Quotes by Joni Mitchell

About Joni Mitchell:

Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell is a Canadian singer-songwriter and painter. Mitchell began 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 began touring. Some of her original songs ("Urge for Going", "Chelsea Morning", "Both Sides, Now", "The Circle Game") were covered by folk singers, allowing her to sign with Reprise Records and record her debut album in 1968.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

I conceived in art college at the age of 20, near the end of term.

Joni Mitchell

I see music as fluid architecture.

Joni Mitchell

Back then, I didn't have a big organization around me. I was just a kid with a guitar, traveling around. My responsibility basically was to the art, and I had extra time on my hands. There is no extra time now. There isn't enough time.

Joni Mitchell

The considerations of a corporation, especially now, have nothing to do with art or music.

Joni Mitchell

The coming of the kids hasn't come out in my art yet.

Joni Mitchell

We are stardust Billion-year old carbon And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden

Joni Mitchell

It's in my stars to invent; I was born on Madame Curie's birthday. I have this need for originals, for innovation. That's why I like Charlie Parker.

Joni Mitchell

When you're trying to pass on the best of the stuff you're culling to what should be a hungry culture but you have it diminished... that's kind of disappointing.

Joni Mitchell

The Beginning of Survival is my best album. I am very proud of it, and I am surprised at it, too. I thought some of Travelogue was a little heavy, but I don't think this is heavy.

Joni Mitchell

I know my generation - a lot of them, they're getting old now, and they want to think back fondly, they want to kid themselves. A lot of them think, 'Yeah, we were the best.' That's the kiss of death. That's non-growth. And also that's very bad for t...

Joni Mitchell

My family could only afford to get me the box of eight Crayola crayons, but I craved the one with all 24 colours. I wanted magenta and turquoise and silver and gold.

Joni Mitchell

I heard someone from the music business saying they are no longer looking for talent, they want people with a certain look and a willingness to cooperate.

Joni Mitchell

I thrive on change. That's probably why my chord changes are weird, because chords depict emotions. They'll be going along on one key and I'll drop off a cliff, and suddenly they will go into a whole other key signature. That will drive some people c...

Joni Mitchell

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.

Joni Mitchell

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 comp...

Joni Mitchell

Everyone I know has attention deficit, and they say it with great pride. It's a bad time to be right.

Joni Mitchell

My style of songwriting is influenced by cinema. I'm a frustrated filmmaker. A fan once said to me, 'Girl, you make me see pictures in my head!' and I took that as a great compliment. That's exactly my intention.

Joni Mitchell

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, i...

Joni Mitchell

My childhood was very difficult. I had every childhood disease and then some, but my parents didn't mollycoddle me. They left me to fight those battles on my own. I guess that was very Canadian, very stoic. But it's good. I had to become a warrior. I...

Joni Mitchell

In terms of fiction, I'd rather go out and have a good time than read a book about someone having a good or bad time.

Joni Mitchell

Author Bio

  • NameJoni Mitchell
  • DescriptionCanadian musician
  • AliasesRoberta Joan Anderson
  • BornNovember 7, 1943
  • CountryCanada
  • ProfessionSinger; Songwriter; Painter; Singer-songwriter; Artist; Musician
  • WorksBoth Sides; Big Yellow Taxi; Carey; Got 'til It's Gone
  • AwardsPolar Music Prize; Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame; Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; Canadian Music Hall Of Fame; Canada's Walk Of Fame; Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame; Companion Of The Order Of Canada