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THE ALBUM
Title: Blue
Release date: June 22, 1971
Genre: Singer/Songwriter // Folk-rock
Mood: Elegant, Somber, Intimate
Joni Mitchell was 27 years old at the date of the Blue's release. It is her fourth studio album.
Joni Mitchell is credited as the sole writer and producer for all the songs on the album. It was recorded and released in California, U.S.A. in 1971.
On the making of this album, Joni Mitchell had the following to say:
During the making of Blue, I was just so thin-skinned and delicate that if anybody looked at me I'd burst into tears. I was so vulnerable and I felt so naked in my work. [...] My individual psychological descent coincided, ironically, with my ascent into the public eye. They were putting me on a pedestal and I was wobbling! So, you know, I took it upon myself that, since I was a public voice and was subject to this kind of weird worship, that they should know who they were worshipping. (From the documentary film Joni Mitchell: A Woman of Heart and Mind)
On the confessional and deeply intimate nature of the songs on Blue, Joni shared her experience of playing them to her male musician friends:
At that time, we were all still young enough that we played our songs for each other. It horrified all the male singer-songwriters around me. I was amused. They were embarrassed for me. Because the popular song had been about posturing. I had been self-aggrandizing. The feminine appetite for intimacy is stronger than it is in men. So my songwriter friends listened and they all shut down, even Neil Young. The only one who spoke up was Kris Kistofferson, "Jesus, Joni," he said. "Save something for yourself."
THE ARTIST
Artist: Joni Mitchell
Nationality: Canadian
THE IMPACT
Blue's most-streamed song on Spotify is A Case Of You with over 100,000,000 streams.
Rolling Stone named Blue the third greatest album of all time on their "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list (published in 2020).
NPR named Blue the number one best album by a woman on their 2017 list 150 Greatest Albums Made by Women.
It is a record full of love songs, of sad songs; but more than that, it is a compendium of reasonable demands that too many men in too many women's lives heard, in 1971, as pipe dreams or outrageous follies. "All I really, really want our love to do, is to bring out the best in me and in you, too," Mitchell sang to an elusive partner on the album's first track. That line, like so many of the melodic and lyrical gestures throughout Blue, is simple, but so radical.
Other reviews said:
Sad, spare, and beautiful, Blue is the quintessential confessional singer/songwriter album. (Jason Ankeny on AllMusic)
Blue is brimming with moments like this—otherwise pedestrian snapshots that Mitchell renders eternal. It’s not enough for her to say she’s lonely when her lover leaves; her ache is visceral, one that’s felt in the space he leaves behind in a tangle of bedsheets and the skillet that makes one breakfast instead of two. (Apple Music)
YouTube channel "Produce Like A Pro" has a fascinating video essay describing the artistic process, historical context, and long-lasting cultural impact of this album. Click here to watch Albums That Changed Music: Joni Mitchell - Blue (duration is approximately 35 minutes).
THE REST
Joni Mitchell says she’s removing music from Spotify - January 2022
In a public post on her website, she made the following statement regarding the decision to remove her music from Spotify:
I Stand With Neil Young!
I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.
THE CONVERSATION
I enjoy this album, and in particular the song "Little Green." I didn't understand it when I first listened to it, but I could hear the poignancy. After learning that it was about a baby she gave up for adoption, the lyrics made complete sense and became more poignant than ever.
Her love songs to men are less thematically interesting to me, but she has such vocal skill and her songwriting is so clever I'm happy to listen to them anyway.
I sing along loudly to this whole album (alone, I hasten to add), apart from Little Green. First it feels too personal for me to sing with her, and second whenever I have tried to sing along I start feeling what she is feeling and i choke up and my voice comes out in a squeak-sob and I start crying.
"Just a Little Green, like the colour when the spring is born" gets me every time.
Hearing it for the first time. Wow. The pain, love, and depth in this song is kinda shattering my heart.
I first heard this song right after giving birth to my baby girl and it of kind of broke me. I couldn't dream of giving her up and so this hit too close to home. I haven't been able to listen to it again yet.