Joni Mitchell: Her unintended pregnancy

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In advance of the Joni Mitchell Luminato Tribute Concert the legendary singer and artist sat down with Q host Jian Ghomeshi at her house in Los Angeles.

[@julio-ramos]

"there was no real gift" says Joni Mitchell about herself in that period of time when every note she played was pure genius

[@cbcmusic]

Right?!

[@christinesmock8128]

Stephen colbert

[@robgrant7683]

She's was talking about before she started writing her own songs, so the real gift hadn't really shown up yet. That's her point, the real magic and legendary talent showed itself later. That's why she said people are wrong to say she gave up her daughter to further her career. At that point she had no career to speak of.

[@justinherbert9146]

I do not believe there was NO ambition - one does not start out in performing in small folk clubs in Canada and end up in Los Angeles signing recording contracts with David Geffen as your manager after having met David Crosby while performing in the Miami Coconut Grove Florida area - I am so happy to see Joni's music being re-discovered - and more importantly discovered for the first time by young people in 2022 - a brilliant artist she is - one of the all time great singer songwriters!

[@PragmaticEmpath]

She deserves so much more credit than she gets.

[@chuckrozich984]

her albums are classics. big fan of hejira, she set a bar for others to attempt to reach.

[@soulsurfseeker]

She is the most well known female singer in history...not bad

[@simongill184]

Credit = validation from strangers? Critiques are not important

[@giuliana1644]

@@soulsurfseeker I'm from Argentina and she's not famous here at all. She's far from being the most well known female singer in history. But it's OK, she doesn't mind that and she never will.

[@alohalivin556]

I am adopted - my life was full of love and happiness... I so glad I was given that chance (no matter if she cared if that was the result, it remained a great result!)

[@jimmyhd1969]

Back in 1965 there was no such thing as a single mother as far as society was concerned.

[@deadunionsoldier6526]

She didn't know she had the Gift?? Gosh, what a great GIFT it was/is!! (And glad she shared it with the world!!:-)

[@Ethericrose]

In relation to the comments Joni makes at, 1:18 / My beautiful creative artistic daughter, who has her own style of painting was belittled and humiliated by her peers and art tutors at art college in the midlands UK in 2017. The bullying from tutors became so severe she wanted to take her own life. I reported them yet as with all organisations, they closed ranks. Im sharing this because Joni is right, these tutors do not want students to be creative with their own styles, they want students to copy past artists styles. My daughter dropped out of college due to the bullying and ended up in therapy. People in a position of power really need to be aware of their actions and the life long profound effect they can have on a 17 year old young woman.

[@cbcmusic]

Thank you for sharing your story

[@sp2435]

Interesting

[@eleanor4759]

Yes, you cannot teach someone to be an artist only a copycat.

[@TheLotus0818]

LOVE JONI...Now and back in the day! Blessings

[@mellingmichael777]

You didn't complete the sentence. She's aged BEAUTIFULLY.;-)

[@catherinelevison3310]

Conformity and art do not go together. Joni Mitchell is creative.

[@johndavid3114]

The creative mind hates boundaries.

[@xkguy]

Hejira was one of the masterpieces of the age.

[@chuckrozich984]

agree!! a complete masterpiece

[@youkyouk7471]

xkguy Yes indeed 🙏 but Court and Spark is an Absolute Chef d' Oeuvre too ❤️

[@fatgrl1935]

Still one of my favorite albums of all time.

[@ladypearl9134]

The interviewer needs to let her talk.

[@juancpgo]

Why cut the video in the middle of her thought?

[@eddiekelly2967]

Wow frank, honest and sure, a little protective. Nice seeing the legend ss a human.

[@DETROIT1948]

Watch the whole show! Priceless ✨✨

[@jerrywitaj]

I didn’t realize she sounded so Canadian!

[@starjunkie2804]

Ha! I love her smoking the cigarettes still. I started smoking at nine, too. When I heard "Help Me" on the AM radio on a 2,000-mile car trip in 1974, they played it every fifteen minutes or so, I thought to myself: "who has this divine voice and song?" As soon as we got back home, I had to go to the Sears and Roebuck to get the 45rpm single of it. I still have it! I wore it the hell out. I am myself a guitarist, female, painter and a writer (but I had to give up the cigs, they were killing me), Joni and I have many paralells. I admire her for her fortitude in mowing down all the stereotypes in a "Man's World" at that time, whether she realized it or not. I still admire her for just being herself. No bullshit. Being a recluse as well. I only like my own company and any animal. The only thing I would not have wanted was the fame and recognition. You cannot have any kind of undistracted life when you're famous. No thanks. Joni seemed to handle it well enough on the outside anyway. What a beautiful and unique human being. A true talent for the ages. She deserves every bit of it. Great songwriter. We love you Joni.

