Joni Mitchell:
Joni Mitchell is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. She began her career singing in small nightclubs in Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto.
In 1965 she moved to the United States and, touring constantly, began to be recognised when her original songs ("Urge for Going," "Chelsea Morning," "Both Sides, Now," "The Circle Game") were covered by notable folk singers, allowing her to sign with Reprise Records and record her own debut album in 1968. Settling in Southern California, Mitchell, with popular songs like "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Woodstock", helped define an era and a generation. Her more starkly personal 1971 recording Blue has been called one of the best albums ever made.Blue is one of my favourite albums. It is certainly one of my favourite folk albums. Musically restless, Mitchell switched labels and began moving toward jazz rhythms by way of lush pop textures on 1974's Court and Spark, her best-selling LP, featuring her radio hits "Help Me" and "Free Man in Paris."
Popular Songs: Big Yellow Taxi, Woodstock, Blue, River, Carey
My Favourite Songs: A Case of You, California, Big Yellow Taxi Instruments: Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Dulcimer (or mountain dulcimer) is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. Its origins are in the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of the fingerboard, and its fretting is generally diatonic), Ukulele, Auto-harp
Joni Mitchell recorded "A Case of You" in 1971, during her early folk period. The song was first released on the 1971 album Blue with Mitchell playing Appalachian dulcimer, accompanied by James Taylor on acoustic guitar. The recent release of the live album Amchitka - the 1970 concert that launched Greenpeace shows that the song was written earlier than 1971 as Mitchell performs a live version of "A Case of You" at the concert. The line "I am as constant as a northern star" is a quotation from Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar. I think it is one of my favourite lines from the song along with the second verse "Oh I am a lonely painter, I live in a box of paints. I'm frightened by the devil And I'm drawn to those one that ain't afraid. I remember that time you told me, you said love is touching souls, surely you touched mine because part of you pours out of me in these lines from time to time". I love this verse and the northern star line because I relate it to my relationship with my best friend. I think the reason I chose this song is because it reminds me of my best friend and in some way I think I could sing it to him.
I will really enjoy singing this song and I hope I can convey my love for this genre and this artist through my performance.
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