Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell

by David Yaffe

Overview

"She was like a storm." —Leonard Cohen

Reckless Daughter is the story of an artist and an era that have left an indelible mark on American music.

Joni Mitchell may be the most influential female recording artist and composer of the late twentieth century. In Reckless Daughter, the music critic David Yaffe tells the remarkable, heart-wrenching story of how the blond girl with the guitar became a superstar of folk music in the 1960s, a key figure in the Laurel Canyon music scene of the 1970s, and the songwriter who spoke resonantly to, and for, audiences across the country.

A Canadian prairie girl, a free-spirited artist, Mitchell never wanted to be a pop star. She was nothing more than “a painter derailed by circumstances,” she would explain. And yet, she went on to become a talented self-taught musician and a brilliant bandleader, releasing album after album, each distinctly experimental, challenging, and revealing. Her lyrics captivated listeners with their perceptive language and naked emotion, born out of Mitchell’s life, loves, complaints, and prophecies. As an artist whose work deftly balances narrative and musical complexity, she has been admired by such legendary lyricists as Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen and beloved by such groundbreaking jazz musicians as Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter, and Herbie Hancock. Her hits—from “Big Yellow Taxi” to “Both Sides, Now” to “A Case of You”—endure as timeless favorites, and her influence on the generations of singer-songwriters who would follow her, from her devoted fan Prince to Björk, is undeniable.

In this intimate biography, drawing on dozens of unprecedented in-person interviews with Mitchell, her childhood friends, and a cast of famous characters, Yaffe reveals the backstory behind the famous songs—from Mitchell’s youth in Canada, her bout with polio at age nine, and her early marriage and the child she gave up for adoption, through the love affairs that inspired masterpieces, and up to the present—and shows us why Mitchell has so enthralled her listeners, her lovers, and her friends.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374538064
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	10/02/2018
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	206,266
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

David Yaffe was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1973. He has written on numerous subjects (music, film, theater, dance, higher education) for The Nation, New York, Slate, The New York Times, The New Republic, The New York Review of Books, The Paris Review, and other publications. He is currently a professor of English at Syracuse University, and is the author of Fascinating Rhythm: Reading Jazz in American Writing and Bob Dylan: Like a Complete Unknown.

Table of Contents

Preface: Nothing Lasts For Long xi

1 All Things Considered, I'd Rather Be Dancing 3

2 Let The Wind Carry Me: Lessons In Womanhood 19

3 Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? 20

4 A Common Modern-Day Fairy Tale 34

5 Don't Give Yourself Away 44

6 The Word Man: Leonard Cohen 52

7 Experienced 64

8 Clouds 86

9 Our House 102

10 Ladies of the Canyon 114

11 Sand 122

12 Blue 127

13 Between Breakdown And Breakthrough 140

14 The Sunshine Coast 150

15 For The Roses 156

16 Star-Crossed 165

17 Court And Spark: Something Strange Happened 171

18 Miles Of Aisles 190

19 The Queen Of Queens 194

20 Hejira And The Art Of Losing 218

21 Crazy Wisdom 225

22 Mirrored Ball 243

23 Don Juan's Reckless Daughter 253

24 Mingus 261

25 Nervy Broad 279

26 Wild Things Run Fast 290

27 Dog Eat Dog 307

28 Emergency Rooms 318

29 Save The Bombs For Later 321

30 Turbulence 336

31 See You At The Movies 348

32 Curtain Call 368

33 Just Like This Train 374

Notes 377

Acknowledgments 393

Index 397

Editorial Reviews

"A vivid and dramatic book" —Josephine Livingstone, The New Republic

“The best chronicle to date of Mitchell’s creative process and the specific way her songs were composed.” —Rachel Syme, The Nation

"Yet whatever her listeners might dream or desire, Joni Mitchell was never in it for them, and she certainly wasn’t like them: She was a genius. As David Yaffe shows in his new biography, Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell, to approach her as an open book waiting to be read is to miss the essence of that genius . . . [T]he best full-length treatment of Mitchell yet published." —Jack Hamilton, The Atlantic

"Joni Mitchell’s gift was so enormous that it remade the social space around her. As David Yaffe’s new biography, “Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell” (Sarah Crichton Books), suggests, it is no small burden to possess something as valuable as Mitchell’s talent, and it meant that this girl from the Canadian prairie would be in the world, whether she liked it or not . . . Yaffe, who teaches at Syracuse, charts these encounters with a sure hand, and is a brilliant analyst of how Mitchell’s songs are made. " —Dan Chiasson, The New Yorker

"In prose that shifts between chatty, impressionistic and reportorial, Yaffe sympathetically traces the outline of the musician's life, from her childhood battle with polio through her life-threatening aneurysm in 2015. Working his way through her albums, he offers up detailed takes on recording sessions, song tidbits, even chord changes. . . Reckless Daughter looks at Mitchell's life through all sides now." —David Browne, Rolling Stone

"Yaffe solidly traces the glory and gloom of a musical career that expanded our ears and hearts . . . The lonely girl ill with polio had survived to become a great artist. Yaffe’s books tells us how she got there." —Sibbie O'Sullivan, The Washington Post

"David Yaffe has crafted a beautiful, heartbreaking, fierce and uncompromising look at one of the greatest artists of the past 50 years . . . a lush, complex, carefully researched examination of one of music's most interesting living legends . . . This is a full portrait of an artist who carved a place for herself in the music industry and managed to walk away from it with more than her dignity fully intact." —Christopher John Stephens, PopMatters

"Dazzling . . . A shimmering portrait of one artist's life, illusions and all." —Booklist (starred review)

