Joni Mitchell enters Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame
Joni Mitchell was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame on Sunday night (January 28th). The Toronto Sun reported that Mitchell spoke about her early days as a singer-songwriter, and told the crowd at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre that she had friends in the crowd that she's known since the fourth grade, explaining that, "It's very powerful to reminisce and to be in the company of such terrific friends. I'm overwhelmed at their loyalty to me over the years and how much fun we still have together. This is a great honor for all musicians. Anyone who receives this honor should be very, very proud... We are building a heritage here in this country."
Mitchell's old friend James Taylor performed her 1969 song "Woodstock," one of five of her songs that were also inducted into the Hall, along with tunes by other Canadian writers. Taylor recalled first becoming a fan of her music: "I first heard Joni Mitchell's music in Paul McCartney's office at Apple Records in London in 1968." Taylor went on to joke that, "We met actually here at the Mariposa festival, I think it was '70, maybe '71, I can't quite remember. Things are hazy from those days."
Chaka Khan and Herbie Hancock teamed up to pay tribute to Mitchell by performing her 1974 hit "Help Me."
David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & Tears was thrilled that the group's "Spinning Wheel" was inducted alongside Mitchell's songs: "I'm doubly honored because my song is actually being inducted alongside of five Joni Mitchell songs."
He remembered having an early crush on Mitchell during her early folk days back in the mid-'60s, recalling that, "I adored her. I had an enormous crush on her. I played around the corner at a club called The Devil's Den. And so I used to be able to go out the back door between my sets... and watch Joni Mitchell from the back. But she never paid me no mind."
Clayton-Thomas remembered her as "This ethereal, flaxen-haired, goddess from the West Coast and I was a greasy-haired, leather-jacketed, rock-'n'-roll punk from Toronto with a real loud rock-'n'-roll band, which played two doors away and still, I'm sure, disturbed some of her shows."
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Mitchell's old friend James Taylor performed her 1969 song "Woodstock," one of five of her songs that were also inducted into the Hall, along with tunes by other Canadian writers. Taylor recalled first becoming a fan of her music: "I first heard Joni Mitchell's music in Paul McCartney's office at Apple Records in London in 1968." Taylor went on to joke that, "We met actually here at the Mariposa festival, I think it was '70, maybe '71, I can't quite remember. Things are hazy from those days."
Chaka Khan and Herbie Hancock teamed up to pay tribute to Mitchell by performing her 1974 hit "Help Me."
David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & Tears was thrilled that the group's "Spinning Wheel" was inducted alongside Mitchell's songs: "I'm doubly honored because my song is actually being inducted alongside of five Joni Mitchell songs."
He remembered having an early crush on Mitchell during her early folk days back in the mid-'60s, recalling that, "I adored her. I had an enormous crush on her. I played around the corner at a club called The Devil's Den. And so I used to be able to go out the back door between my sets... and watch Joni Mitchell from the back. But she never paid me no mind."
Clayton-Thomas remembered her as "This ethereal, flaxen-haired, goddess from the West Coast and I was a greasy-haired, leather-jacketed, rock-'n'-roll punk from Toronto with a real loud rock-'n'-roll band, which played two doors away and still, I'm sure, disturbed some of her shows."
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