Garry Gillard > quizzes >
1. Where was Joni Mitchell born?
Fort McLeod, Alberta, just two weeks before I was born in November 1943. Saskatoon is near enough an answer.
2. What was her original name?
Roberta Joan Anderson.
3. Who is the father of her daughter?
Brad McGrath. "[He] left me three months pregnant in an attic room with no money and winter coming on and only a fireplace for heat. The spindles of the banister were gap-toothed—fuel for last winter's occupants."
4. Why is she called Mitchell?
She married, at 21, New York City-born American folk singer Charles Scott "Chuck" Mitchell, from Michigan, in his hometown in June 1965 and took his surname. She said, "I made my dress and bridesmaids dresses. We had no money ... I walked down the aisle brandishing my daisies."
5. In which songs does she refer to giving up her daughter for adoption?
"Little Green", Blue (1971), "Chinese Cafe", Wild Things Run Fast (1982); maybe more.
6. What does "hejira" mean?
The Hijrah was the journey undertaken by Muhammad from Mecca to Medina. The word means "departure/emigration/exodus". Joni said that when she chose the title, she was looking for a word that meant "running away with honor".
She also said in 2006, "I suppose a lot of people could have written a lot of my other songs, but I feel the songs on Hejira could only have come from me."
Hejira is, in my unimportant opinion, not only the best Joni Mitchell album, but also the best album in the entire non-"classical" world.
7. Who was the "Amelia" in the song on Hejira?
Amelia Earhart. "I was thinking of Amelia Earhart and addressing it from one solo pilot to another ... sort of reflecting on the cost of being a woman and having something you must do."
8. And who was "Coyote"?
Sam Shepard, we hope. He also was born in November 1943, but died before us.
9. Who was the prodigy who played fretless Fender bass on four tracks of Hejira?
10. What struck Joni down in March 2015?
An aneurysm.
Garry Gillard | New: 28 December, 2022 | Now: 29 December, 2022