Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and throughout western Canada, before moving on to the nightclubs of Toronto, Ontario. She moved to the United States and began touring in 1965. Some of her original songs ("Urge for Going", "Chelsea Morning", "Both Sides, Now", "The Circle Game") were recorded by other folk singers, allowing her to sign with Reprise Records and record her debut album, Song to a Seagull, in 1968. Settling in Southern California, Mitchell helped define an era and a generation with popular songs like "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Woodstock". Her 1971 album Blue is often cited as one of the best albums of all time; it was rated the 30th best album ever made in Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", rising to number 3 in the 2020 edition. In 2000, The New York Times chose Blue as one of the 25 albums that represented "turning points and pinnacles in 20th-century popular music". NPR ranked Blue number 1 on a 2017 list of Greatest Albums Made by Women.
Mitchell switched labels and began exploring more jazz-influenced melodic ideas, by way of lush pop textures, on 1974's Court and Spark, which featured the radio hits "Help Me" and "Free Man in Paris" and became her best-selling album. Mitchell's vocal range began to shift from mezzo-soprano to more of a wide-ranging contralto around 1975. Her distinctive piano and open-tuned guitar compositions also grew more harmonically and rhythmically complex as she melded jazz with rock and roll, R&B, classical music and non-Western beats. In the late 1970s, she began working with noted jazz musicians including Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and Pat Metheny as well as Charles Mingus, who asked her to collaborate on his final recordings. She later turned to pop and electronic music and engaged in political protest. She was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards in 2002 and became a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2021.
Mitchell produced or co-produced most of her albums. A critic of the music industry, she quit touring and released her 17th and last album of original songs in 2007. Mitchell has designed most of her own album covers, describing herself as a "painter derailed by circumstance".
Let The Wind Carry Me
Joni Mitchell Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Mama she believes in cleaning
Papa's faith is in people
Mama she's always cleaning
Papa brought home the sugar
Mama taught me the deeper meaning
She don't like my kick pleat skirt
She don't like my eyelids painted green
In my high-heeled shoes
Living for that rock'n'roll dancing scene
Papa says "Leave the girl alone, Mother
She's looking like a movie queen"
Mama thinks she spoiled me
Papa knows somehow he set me free
Mama thinks she spoiled me rotten
She blames herself
But papa he blesses me
It's a rough road to travel
Mama let go now
It's always called for me
Sometimes I get that feeling
And I wanna settle
And raise a child up with somebody
I get that strong longing
And I wanna settle
And raise a child up with somebody
But it passes like the summer
I'm a wild seed again
Let the wind carry me
In Joni Mitchell's song "Let The Wind Carry Me," the lyrics reflect on a generational divide in values and expectations between the singer's parents. While her father has faith in people and seems to support her dreams of a more bohemian lifestyle, her mother is fixated on traditional gender roles and tries to impose her values on the singer. Mama, who is always cleaning, disapproves of her daughter's fashion choices and wants her to conform to more conservative ways. Papa, on the other hand, thinks the girl should be left alone and allowed to follow her dreams. While Mama thinks she's spoiled her daughter, Papa sees her as someone he has set free. The song ends with the singer admitting to feeling torn between settling down and raising children with somebody and continuing her bohemian lifestyle that has allowed her to be a "wild seed," free to go wherever the wind takes her.
Line by Line Meaning
Papa's faith is people
My father believes in the goodness of humanity
Mama she believes in cleaning
My mother finds solace in tidiness and orderliness
Papa's faith is in people
My father's hope lies in the goodness of others
Mama she's always cleaning
My mother cleans incessantly
Papa brought home the sugar
My father provided for us
Mama taught me the deeper meaning
My mother taught me to look beyond surface-level perspectives
She don't like my kick pleat skirt
My mother disapproves of my fashion sense
She don't like my eyelids painted green
My mother does not approve of my makeup
She don't like me staying up late
My mother does not like it when I stay out late
In my high-heeled shoes
When I wear my high-heeled shoes
Living for that rock'n'roll dancing scene
Enjoying the rock and roll dancing scene
Papa says "Leave the girl alone, Mother
My father tells my mother to stop criticizing me
She's looking like a movie queen"
Saying that I look like a glamorous movie star
Mama thinks she spoiled me
My mother believes that she pampered me too much
Papa knows somehow he set me free
My father believes that he helped me become independent
Mama thinks she spoiled me rotten
My mother believes that she spoiled me excessively
She blames herself
She holds herself responsible
But papa he blesses me
My father approves of me
It's a rough road to travel
Life can be challenging
Mama let go now
My mother needs to let me live my own life
It's always called for me
I have always felt drawn to something else
Sometimes I get that feeling
There are moments when I feel a particular way
And I wanna settle
I feel the desire to settle down
And raise a child up with somebody
To start a family with someone
I get that strong longing
I feel an intense yearning
But it passes like the summer
However, the feeling does not last long
I'm a wild seed again
I feel free and unattached again
Let the wind carry me
May fate take me where it will
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Joni Mitchell
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Jay Hawkshead DrPH
I wish I would've discovered Joni's brilliance earlier in life, but right now her music speaks to me in a way that I might not have appreciated before. Perfection.
Stephen Watt
Absolutely stunning - One of Joni's best tracks - and there is a LOT of them.
old man
Are a lot of them
Sorry to be a pain
jan jordan walters
It's amazing to me how many people I know from high school and early college who don't even know who she is!! She was the voice of all the emotion of a twenty year old, trying to figure out life. My favorite album remains "Blue" ~
Linda Jacobowitz
One of her best albums ❤
June Asiimwe
Joni is pure magic.
SusanwantstoKissBruceSpringsteen
This whole album is awesome!
Blue Sky
Yes, and it has an everlasting magic!
jesmarluk
My favorite
Blue Sky
I never loved Joni's beautiful voice more than on "For The Roses" and on this song. 1975, 2019 and forever.