3 Underrated Joni Mitchell Songs That Every Songwriter Should Study

Ah yes, Joni Mitchell, the songbird who held everyone’s attention in the late 60s and mid-70s with her layered lyricism. Here are a few Joni Mitchell songs you might not know but that you should definitely take a listen to. Especially if you want to brush up on your own songwriting.

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“The Last Time I Saw Richard”

The final track on Joni Mitchell’s Blue album, “The Last Time I Saw Richard,” is a hidden gem. It tells the tale of a wide-eyed romantic who’s warned of the cynical fate that love brings and chooses optimism. This song is a perfect example of how a character’s description can reveal much about their beliefs.

Mitchel sings: “Richard got married to a figure skater / And he bought her a dishwasher and a coffee percolator / And he drinks at home, now, most nights with the TV on / And all the house lights left upright.”

In the beginning of the song, Richard warns Joni that love will only turn her into a cynic sitting in a dark cafe. After describing his love life in the verse above, Mitchell shares her feelings on the matter. She croons, “I’m gonna blow this damn candle out / I don’t want nobody coming over to my table.” Joni chooses to sit at the cafe table alone, not because she doesn’t believe in love, but because she doesn’t believe in settling. 

“Bad Dreams” 

Opposite to “The Last Time I Saw Richard,” this song demonstrates how one simple phrase can really pack a punch. It also has some pretty vivid lines lyrically, especially when Mitchell describes people as “babbling zombies.”

“I guess I should be happy / Just to be alive… / But we have poisoned everything / And oblivious to it all / The cell phone zombies babble / Through the shopping malls.”

These lyrics hit even more if you think about them in the context of now. 

Mitchell also nods to the ways the environment is struggling, then puts it plainly: “Bad dreams are good in the great plan.” It’s easy to wish that things were different, but we likely wouldn’t strive for change if there wasn’t chaos first.

“Two Grey Rooms”

In this song, the lyrics present as relatively effortless, but the story behind them drives the idea home. In “Two Grey Rooms”, off of 1991’s Night Ride Home, the songwriter croons of an obsessive sort of love. Meaning, the narrator buys an apartment with two grey rooms so that they can watch their ex-lover walk by.

“Tomorrow is Sunday / Now there’s only one day left to go / Til you walk by / Below my window.”

As Songfacts shares, this song was actually inspired by Max Fassbinder, a German cinematographer. In Germany at the time, being in a same-sex relationship was prohibited. Tragically, Fassbinder was forced into heartbreak because of this law. 

Photo by: Dick Darrell/Toronto Star via Getty Images