The Song Joni Mitchell Wrote to Cater to Radio Stations

Joni Mitchell isn’t an artist that has vied for mainstream success. Her art is more about divulging her inner-most thoughts and less about scoring major hits. That being said, she did cater to the radio once with “You Turn Me On I’m a Radio.” This song was specially made for radio DJs, in hopes it would earn Mitchell a spot on one of their broadcasts. Luckily for Mitchell, it worked.

Videos by American Songwriter

[RELATED: Why Joni Mitchell Was “Almost Anti-Bob Dylan” and How a British Actor Helped Change Her Mind]

The Song Joni Mitchell Wrote to Cater to Radio Stations

If you’re driving into town
With a dark cloud above you
Dial in the number
Who’s bound to love you

Oh honey, you turn me on
I’m a radio
I’m a country station
I’m a little bit corny
I’m a Wildwood flower
Waving for you
Broadcasting tower
Waving for you

Mitchell wrote “You Turn Me On I’m a Radio” with the perimeters of a radio show in mind. She made the intro and outro longer than normal so that the DJs could give their two cents over top the instrumentation. She followed up that bait with a relentlessly catchy melody. The combination of those two things made this song a shoe-in for mainstay airplay.

“I decided there were some ways to make a hit, increase the chances,” Mitchell once said. “DJs have to like it, so you put a long part at the beginning and the end so the DJs can talk over it. Take a tender situation and translate it into commonly appealing songs for the DJs. It’d have to be a bit corny, so I wrote this little song called ‘Oh Honey, You Turn Me On, I’m A Radio.’”

I’m sending you out this signal here / I hope you can pick it up loud and clear, she sings, making nods to the radio, further luring in those that could get her song the attention she was seeking.

“You Turn Me On I’m a Radio” became Mitchell’s first Top 40 hit in the U.S. as an artist. Radio DJs loved the references to their medium. It earned Mitchell the airplay she was looking for. Sometimes it pays to cater to your audience. Check out this track, below.

And I’m sending you out this signal here
I hope you can pick it up loud and clear
I know you don’t like weak women
You get bored so quick
And you don’t like strong women
‘Cause they’re hip to your tricks

It’s been dirty for dirty
Down the line, but you know
I come when you whistle
When you’re loving and kind

(Photo by Chris Walter/WireImage)