[@pinktrosesable]

The box. Lovely interview ❤️

[@FamilyHistoriandude]

Joni Mitchell was a good mother, she gave her child to a good home and was willing to reconnect with her daughter. Plus knowledge of Brad McMath's name makes her an infinitely better mother than january jones. I also respect Joni Mitchell thwarting Taylor Swifts hopes of playing her in a movie and the fact that she's hardly knows who taylor swift even is.

[@MothGirl007]

I'm thrilled that she was able to thwart that!

[@Cissy2cute]

She did the right thing with her child. Not selfish at all. How could she properly care for an offspring at that time in her life? I'm sure the infant went to a situation that was more stable, both materially and having two parents to raise her.

[@LynnEllingwood]

Cissy2cute She always regretted it. She was rich about a year and a half after she put the child up for adoption. Hard to say about adoptive parents. They hid that she was adopted, was very different than them and they didn’t like her looking for her birth parents.

[@Cissy2cute]

@@LynnEllingwood She may have regretted it, but I'm sure she weighed both possibilities and came to a conclusion. According to her website, "she felt she had no choice. At 21, she was Joan Anderson, dirt poor and pregnant, an unknown folksinger in a Toronto rooming house." The adoptive parents were two teachers living in Toronto, And as far as their worries about Kelly looking for her birth mother - "Losing Kilauren to her birth mother "was our greatest fear," adoptive mother Ida Gibb told Maclean's last week. "It was a nightmare that this would happen to us when she was little and when she was a teenager. Now, it is easier to take. But it's still hard." Not as cruel as it's made out to be. All this information can be found on Joni's own website.

[@j.francismacdonald1506]

I agree, the statistics are staggering. Children raised in single parent households are far worse off than children raised in adoptive families or even foster-care... Ideally no child would be given up by a birth parent, but it's often a selfish decision to keep a child... done in the interests of the birth parent and not the child.

[@sparklingdaisy3169]

@@j.francismacdonald1506 my father has to raise my sister and I alone after our mother passed away. How is that selfish?

[@j.francismacdonald1506]

@@sparklingdaisy3169 that is hardly the situation I was referring to. When women choose to become single parents (it's not uncommon) or frankly choose to abort, it's often a selfish or naive motive which considers only the interests of the mother not the child.

[@j.francismacdonald1506]

Joni, for all her faults (we all have our fair share) is truly a Canadian treasure!!

[@peterjeffery8495]

Imagine Toronto in the early-mid 60's. Quite possible to have seen Joni and Gordon Lightfoot and Neil Young all playing their music at the Riverboat Cafe on any given night. Pick another 3 of their contemporaries and show me a better collective songbook. Can't be done. This was back when half of "Toronto The Good" was dry and nothing was open on Sunday. Lets get real though, it was never that "Good" but it pretended to be. If you couldn't get into the Riverboat or wanted a break from folk, folky country or folky rock, you could always slide over to the Mynah Bird and catch Funk & Soul pioneer in the making Rick James years before he Super Freaked the music world.

[@LynnMcMillen]

Got one as good............watching / listening to Gordon, Neil, Ralph McTell, Springstein, James Taylor and lots of others at 'The Main Point' in Bryn Mawr, Pa.

[@David53D]

I actually saw Gordon Lightfoot and Joni hanging out at the Mariposa Folk Fest in the 60's as well as Bob Dylan.

[@peterjeffery8495]

@@David53D WOW...Mariposa right in Gordo's Georgian Bay childhood stomping grounds. Leacock country. Man if there were random festival tv/film available from that era it would make a great Documentary. Quick somebody get on this while these irreplaceable legends are still with us. Great memory, thanks for the tweak.

[@tina8796]

Prince was very taken with Joni's music. He covered her song, "A Case of You"

[@rayalou2337]

He quotes her in The Ballad of Dorothy Parker

[@tina8796]

@@rayalou2337 One of my favorite Prince songs 💜

[@JanetCaterina]

I would like to see the whole tape, please - not pieces

[@geraldfazinetz3345]

Janet Caterin

[@neatrizareco4807]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnatppyQg5idf5o

[@ElnaCopper]

very honest

[@lorben6735]

I was an art major in the 70’s. It sucked. I quit after three years as I knew I was being taught crap. I dabble in art for my own pleasure as the art world sucks in the direction it has gone. Art for me is good enough. I can relate to her view of art education. There was no recognition of individuality.

[@Findingtruth569]

Agreed. Me in the 80’s. Same

[@dogie1070]

The key to happiness is to give zero shits about what people say.

[@Cissy2cute]

Do you think the crap that passes for modern art today had its beginnings in the '70s? Some videos here on YT show what passes for "art" today. It's really bad now.

