Joni Mitchell is like a secret. Held in your heart, cherished and loved. Quiet but powerful. She’s the kind of artist who could take down a country with a single lyric. But more often than not she was smoldering or sizzling in her songs, out on her own, beloved by those who came across her. Indeed, she remains an icon to this day.
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But not every song Mitchell penned went toward her solo success. Indeed, she wrote tunes for others that went on to earn acclaim. Here below, we wanted to explore three of those songs. A trio of tracks she composed for others. Indeed, these are three songs written but not originally performed by Joni Mitchell.
“Michael From Mountains” by Judy Collins from Wildflowers (1967)
This song written by Joni Mitchell opens folk singer Judy Collins’ 1967 album Wildflowers. It tells the story of the titular character Michael, a loving and sweet-hearted person who cannot be pinned down. Collins sings about the man lovingly but also knowingly, since she cannot exactly tame him. So often we hear the reverse: a man singing about a woman he cannot tame. But the shoe is on the other foot in this lovely, lilting song. On it, Collins sings,
Michael wakes you up with sweets
He takes you up streets and the rain comes down
Sidewalk markets locked up tight
And umbrellas bright on a grey background
There’s oil on the puddles in taffeta patterns
That run down the drain
In colored arrangements
That Michael will change with a stick that he found
“Yvette in English” by David Crosby from Thousand Roads (1993)
This song, which was co-written by Mitchell and David Crosby, is a bit of the opposite from the above. This time it’s the male voice—Crosby—singing about a beautiful woman. A woman who, he sings, Picasso would paint head to toe if he could. But like Michael above, the woman leaves the singer at the end—in fact, Crosby sings, She leaves him by the Seine alone. But of course it was better to have loved fleetingly and lost than to never have loved (or encountered Yvette in English) at all. Sings Crosby,
He met her in a French café (Yvette)
She slipped in sideways like a cat (Yvette)
Side-long glances, what a wary little stray (Yvette)
She sticks in his mind like that
Saying, “avez-vous une allumette?”
With her lips wrapped around a cigarette
Yvette in English, saying
“Please have this little bit of instant bliss”
“Tin Angel” by Tom Rush from The Circle Game (1968)
For his 1968 LP The Circle Game, folk singer Tom Rush sings not one, not two, but three Joni Mitchell songs, including “Tin Angle,” which opens the record. The other two tracks include the titular “The Circle Game” and “Urge for Going.” On the album’s opener, Rush sings over a thick acoustic guitar about possibility when it comes to love. He notes dreamy observations and then admits he will forego them for the sake of affection. On the tune, Rush sings,
Varnished weeds in window jars
Tarnished beads on tapestries
Kept in satin boxes are
Reflections of love’s memories
Letters from across the seas
Roses dipped in sealing wax
Valentines and maple leaves
Tucked into a paperback
She says she’ll throw them all away
She found someone to love today
Photo by Ron Pownall/Getty Images
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