"[Yaffe] brilliantly guides readers through Mitchell’s evolution as a musician with vivid descriptions of the making of each of her albums from Song to a Seagull (“If drums and an electric guitar had been added to the mix, Joni would have produced some acid rock herself”) through Shine in 2007. Yaffe introduces readers to the musicians with whom Mitchell worked, including Leonard Cohen, Graham Nash, Judy Collins, and Charles Mingus. The combination of fine writing and extensive access make this the definitive biography of a gifted songwriter and musician." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"The essential biography of Joni Mitchell." —Now Toronto

“David Yaffe has composed an abnormally well-written musician biography—descriptive, culturally aware and highly supportive of his subject.” —David Luhrssen, Shepherd Express

“Reckless Daughter is a bewitched, bothered, and bewildered portrayal of one of the most beautiful and enigmatic artists of a beautiful and enigmatic period of American life. It is touching, mystifying, and revealing in equal parts.” —Mary Gaitskill

“Joni Mitchell, an artist of innervating and daunting complexity, originality, and importance, could have no better biographer than David Yaffe. He knows the music like the serious musician he is, knows the poetry like the literary scholar he is, and is equally attuned to Mitchell’s tortured soul. On top of all that, he seems to have interviewed everyone important in Mitchell’s life, from her first husband to Leonard Cohen. Reckless Daughter is nothing less than the definitive statement on the life and work of an artist who defies definition.” —David Hajdu, author of Love for Sale: Pop Music in America

“It’s so easy to get Joni Mitchell wrong, or to leave out the most important things, or to miss the point altogether. Reckless Daughter is the definitive correction to all the errors, a sharp yet sprawling look at one of the most brilliant musical artists of modern times. David Yaffe grasps the nuances—of the music, the poetry, the intellect, the madness. He gets it. He gets her. I couldn’t get enough of this fine biography.” —Meghan Daum, author of The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion

“David Yaffe is an artful and incisive critic who writes with such grace and clarity. With Reckless Daughter, he makes a figure as iconic as Joni Mitchell feel wholly new. This portrait is loaded with revelations, both spiritual and actual. I thought I understood something about Mitchell—the way her tough and tender songs move, her sweetness and rebellion—but Yaffe understands everything. What a book.” —Amanda Petrusich, author of Do Not Sell at Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World’s Rarest 78rpm Records

From the Publisher

★ 10/23/2017
Drawing on in-depth interviews with Mitchell, her friends, and her musical associates, Yaffe (Fascinating Rhythm) paints a colorful and riveting portrait of a songwriter who has continually broken boundaries and explored new musical territories. In lively, bright prose, Yaffe traces Roberta Joan Anderson from her birth in Alberta, Canada, in 1943, through her early bout of polio, her marriage to Chuck Mitchell in 1964 (when she changed her name to Joni Mitchell), and the birth of her daughter in 1965. Yaffe describes Mitchell’s steely resolve to make her own art, her emergence as a voice of her generation, her creative struggles in the 1980s and 1990s, and her recent recovery from a brain aneurysm. He brilliantly guides readers through Mitchell’s evolution as a musician with vivid descriptions of the making of each of her albums from Song to a Seagull (“If drums and an electric guitar had been added to the mix, Joni would have produced some acid rock herself”) through Shine in 2007. Yaffe introduces readers to the musicians with whom Mitchell worked, including Leonard Cohen, Graham Nash, Judy Collins, and Charles Mingus. The combination of fine writing and extensive access make this the definitive biography of a gifted songwriter and musician. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

David Yaffe is an artful and incisive critic who writes with such grace and clarity. With Reckless Daughter, he makes a figure as iconic as Joni Mitchell feel wholly new. This portrait is loaded with revelations, both spiritual and actual. . . .What a book.

Amanda Petrusich

Reckless Daughter is a bewitched, bothered, and bewildered portrayal of one of the most beautiful and enigmatic artists of a beautiful and enigmatic period of American life. It is touching, mystifying, and revealing in equal parts.

Mary Gaitskill

Joni Mitchell, an artist of innervating and daunting complexity, originality, and importance, could have no better biographer than David Yaffe. . . . Reckless Daughter is nothing less than the definitive statement on the life and work of an artist who defies definition.

David Hajdu

10/15/2017
Joni Mitchell (née Roberta Joan Anderson in 1943 Alberta) is the subject of two books this fall. An anthology of articles about the singer/songwriter, edited by Barney Hoskyns, is also pubbing this month. But Yaffe (Bob Dylan: Like a Complete Unknown), a longtime fan who met with Mitchell often between 2007 and 2015, takes the traditional biography route and starts at the beginning, with her less-than-satisfying childhood, her bout with polio, and her self-taught musicianship. Mitchell eventually left home, singing in coffeehouses in Toronto, and on her way to her own legendary status crossed paths with every rising star in the folk and rock firmament: Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, David Crosby, Neil Young, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Jimi Hendrix among them. Her songwriting magic was as much a lure to these fellow troubadours as her ethereal beauty and original sound. Yaffe follows the music and the stories behind them, covering the marriages and love affairs, the record company woes, and the child she gave up for adoption. Fans won't see her star diminished as much as her brilliance and frailties revealed. VERDICT All music collections need this one. [Illustrations and index not seen.] [See Prepub Alert, 4/24/17.]—Bette-Lee Fox, Library Journal

Library Journal

Find yourself some Joni Mitchell music on whatever platform works for you. Maybe BLUE or HEJIRA, a couple of her best albums. Turn it on. Softly. Begin listening to this audiobook. Float away. The author has done a masterful job of research, including new information from recent interviews, and we learn a great deal about Mitchell and her songs. Narrator Xe Sands adopts an intimate conversational tone that not only supports Yaffe’s intent but pretty much sums up the era in which Mitchell shone the brightest. Sands alternately speeds up and slows down her delivery, but that only serves to keep our attention and makes it seem as though she is speaking only to us. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2017 - AudioFile