Today is Joni Mitchell’s 78th birthday and I’m going to make a pop music true confession: I was only inspired to buy my first Joni album (Court And Spark) because Prince “told” me to. It was the ’80s, and I loved my Prince and I’d seen an interview where he mentioned how awesome she was and called her a genius or something to that effect. On went the bulb. If the person who made my #1 favorite album at the time (Purple Rain) with my # 1 favorite song (“I Would Die 4 U”) loved her, there had to be a reason and I needed to know what that reason was dammit. I bought the album and by the time I’d finished playing it, like most humans upon exposure to Joni, I’d been transformed into a complete devotee, snarfing up every album in her catalog and playing them endlessly forever to this very day. That Prince, he knew what he was talking about. While every day is the right one to play some Joni, today is a really right day ( I am rocking the “Jericho” hard right now). Happy Birthday to the goddess genius.
And hey, it’s time for the latest WEEKLY NEW WONDERS PLAYLIST featuring the finest new music that has crossed our path over recent days. I always say this but I’m telling you there are some spectacularly gorgeous songs in the mix this week, yup. You can hear them all below on Soundcloud or Spotify.
P.S. And hey, if you want a bit of weird and fun Joni-related ephemera to peruse today, I’ve written a couple of features you can check out over at Cover Me sharing some of the coolest covers from Court And Spark (read here) and her underrated ’80s years (read here).
Listen on Soundcloud
Listen on Spotify
PICKING UP ROCKS 