Quotes by Joni Mitchell - Page 6

In New York, the street adventures are incredible. There are a thousand stories in a single block. You see the stories in the people's faces. You hear the songs immediately. Here in Los Angeles, there are less characters because they're all inside automobiles.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Block
Faces
Los Angeles
Thousand
People Street New
Adventures
People New See
Angeles
Automobiles
Street
Street People New
Immediately
Los
Copy Quote
I don't understand why Europeans and South Americans can take more sophistication. Why is it that Americans need to hear their happiness major and their tragedy minor, and as jazzy as they can handle is a seventh chord? Are they not experiencing complex emotions?
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Emotion
Handle
Needs
Sophistication
Tragedy
Chord
Complex
Europeans
Experiencing
Major
Jazzy
Minor
Seventh
Copy Quote
I came upon a child of god, He was walking along the road And I asked him, where are you going And this he told me: "I'm going on down to Yasgur's farm I'm going to join in a rock 'n' roll band I'm going to camp out on the land, I'm going to try an' get my soul free.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Children
Land
Rocks
Copy Quote
I got in before SoHo was SoHo. It was just Little Italy when I was in there. It's still off the touristy track. It's just away from the Saturday action, the crowds and everything. It's too expensive. It's insane. You've got to be a billionaire to live on Manhattan now.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Insane
Manhattan
Track
Copy Quote
You could write a song about some kind of emotional problem you are having, but it would not be a good song, in my eyes, until it went through a period of sensitivity to a moment of clarity. Without that moment of clarity to contribute to the song, it's just complaining.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Music
Clarity
Complaining
Emotional
Problem
Sensitivity
Song
Writing
Write
Through
Contribute
Could
Without
Period
Eyes
Good Song
Having
Moment
Some
Copy Quote
At the point where I'm trying to force something and it's not happening, and I'm getting frustrated with, say, writing a poem, I can go and pick up the brushes and start painting. At the point where the painting seems to not be going anywhere, I go and pick up the guitar.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Brushes
Frustrated
Guitar
Painting
Writing
Anywhere
Happening
Pick
Poem
Copy Quote
Morgellons is constantly morphing. There are times when it's directly attacking the nervous system, as if you're being bitten by fleas and lice. It's all in the tissue and it's not a hallucination. It was eating me alive, sucking the juices out. I've been sick all my life.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Juice
Sick
Tissues
Copy Quote
We managed to put together a compilation that had some creativity to it. In the meantime I was listening to the free radio stations and I noticed that during their war coverage they were playing these songs born out of the Vietnam War that were all critical of the soldiers.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
War
Compilation
Coverage
Creativity
Critical
Radio
Radio Stations
Song
Stations
Vietnam
Vietnam War
Meantime
Noticed
Soldiers
Copy Quote
I loved Debussy, Stravinsky, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, anything with romantic melodies, especially the nocturnes. Nietzsche was a hero, especially with Thus Spoke Zarathustra. He gets a bad rap; hes very misunderstood. Hes a maker of individuals, and he was a teacher of teachers.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Teacher
Hero
Rap
Copy Quote
I loved Debussy, Stravinsky, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, anything with romantic melodies, especially the nocturnes. Nietzsche was a hero, especially with 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra.' He gets a bad rap; he's very misunderstood. He's a maker of individuals, and he was a teacher of teachers.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Romantic
Teacher
Debussy
Hero
Rap
Stravinsky
Teachers
Bad
Bad Rap
Loved
Chopin
Maker
Gets
Individuals
Melodies
Nietzsche
Spoke
Thus
Copy Quote
I thrive on change. That's probably why my chord changes are weird, because chords depict emotions. They'll be going along on one key and I'll drop off a cliff, and suddenly they will go into a whole other key signature. That will drive some people crazy, but that's how my life is.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Chords
Crazy
Keys
People
Thrive
Whole
Weird
Why
Drive
Changes
Chord
Cliff
Depict
Drop
Emotions
Off
My Life
Signature
Some People
Suddenly
Copy Quote
My childhood was very difficult. I had every childhood disease and then some, but my parents didnt mollycoddle me. They left me to fight those battles on my own. I guess that was very Canadian, very stoic. But its good. I had to become a warrior. I had to give up hope and find a substitute for hope that would be far more stable.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Fighting
Giving Up
Warrior
Copy Quote
My childhood was very difficult. I had every childhood disease and then some, but my parents didn't mollycoddle me. They left me to fight those battles on my own. I guess that was very Canadian, very stoic. But it's good. I had to become a warrior. I had to give up hope and find a substitute for hope that would be far more stable.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Disease
Stable
Stoic
Warrior
Battles
Substitute
Copy Quote
In a pure anonymous encounter you find a world alive and full of character. In New York, the street adventures are incredible. There are a thousand stories in a single block. You see the stories in people's faces. You hear the songs immediately. Here, in Los Angeles, there are fewer characters because they are all inside automobiles.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
New York
Adventure
Block
Song
Copy Quote
I wrote 'Big Yellow Taxi' on my first trip to Hawaii. I took a taxi to the hotel and when I woke up the next morning, I threw back the curtains and saw these beautiful green mountains in the distance. Then, I looked down and there was a parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke my heart this blight on paradise. That's when I sat down and wrote the song.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Morning
Beautiful
Song
Copy Quote
There's a man who's been out sailing In a decade full of dreams And he takes her to a schooner And he treats her like a queen Bearing beads from California With their amber stones and green He has called her from the harbor He has kissed her with his freedom He has heard her off to starboard In the breaking and the breathing Of the water weeds While she was busy being free
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Dream
Queens
Men
Weed
Copy Quote
The Blue album, there’s hardly a dishonest note in the vocals. At that period of my life, I had no personal defenses. I felt like a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes. I felt like I had absolutely no secrets from the world and I couldn’t pretend in my life to be strong. Or to be happy. But the advantage of it in the music was that there were no defenses there, either.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Blue
Secret
Strong
Copy Quote
Tears and fears and feeling proud To say I love you, right out loud Dreams and schemes and circus crowds I've looked at life that way. But now old friends are acting strange They shake their heads, they say I've changed Something's lost, but something's gained In living every day I've looked at life from both sides now From win and lose, and still somehow It's life's illusions I recall I really don't know life at all
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Dream
Love You
Song
Copy Quote
I was demanding of myself a deeper and greater honesty, more and more revelation in my work in order to give it back to the people where it goes into their lives and nourishes them and changes their direction and makes light bulbs go off in their head and makes them feel. And it isn't vague, it strikes against the very nerves of their life and in order to do that you have to strike against the very nerves of your own.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Honesty
Light
Order
Copy Quote
I heard someone from the music business saying they are no longer looking for talent, they want people with a certain look and a willingness to cooperate. I thought, that's interesting, because I believe a total unwillingness to cooperate is what is necessary to be an artist — not for perverse reasons, but to protect your vision. The considerations of a corporation, especially now, have nothing to do with art or music. That's why I spend my time now painting.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Art
Believe
People
Copy Quote
Ask anyone in America where the craziest people live and they'll tell you California. Ask anyone in California where the craziest people live and they'll say Los Angeles. Ask anyone in Los Angeles where the craziest people live and they'll tell you Hollywood. Ask anyone in Hollywood where the craziest people live and they'll say Laurel Canyon. And ask anyone in Laurel Canyon where the craziest people live and they'll say Lookout Mountain. So I bought a house on Lookout Mountain.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
America
California
People
Copy Quote
That's one thing that's always, like, been a difference between, like, the performing arts, and being a painter, you know. A painter does a painting, and he paints it, and that's it, you know. He has the joy of creating it, it hangs on a wall, and somebody buys it, and maybe somebody buys it again, or maybe nobody buys it and it sits up in a loft somewhere until he dies. But he never, you know, nobody ever, nobody ever said to Van Gogh, 'Paint a Starry Night again, man!' You know? He painted it and that was it.
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Art
Night
Wall
Copy Quote
You've got to shake your fists at lightning now, you've got to roar like forest fire You've got to spread your light like blazes all across the sky They're going to aim the hoses on you, show 'em you won't expire Not till you burn up every passion, not even when you die Come on now, you've got to try, if you're feeling contempt, well then you tell it If you're tired of the silent night, Jesus, well then you yell it Condemned to wires and hammers, strike every chord that you feel That broken trees and elephant ivories conceal
Joni Mitchell / Musician
Jesus
Passion
Tired
Copy Quote

