Will You Take Me As I Am: Joni Mitchell's Blue Period
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"The proliferation of musical biography in the rock era has made available anecdotal facts to such an extent that a way has been paved for more inspired and specific study, such as this deft exploration of the creation of what is considered Joni Mitchell's most revered and confessional recording, her 1971 album, Blue. Mercer (Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter), an accomplished music journalist, wisely places her focus on Blue's almost perfect marriage of lyric, melody, mood, and explored experience at the center of the book, surrounded by a careful yet conversational look at how Mitchell got to that point in her life and where she went in the years that followed. Mercer was fortunate to spend extensive time talking directly with the media-shy Mitchell. The author's own thoughts and experiences play a subtle yet pivotal role as the enduring power of Blue is reflected in her personal narrative as one who was, and remains, inspired by this landmark recording. Recommended for all academic and public libraries."
Library Journal
Peter Thornell, Hingham P.L., MA
"Michelle Mercer forgoes another soup-to-nuts survey in favor of a more satisfying approach . . . What makes the book unique and a good read is the idiosyncratic approach the author takes, like when she pulls in historical, literary and cultural figures to amplify some aspect of Mitchell's life and work."
Downbeat
John Ephland
"Michelle Mercer has gone beyond the lurid, tell-all biography to investigate the elements and events that combine to create an innovative artist. Like Joni's work has always done, her book transcends the norm, and delves into the universal."
Larry Klein, bassist, songwriter, and producer of the Grammy Award-winning album, The Joni Letters
Joni Mitchell is one of the most celebrated artists of the last half-century, and her landmark 1971 album Blue is one of her most beloved and revered works. Generations of people have come of age listening to the album, inspired by the way it clarified their own difficult emotions. Critics and musicians admire the idiosyncratic virtuosity of its compositions. Will You Take Me As I Am looks at Blue to explore the development of an extraordinary artist, the history of songwriting, and much more.
In extensive conversations with Joni Mitchell, Michelle Mercer heard firsthand about her internal and external journeys as she composed the largely autobiographical albums of what Mercer calls her “Blue Period,” which lasted through the mid-1970s. Incorporating biography, memoir, reportage, criticism, and original interviews into an illuminating narrative, Mercer moves beyond the “making of an album” genre to arrive at a new form of music writing.
In 1970, Mitchell was living with Graham Nash in Laurel Canyon and had made a name for herself as a so-called folk singer notable for her soaring voice and skillful compositions. Soon, though, feeling hemmed in, she fled to the hippie cave community of Matala, Greece. Here and on further travels, her compositions were freshly inspired by the lands and people she encountered as well as by her own radically changing interior landscape. After returning home to record Blue, Mitchell retreated to British Columbia, eventually re-emerging as the successful leader of a jazz-rock group and turning outward in her songwriting toward social commentary. Finally, a stint with Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue and a pivotal meeting with the Tibetan lama Chogyam Trungpa prompted Mitchell’s return to personal songwriting, which resulted in her 1976 masterpiece album, Hejira.
Mercer interlaces this fascinating account of Mitchell’s Blue Period with meditations on topics related to her work, including the impact of landscape on music, the value of autobiographical songwriting for artist and listener, and the literary history of confessionalism. Mercer also provides rich analysis of Mitchell’s creative achievements: her innovative manner of marrying lyrics to melody; her inventive, highly expressive chords that achieve her signature blend of wonder and melancholy; how she pioneered personal songwriting and, along with Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, brought a new literacy to the popular song. Fans will appreciate the previously unpublished photos and a coda of Mitchell’s unedited commentary on the places, books, music, pastimes, and philosophies she holds dear.
This utterly original book—the first one about Joni Mitchell written with her participation—offers a unique portrait of a great musician and her remarkable work, as well as new perspectives on the art of songwriting itself.
