"California" by Joni Mitchell // Song Review
"Sitting in a park in Paris, France, reading the news and it sure looks bad," Joni sings in the opening lines of the song. "They won't give peace a chance, that was just a dream some of us had".
She wrote this song in a very conversational, stream-of-consciousness style. Her talent for storytelling is like no other, her writing is so vivid and detailed that allows the listener to be transported right to the setting of the song. "California" was written sometime in the summer of 1970, while she was traveling through Europe. Throughout that journey, she ended up writing much of Blue, which was released the following year in 1971. All of her work is deeply honest and introspective, but those traits are especially true when describing that album.
"This year I took some time off of touring and went off on some adventures of my own and this is kind of a letter back home," she said before one of the first live performances of the song in London in 1970. The song is very rooted in the historical context of which it was written, with the lyrics specifically referring to the Vietnam War and also the 1966 Sunset Strip riots. Although so much time has passed, much of the country's unrest and divide is also unfortunately still very relevant in terms of the time in history we are currently living through as well. She was a very outspoken voice in the counterculture movement of this era and much of her music represents their sentiments of the time.
"Still a lot of lands to see, but I wouldn't wanna stay here, it's too old and cold and settled in its ways here", she continues in the first verse. Later in the song she sings, "I might have stayed on with him there, but my heart cried out for you". This song also beautifully captures the vibrant artistic community that was thriving in Los Angeles at the time, more specifically in Laurel Canyon. It still very much feels like that today as well, I got to visit it in the summer of 2024 and being there truly flashes you back to the time where so much history and art was being made in the canyon.
Joni's music has continued to be highly influential throughout the decades following it's release. "California" in particular is a very influential song in her extensive discography. One of the earliest it influenced was Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zepplin, who were said to have been inspired to write "Going To California" in 1971 based off of Joni's song.
So much of her music and style is the basis for so many of my favorite artists, which I love hearing the influence of shine through in a modern way. Her songwriting is so timeless and continues to sound just as fresh as it did in 1971. I hear the echoes of "California" in particular throughout so much new music released in the past five years alone. Songs like "Canyon Moon" by Harry Styles, as well as much of his Fine Line album, are so connected to Joni's music and the sounds of Laurel Canyon in the 1960's and 1970's. "California" is undoubtedly one of the biggest inspirations for his "Canyon Moon", even narratively they are very similar in terms of Harry repeatedly dreaming of going home to California and the chorus connecting to Joni's. He reminisces back on his time under the canyon moon, with details of "doors yellow, broken, blue" and "Jenny saying 'Go get the kids from school'". Although he has traveled all over, he carries the feeling of the canyon with him wherever he goes. "I carry the feeling from Paris all through Rome," he sings in the second verse. My favorite part of the song is the bridge; "Quick pause in conversation, she plays songs I've never heard, an old lover's hippie music, pretends not to know the words and I keep thinking back to a time under the canyon moon".
Another one that comes to mind is the aptly titled "California" by Lorde, which was released in 2021 on her Solar Power album. Again, Lorde is another artist that has taken massive inspiration from Joni through the years and has referenced her work countless times throughout her career, especially on Solar Power, which largely feels like an ode to a very specific era of music. Lorde's "California" kind of takes an alternative approach to Joni's "California" though, with Lorde wanting to leave her life in Hollywood behind for good. "Once upon a time, the Canyon store was where my world began," Lorde sings in the second verse. "All that mystery and beauty gleaned, from desert flowers and gifted children, but it got hard to grow up". She later repeats that she doesn't "want that California love" and it's all just a dream she needs to wake up from.
Most of all though, Lana Del Rey's "California", released in 2019, directly mirrors many of the exact lyrics and themes as Joni's song of the same name. It almost sounds as if it is written as a direct response to Joni's "California", giving the opposing perspective of what it was like in Los Angeles during the time Joni went to Europe. It's so hard to say definitively what my favorite Lana Del Rey song is, but this one is definitely very high on the list for me. She has also spoken many times over the years about how massively she has been influenced by Joni's music and even once described her album Norman Fucking Rockwell! to be like her version of Ladies of the Canyon. The references and lyrical connections from Lana in tribute of Joni's music are literally endless, but "California" is perhaps one of the most obvious of all. In Joni's chorus, she sings, "Oh but California, California, I'm coming home" - to which Lana responds with "If you come back to America, just hit me up". Joni also specifically mentions reading Vogue and Rolling Stone during her travels, which Lana also directly references in the chorus, along with alluding to Joni's mentions of the weather and "All the news of home you read just gives you the blues". Lana responds to that lyric with "You hate the heat, you got the blues, changing like the weather, oh, that's so like you". The list of comparisons goes on and on, but almost every lyric line by line is referenced or responded to with Lana's song fifty years later. It is such a beautiful way to pay homage to Joni's music and her enduring influence.
Often without even realizing it, one single song can hold so much history and the depth of the story being told is so much deeper than initially known. I love analyzing and diving deeper into how impactful songs like "California" have been. All of the songs I mentioned all tell such a beautiful story together and truly capture the magic and allure that California has. It's indescribable unless you have seen it for yourself, but artists like this are able to capture bits of that energy for the world to experience. Joni Mitchell's music and influence is deeply rooted in so much of the contemporary music we hear today, and I love hearing those connections continue to shine through all these years later.
I felt inspired to share "California" as the song of the week, as the devastating fires in the Los Angeles area have been on my mind so much for the past several days. It's heartbreaking to hear about all of the deaths and thousands of people that were displaced throughout Los Angeles. It is one of my favorite cities in the world and if you have ever been there before, I'm sure you know how special it is. There is so much beauty and so much history there, to see all of the videos of the destruction is so heartbreaking to say the least. I can't imagine how scary it must be there right now. My thoughts and prayers are with the people of LA who have been affected by the fires. There are several resources I want to share for those who may be able to donate, if not please share the links and spread the word. Check out CA Community Foundation's Wildfire Recovery Fund, Pasadena Community Foundation Eaton Canton Fire Relief and Recovery Fund, Support & Feed, MusiCares Los Angeles Fire Relief Fund, and Best Friends Animal Society. Please feel free to share more links in the comment section below if you'd like to add more. 🌴🩵
This is the second post in a new series on my blog, which I will be sharing a different song of the week every Monday. I love finding new ways to highlight the songs and artists I love, in addition to my monthly New Music Friday posts, in-depth album reviews, vinyl collection, concerts and more. The songs that are going to be shared through this series will span new and old releases, classics, trending songs and deeper cuts - pretty much anything I'm listening to that week! I'm looking forward to sharing more every week and as always, I would love to hear any suggestions on what to feature next! Thanks for reading!
Photo Credit: Joni Mitchell
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Fine Line by Harry Styles // 5 Year Anniversary Album Review
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