Song of the Day: Joni Mitchell “Coyote”

There is no one like Joni Mitchell. Now you can say that about almost any great or well known musicians, but Joni (can I call her that?) is truly in a place of her own. Coming out of Saskatoon, Alberta. Mitchell started played coffeehouses and clubs in Canada and the US around 1965. In 1968 while playing a gig in Miami, David Crosby heard her and was instantly captivated. He convinced her to move to Los Angeles where her career took off in earnest. Her first album came out that year and by 1970 she was a Grammy-winning artist with fans in the folk, rock and jazz worlds.

Over the years Mitchell has written so many great and unique songs that it was hard to pick just one and once I picked the song, “Coyote” from 1977’s Hejira LP, it was hard to pick out which version to include so I picked three! The first was recorded during Bob Dylan‘s legendary Rolling Thunder tour (when the song was written) and features Mitchell, Dylan and Roger McGuinn playing the (not yet released) song at Gordon Lightfoot‘s house during a stop on the tour.

The second is from the film, The Last Waltz: the Martin Scorcese-directed movie about The Band‘s farewell concert at Winterland in San Francisco in 1976.

The last is with the bassist Jaco Pastorius (who played on the studio version), guitarist Pat Metheny, and percussionist Don Alias from a 1979 concert date.

I won’t go into how unique the tunings are or how great the lyrics are, just enjoy.

 
Last Waltz version:

 
Live 1979 version: