Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell

By David Yaffe

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"She was like a storm." ―Leonard Cohen

"The definitive biography of a gifted songwriter and musician." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

With an inimitable sound and unmistakable voice, Joni Mitchell is one of the most iconic performers and storytellers of any generation. Reckless Daughter tells the remarkable, heart-wrenching story of how the blonde girl from Saskatchewan 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 around the world.

In this intimate biography, composed of dozens of unprecedented in-person interviews with Mitchell, her childhood friends, and a cast of famous characters that includes Leonard Cohen, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, and David Crosby, David Yaffe reveals the backstory behind the famous songs―from Mitchell’s youth in Canada, her pre-vaccine bout with polio at age nine, her early marriage, and the child she gave up for adoption, through the quintessential 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. Drawing on musical expertise and a reverence for and deep understanding of Mitchell’s work, Yaffe offers insightful analyses of her famous lyrics, exploring their imagery, their style, and their reflection of the woman herself.

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 band leader, releasing album after album, each distinctly experimental, challenging, and revealing. Her lyrics captivated listeners with their poignant, 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 was admired by such legendary lyricists as Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen and was a beloved collaborator of jazz musicians Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter, and Herbie Hancock, among others. Her hits—from “Big Yellow Taxi” to “Both Sides, Now” to “A Case of You”—endure as timeless favorites. Mitchell’s influence on the generations of singer-songwriters who would follow her is undeniable.

Reckless Daughter is the story of Joni Mitchell, and of the fertile, exciting musical time of which she was an integral part. It is the story of an artist and an era that have left an indelible mark on our music and our culture.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9781443444835

David Yaffe

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, Harper's Magazine, The New York Review of Books, The Paris Review, and other publications. He is currently a professor of Humanities at Syracuse University, and is the author of Fascinating Rhythm: Reading Jazz in American Writing and Bob Dylan: Like a Complete Unknown.

Reviews for Reckless Daughter

[hjvanderklis_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Honestly, I wasn't brought up with the music of Joni Mitchell (just like my father born in 1943). The only notable song was Big Yellow Taxi. And yet, countless artists acknowledged the inspiration drawn from the Canadian singer-songwriter. That was the reason for me to pick up Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell by fellow music critic David Yaffe who followed her life.By the time Blue was released in 1971, she had survived polio and a bad first marriage. She had given up her daughter for adoption and recently fended off a marriage proposal from Graham Nash. The biography shows an endless flow of lovers that come and go, Mitchell being in control almost all of the times. An overwhelming wealth of clever lyrics, open guitar tunings, and chord progressions led to a steep career move in the music industry and ten revealing albums. Once hot and happening, she collaborated with jazz musicians to stay on par, faced Madonna's reign in the 80's, her guitar-based songs versus full bands playing glam rock, post-punk, and cheesy pop songs.David Yaffe's work is also open about the drug abuse, chain-smoking, and sexual activities of Miss El Lay. The book's composed of the notes taken at dozens of in-person interviews with Joni Mitchell up to her post-2015 recovery from a brain aneurysm, liner notes, and insights in almost every song written by Joni Mitchell. A peek behind the scenes of the music industry, Friends and former lovers like Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Leonard Cohen, David Crosby, and Larry Klein add to the flavor of this extensive (544 pages) retrospective. 

[whisper1_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

You really must be a Joni Mitchell fan if you start, and finish, this book. Well written, but dull in places because of the sheer volume of information.A Poet, able to play and sing her own songs, Joni has long been my favorite singer of the folk era. She transcended this era by dabbling in jazz and cutting a cd with Mingus. Some fans liked her earthy poems rather that her jazz compilations.Overall, she is definitely a supremely talented woman to be very much admired.

[casualfriday_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Being a big Joni Mitchell fan, I was eager to read this new biography (or "portrait," as it is deemed), and it was an interesting read, but ultimately still short of the definitive study we are looking for. Yaffe organizes the book roughly according to albums, and his analysis of her music is sensitive and intelligent. There is a minimum of gossip. He presents Joni warts-and-all, and her prickly nature as conveyed here will not surprise long time fans, but may surprise casual readers who expect to find a sweet hippie princess. Not bloody likely!My quibbles: although Yaffe interviewed Joni a couple of times and interviewed a lot of her friends and colleagues, there was still a lot of material recycled from secondary sources. Also, the ending was really, really rushed. After giving minute attention to most of her albums, he barely glanced at her material from the 90s and beyond. Early in the book he makes a huge deal over Joni's giving up a daughter for adoption, but when it came time to write about their reunion, again, it was rushed and superficial. Finally, he devoted a few scant pages to the devastating brain trauma that changed Joni's life permanently. It's not a happy topic but it is hardly unimportant.

[froxgirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I truly enjoyed this gossipy, intimate bio of The Woman We (all the white girls, anyway) All Wanted To Be in the Woodstock era. The author is obviously a massive fanboy, and I have no doubt that Joni's renounced him heartily for writing so much about her moods, her cruelty, her intolerance of everything she couldn't control. And I missed some of the songs he left off as he discussed each album (no "Raised On Robbery"?). But in totality this is the "holy wine - tastes so bitter and so sweet" as it both burnishes and tarnishes the legend. Others might abhor the emphasis on her romantic life, but not I - who always wanted to know which song was about which lover. Many musicians were interviewed and their contributions are so valuable in giving such a 360 degree lookback. Short shrifted is her reunion with her daughter "Little Green", too bad, but her jazz life is explored in great depth.Quotes: "I wasn't vulnerable to her complications" - Leonard Cohen"Joni took this really potent, popular image that had been building for seven or eight years anyway: the California girl, the Beach Boys girl, the beautiful golden girl with the long blond hair parted in the middle, and Joni not only WAS the girl, she was also the Bob Dylan, the Paul Simon, the Lennon-McCartney, writing it. She was the whole package. She was the subject and she was the painter and that was incredibly powerful for people." - Bill Flanagan