my music”
I don’t think musicians are as pent up over genres and labels quite as much as we fans are. Largely, it’s a method for us mere mortals to understand something beyond the realms of our understanding. Joni Mitchell is reductively labelled a folk legend, while Marvin Gaye’s place in soul royalty should ultimately keep the two operating in vastly different lanes.
Their acknowledgement of one another as artists likely confuses some fans, who lean on the familiarity of commercial labels to cement their fandom. But ultimately, the reality is anything but. While Marvin Gaye languidly cruises to a groovier beat to Mitchell, who tiptoes along the highwire of master-crafted folk, the pair occupy the same school of philanthropic thought.
Capitalism, societal divide, and the bruising of 20th-century war are woven into their shared tapestry of songwriting like a pair of long-lost pen pals. So it came as no surprise that Mitchell included the work of the Motown legend in a compilation CD titled Joni Mitchell Artists Choice. With Starbucks backing the project, the aim was to provide a collection of songs that give an insight into the mind of Mitchell. Released with descriptions from Mitchell about why each song bears meaning to her, the project allowed the reality of sharing a heartfelt cappuccino with the artist ever closer.
And when the cymbals from Marvin Gaye’s ‘Trouble Man’ usher the Motown chapter of the playlist, it’s time to take a sip and listen to why Michell heralds an unlikely song. “I had this song on an album and I kept the needle on this track – playing it over and over.” She added, “It was so influential to my music and my singing. It excites me from the downbeat – the way the drums roll in – the suspense – the approaching storm of it.”
In a video from Mitchell’s 1998 performance of Gaye’s seminal track clearly outlines the artistic commonality the two share. While she undoubtedly grabs the track and sucks it into a more moody vocal soundscape, Mitchell’s ability to craft intricate vocal melodies in the pockets of a soul groove are plain to see. As such, the learnings she took from repeating his track are plain to see.
Three years after Gaye released ‘Trouble Man’ in 1973, Mitchell released her more experimental album Hejira. To the uninitiated fans, who adored her breakout albums Ladies Of The Canyon and Blue, the twangy drawn-out guitar lines and crashing cymbals that followed the familiarity in the albums opener ‘Coyote’ was certainly a shocking fork in her artistic road. But if anything, it was a natural place for an artist whose creative formations were built upon the brooding soul landscapes of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Trouble Man’.
Elsewhere on the record, Mitchell picks the likes of Etta James and Ray Charles who while pivotal to the foundations of 1970s soul, act as more obviously songwriting influences for Mitchell. But it’s in this ‘98 performance of Gaye’s song that we understand the innate appreciation and connection she has to Gaye. Even her ability to change the rhythm of her vocals in the song’s bridge felt like more than a doff of the cap to the master of soulful vocal melodies, it felt like an arm round the shoulder of someone who was firmly her contemporary.
