“I come from pioneer stock, developers of the West, people who went out into the wilderness and set up home with nothing but a pair of oxen.”
Home
“There was this mountain village in Russia where my music was getting in on some German radio station. I remember this because music used to get up to Saskatchewan from Texas. Late at night after the local station closed down.”
MusicAll Quotes by Joni Mitchell
“I have one piece of music, since 1997, and I don't see it having lyrics. Where does it go in this world? So I haven't recorded it.”
Music“We managed to put together a compilation that had some creativity to it. In the meantime I was listening to the free radio stations and I noticed that during their war coverage they were playing these songs born out of the Vietnam War that were all critical of the soldiers.”
War“I don't understand why Europeans and South Americans can take more sophistication. Why is it that Americans need to hear their happiness major and their tragedy minor, and as jazzy as they can handle is a seventh chord? Are they not experiencing complex emotions?”
Happiness“The considerations of a corporation, especially now, have nothing to do with art or music.”
Music“I hate show business.”
Business“Eventually, with success, I started to feel more and more isolated - like I didn't have a community of artists.”
Success“I see the entire world as Eden, and every time you take an inch of it away, you must do so with respect.”
Respect“You could write a song about some kind of emotional problem you are having, but it would not be a good song, in my eyes, until it went through a period of sensitivity to a moment of clarity. Without that moment of clarity to contribute to the song, it's just complaining.”
Good“To enjoy my music, you need depth and emotionality.”
Music“In some ways, my gift for music and writing was born out of tragedy, really, and loss.”
Music“There was this mountain village in Russia where my music was getting in on some German radio station. I remember this because music used to get up to Saskatchewan from Texas. Late at night after the local station closed down.”
Music“I came through folk music simply because it was easy to get into it.”
Music“No one likes to have less than they had before. That's the nature of the human animal.”
Nature“I see music as fluid architecture.”
Architecture“You have this mounting aggressive ignorance with the rabbit's foot of their particular religion. You don't really have any kind of spiritual law, just a kind of a rabid mental illness. The songs are a little slice of life.”
Religion“I find a lot of poetry to be narcissistic.”
Poetry“I conceived in art college at the age of 20, near the end of term.”
Age“We have a war dictator who was not elected, he snuck in. so he punishes people that threaten him in any way, or even say something he doesn't like. It has no resemblance to democracy.”
War“Sorrow is so easy to express and yet so hard to tell.”
Sympathy