My first exposure to Joni Mitchell, 81, was through the beloved film Practical Magic. I remember watching Nicole Kidman, her fiery red hair glistening as she attempted to hit Mitchell’s iconic high notes in A Case of You as it played on her car radio, and I remember thinking about how magical she sounded. It was so haunting and soulful, my obsession with the legendary folk singer was immediately cemented.
Though I am sure others have fond memories from when the album first debuted, there is no wrong way to appreciate this living legend. Recently, Mitchell reshared a moment from the Newport Folk Festival in 2022 when she and American singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile did a gorgeous cover of that iconic song—and it sounded utterly mesmerizing.
@jonimitchell Sippin’ on “A Case Of You” today 🍷#JoniMitchell #ACaseOfYou
♬ original sound – Joni Mitchell
People were enamored with the mash-up, talking about what the song has meant to them over the years.
“I cannot listen to the song without crying. It is so beautiful,” said one longtime fan.
“That voice is RICH,” simply stated another.
“Cried now just like when I was standing there watching… such an amazing surprise and gift to have been there,” added another.
It took Carlile a bit of convincing to get Mitchell to agree to the show. Carlile had been organizing monthly music meetings at Mitchell’s home, called “Joni Jams,” when she got the idea to try and convince her to perform live.
“I said, ‘Joni, since we all met you, we’ve all started working together, we’ve become a family. You’ve created a community around you,'” she recalled in an essay for The Times. “‘All we want to do is just sit there in a circle and sing to show you what you’ve done for us. And if you sing along, f—ing awesome; if you don’t, we’re just so happy to be with you. This is our way of thanking you. We don’t want you to feel like there’s something that you have to do.'”
Her participation in the song that day was evidently wholly unexpected.
She continued, “And [Mitchell] said, ‘I get the spirit of it now. We will just sit there and look at the water and sing.’ And after that, if she was apprehensive in any way, we didn’t know it. I don’t know if it will ever happen again. I just know that I will follow her everywhere she goes.”
Related: Meryl Streep Starring in Joni Mitchell Biopic? Find Out Who Else Is Rumored to Join
The Story Behind A Case of You
Though the song never charted, it became a pop culture phenomenon and legendary track. Over 200 artists have covered it, including Prince. Mitchell once revealed that she wrote the song to try and honestly capture what a break-up really feels like in an interview with Mojo Magazine.
“I think men write very dishonestly about breakups,” she said. “I wanted to be capable of being responsible for my own errors. If there was friction between me and another person, I wanted to be able to see my participation in it so I could see what could be changed and what could not. That is part of the pursuit of happiness. You have to pull the weeds in your soul when you are young, when they are sprouting, otherwise they will choke you.”
The track even featured none other than James Taylor on guitar while she strummed on the Appalachian dulcimer. The pair reportedly had a “brief but intense” relationship according to Far Out Magazine, and many believe the tune was actually about Taylor.
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