The 1977 song Joni Mitchell wrote about the “miserly” figure of Bob Dylan
Despite being two of the greatest folk singers in history, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan have endured a strange relationship.
Despite crossing paths on countless occasions over the last 50 years or so, moving within the same circles at the peak of their careers and even sharing the stage on numerous instances, the pair have seemingly never considered each other as friends.
Whether it was the apparent disdain Dylan showed Mitchell on the Rolling Thunder Revue, the perception of Dylan as one of the leading members of rock and roll’s boys’ club, or just disagreeable personalities coming face-to-face, the two juggernauts never saw eye-to-eye. There have been a few instances when Mitchell has taken a swipe at Dylan, but one perhaps stands out more prominently than most: ‘Talk To Me’.
The two folkies were part of the same scene throughout the late 1960s and early ’70s, and during that time, barely a bad word was shared in public. Mitchell may have held back from publically voicing her initial dislike of Dylan for the benefit of her career; after all, Dylan was still the poster boy of the folk-rock scene. However, this didn’t prevent her from doing it the way an artist should – through her music.
Both singers shared a similar fanbase, and if Mitchell wasn’t careful in her attack on the anointed saviour of the entire musical movement, she risked alienating the majority of the followers who hero-worshipped the pair of them. It would take her notably cultivated songwriting to do the job without waves being made.
After Dylan’s famed Rolling Thunder Revue tour – of which Mitchell featured a number of times – she was left frustrated and aimed her grievances at the culprit. The track in question, aimed directly at Dylan, was the 1977 effort, which featured on her experimental record Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter, included an exquisite snipe at her former tour buddy.
“Or we could talk about power, About Jesus and Hitler and Howard Hughes, Or Charlie Chaplin’s movies,” she swoons in the track, picking out some of Dylan’s apparent favourite subjects. Chaplin was a hero of Dylan’s, arguably one of his most dearly held, and leaves no question marks as to who the song was aiming at.
“Just come and talk to me, Mr Mystery, talk to me,” Mitchell later sings on ‘Talk To Me’ as she lets out the frustrations of a year on the road with the silent man of immense musical mystery and intrigue. Dylan made his name on being aloof, whether it was in interviews where he would regularly make up backstories or his musical output. “Are you really exclusive or just miserly? You spend every sentence as if it was marked currency,” she later fires in the direction of a certain bohemian singer-songwriter.
Another reason why Mitchell appears to be filled with contempt for Dylan dates back to a time when she was working on her 1974 album Court and Spark. The record is seen as one of Mitchell’s best, but it clearly didn’t please the notoriously difficult Dylan, who also fell foul of another folk singer in Paul Simon by once laughing at his live performance.
During this period, Mitchell was living at record label mogul David Geffen’s house, and at this point, Geffen had also recently signed Dylan to Elektra/Asylum. When Mitchell played the freewheelin’ Bob Dylan a preview of the record at one of Geffen’s parties, he was so enthralled by the material that he allegedly fell asleep. The ultimate mark of disrespect or a hint at the lullaby quality of Mitchell’s vocal? You decide.
‘Talk To Me’ is built out of the usual Mitchell components. Her wonderful vocal, uniquely shaped as it is, delivers heaps of scything lyrics while also suggesting a vulnerability that is rarely talked about. The requesting title suggests that Mitchell deeply wanted to be friends with Dylan but simply couldn’t connect. Of course, as the lyrics continue, the vehemence with which they’re delivered turns from pleading into punishment.
What makes the song especially fascinating is how Mitchell balances admiration with irritation throughout the track. Even while criticising Dylan’s evasive personality and intellectual posturing, there is still an undercurrent of fascination in the way she addresses him. Rather than sounding like a simple attack piece, ‘Talk To Me’ feels more like the reaction of someone disappointed that a meaningful connection never fully materialised.
That tension mirrors the wider mythology surrounding Dylan during the 1970s. By the time of the Rolling Thunder Revue, he had cultivated an almost impenetrable mystique, often frustrating those closest to him with his refusal to reveal too much of himself. Mitchell, whose songwriting thrived on emotional openness and personal honesty, clearly found that distance difficult to tolerate, especially after spending extended periods around him on tour.
In many ways, the song also demonstrates Mitchell’s confidence as a writer during one of her most experimental creative periods. Rather than directly naming Dylan, she buried her frustrations inside poetic imagery and layered observations, allowing listeners to piece together the target for themselves. It was a far more elegant approach than a public feud, proving once again that Mitchell preferred to channel personal conflicts into art rather than spectacle.
Mitchell would continue to remain quiet on her not-so-bright opinion of Dylan for many years, with ‘Talk To Me’ being the only exception. The song provided her side of the story. In 1979, even after the sleeping incident and during an interview with Cameron Crowe, Mitchell was full of praise for her contemporary. During the conversation, she revealed to the interviewer that she and Dylan had “a series of brief encounters” as well as “tests” over the years, but Mitchell made it clear in her own words that she “always had affection for him”. However, it would appear that this may have been a public-facing answer to a difficult question.
Contrarily, during an interview with the LA Times in 2010, the interviewer compared the two singers as similar artists, which, it turned out, was not a good move. The report claimed that Mitchell fiercely refuted this comparison and stated: “We are like night and day, [Dylan] and I,” she said. “Bob is not authentic at all. He’s a plagiarist, and his name and voice are fake. Everything about Bob is a deception.”
In the world of musical creation, to label an artist like Dylan a plagiarist is about as tough a remark as one can make. From this alone, we can be safe in the knowledge that no love is lost between the two singers.
Even though the two artists have never been close friends. One thing is for sure: Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan are comparable in one way only; they, like all true artists, put themselves in their own canvases with honesty and sincerity, even if it comes with repercussions.
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