There is a wonderful recent New Yorker cartoon showing two baby boomers watching the Grammys and knowing none of the performers – until, with a sigh of relief, they recognize Joni Mitchell. That cartoon could have been created about B. and me.

Indeed, in watching the awards show a couple of nights ago, we found ourselves drawn to Joni’s performance the way moths are drawn to a flame, that flame being her indefatigable spirit, her voice silvered with age but golden with life stories, her presence a testament to the power of art as a life force. Her very appearance that of a muse sharing her gifts.

Those of us who are old enough to remember Joni Mitchell as a young woman, who have listened to her music for years, and who have found parts of our own voices in hers, can understand the impact of seeing her now, at 80, continuing to sing her life. Her artistry and creativity are one of a kind; her voice – a unique signature sound – recognizable immediately at its core, despite the decades that have passed; her passion for continuing to express herself something one can only regard with awe.

Her long platinum angel hair continues to be her crown, now captured in two still-hippie-esque braids; her clothing and accessories remain genuinely, effortlessly bohemian; her bright blue eyes continue to hold the spirit and the spark of her storytelling. A virtual phoenix, Joni has had to learn to rise and walk three times in her life – as a baby, of course, but then once after contracting polio and again after having suffered an aneurysm nearly a decade ago. She is truly an indomitable force of nature, whose love for her craft and whose sheer will to express herself set her apart within the too-often-used but not-often-enough-earned legend category.

With lyrics – poetry, really – that loop and swirl, delve and discover, lilt and cry, and with melodies that are often unexpected but always, always true to herself and the soul she shares with us, Joni Mitchell’s work is a touchstone for what true art is. Her creativity and sensitivity are undeniable; her commitment to her artistry, whether as a singer / songwriter or a prolific painter, is abundant; her heart, filled with a lifetime of memories that she has captured in song and shared with the world, beats to a rarefied tempo.

Listening to Joni Mitchell sing about looking at life and love from both sides now – at this stage of her life – is bittersweet, of course. She has seen those things from the perspectives both of a young woman and an old one, nearer now to the end of her life than when she was part of the Laurel Canyon sounds of the late Sixties and Seventies. Then, she was a beautiful, ethereal young woman making her mark on the world in a completely original way; now, that glow of youth has been refined, burnished, and polished to a patina of luminescence – an aura that emanated from Joni as she sat and regaled us with her bows and flows, her clouds of remembrance, her life’s journey captured in that singular performance.

Here’s to more than the voice of a generation – here’s to the woman who has sung her way into our hearts by letting us into hers; who has shown us that inspiration knows no bounds; and who has proven that remaining true to yourself is truly a lifetime achievement.

Brava. From all sides now.

©2024 Claudia Grossman