Related Musician Authors

Zz Ward
Musician
Monday, Jun 02, 1986
Zuoxiao Zuzhou
Musician
Wednesday, Mar 04, 1970
Zoot Sims
Musician
Thursday, Oct 29, 1925
Saturday, Mar 23, 1985
Zomby
Musician
Ziggy Marley
Musician
Thursday, Oct 17, 1968
Zakk Wylde
Musician
Saturday, Jan 14, 1967
Zacky Vengeance
Musician
Friday, Dec 11, 1981
Zack De La Rocha
Musician
Monday, Jan 12, 1970
Zac Hanson
Musician
Tuesday, Oct 22, 1985
Zac Farro
Musician
Monday, Jun 04, 1990
Yuki
Musician
Thursday, Feb 17, 1972
Youth Lagoon
Musician
Saturday, Mar 18, 1989
Yoshiki
Musician
Saturday, Nov 20, 1965
Yann Tiersen
Musician
Tuesday, Jun 23, 1970
Willis Earl Beal
Musician

View All Musician Quotes

Top Authors

Helen Keller
Author
Sunday, Jun 27, 1880
Saturday, Jun 01, 1968
Charles Spurgeon
Preacher
Thursday, Jun 19, 1834
Sunday, Jan 31, 1892
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Poet
Wednesday, Oct 21, 1772
Friday, Jul 25, 1834
Les Brown
Author
Saturday, Feb 17, 1945
Michael Jordan
Basketball Player
Sunday, Feb 17, 1963
Kim Kardashian
Television Personality
Tuesday, Oct 21, 1980
Stephen Hawking
Physicist
Thursday, Jan 08, 1942
Leonardo Da Vinci
Painter
Thursday, Apr 15, 1452
Friday, May 02, 1519
Saint Augustine
Saint
Saturday, Nov 13, 0354
Wednesday, Aug 28, 0430
Vince Lombardi
Football Player
Wednesday, Jun 11, 1913
Thursday, Sep 03, 1970
Elon Musk
Investor
Monday, Jun 28, 1971
Maya Angelou
Author
Wednesday, Apr 04, 1928
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Associate Justice Of The Supreme Court Of The United States
Wednesday, Mar 15, 1933
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Civil Rights Activist
Tuesday, Jan 15, 1929
Thursday, Apr 04, 1968
John Keats
Poet
Saturday, Oct 31, 1795
Friday, Feb 23, 1821

View All Authors

Joni Mitchell Quotes - Page 6

App & Tools

Related Musician Authors

Popular Topic Tags

Top Authors

Share This Page

Stay Connected

App & Tools

Related Musician Authors

Popular Topic Tags

Top Authors

Share This Page