[@lorben6735]

Cissy2cute ...no. I was art student. We studied movements. KZbin videos filled with crap art makes the point. I don’t really understand what you mean by your statement.

[@CheyennefromTaos]

Watch the full interview. THE WISEST WOMAN ON EARTH 💎💚💎

[@simongill184]

Is it necessary to make gender a factor? Can’t she just be a human being?

[@leahflower9924]

"one weekend in Toronto" the interviewer is hilarious

[@mariekruczek1144]

Joni Mitchell is a private mentor for many women and what should be an accepted way of life to explore one's individuality of artistic expression...in many forms.

[@JanetCaterina]

why shouldn't she have aged?

[@mbb2404]

I played ok 😩

[@stevec6455]

No thanks to this Jian guy for screwing up my memory of Joni.

[@sweetjane5033]

what an artist! Is she really 73? the hair “do” ages her.

[@mpnorling7281]

Little green...

[@donnalee998]

Some of the comments about how she aged. FFS people shes old!How you look ?

[@seph4667]

Some people age.

[@joshgordon8369]

A giant

[@pianogirl08]

In the second clip of the same interview, what song is she singing at 2:50? kzbin.info/www/bejne/nIbYYoCso6aYmcU

[@jazzcatt]

The song is called "Big Yellow Taxi" It only reached No. 67 in the US in 1970, but was later a bigger hit there for her in a live version released in 1974, which peaked at No. 24

[@savannahsputnik1663]

At least she didn’t have an abortion.

[@libragemleo]

He doesn't realize that he's aged too. He needs to look in the mirror and up load his own interview.

[@dogie1070]

Neil Young is now Neil Old. Our celebrities grow old with us! It's cool! 😎

[@suzannebear4194]

Smart, tough gets more beautiful with age.

[@Humbucker1103]

Did she give a reason why she gave up her child? Did I miss something?

[@lynette599]

She felt she had no choice...she was 19, money-less, unknown, job-less...etc. She was reunited with her daughter after 32 years...they now have a very close, wonderful relationship. Her daughter, who was a model, describes Joni as not being a grandmother, but a MOTHER to her and her small children.

[@rogerscollier7424]

@@lynette599 Also she married Chuck Mitchell with the hopes of keeping her daughter. Chuck not being the father decided after marrying her suddenly did not want to raise another man’s child.

[@hotlanta35]

She always seemed a bit icy

[@tlw1950]

Thank God she chose life for her daughter and not to kill her.

[@NavvyMom]

tlw1950 Was going to make the same comment, scrolled down to see how many others said it. Had to get pretty far down. Sad. So THANK YOU for saying it, and AMEN!

[@amandadassonville4043]

She didn't really have a choice. I don't much care for that killing, murder part. Are you for real? . It's called a choice., 😩

[@tlw1950]

Yes, the choice is to kill one’s child or let him/her live either to be kept and reared or given to be adopted.

[@jft1711]

@@amandadassonville4043 that choice is death for the infant to be

[@mollkatless]

I'm surprised Jian didn't become outraged and hit Joni.....he hit people, right? Am I remembering that right? that he hit people?

[@HolgerRuneFan]

This interviewer needs to shut up! Nobody wants to hear him speak, allow the legend to speak. How incredibly irritating.

[@jackfletcher1000]

All You smokers look at this and learn.

[@amandadassonville4043]

About what. I'm 67 and going strong. I like my smokes. None of us getti g out alive, I'm not fat, I'm not unhealthy I'm doing good. How long you wanna live, I'm good with clocking out on 20 years or less, are you?

[@producer73]

I smoke, although I am getting sick of it. Nonetheless, My grandfather (1903-1998) smoked two to three packs a day from the 1920's up into the mid 1970's. Along with smoking all those years, he worked under cars, in aviation, was an inventor, and breathed in fumes after fumes. NEVER wore a bloody mask around anything, and was still going for walks and doing his own brakes up to two years before he passed. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Neither of my parents smoked. Out of four, I am the only one that does. Growing up in the late 70's, I never heard my parents yap, and complain about guests smoking in our home during holiday seasons.

[@ralphsaad8637]

Smoking ruined her voice sadly

[@erinkarpinec3678]

How is a pregnancy "unintended"?

[@lovewhitey2027]

Erin Karpinec wasn’t planned?!

[@sharonfoster4310]

No reliable birth.control at that time.

[@lorrainelee3092]

There is a form of birth control that works is " NO".

[@michellemckinney4678]

When people have sex, sometimes it's not with the intention to get pregnant. Why is that difficult to understand.

[@itsmeiamb]

sex without the INTENTION of getting pregnant.. You act obtuse, but really you're just being judgemental.

[@patriciathewisher2315]

Jfc. What garbled egotistical crap. Somehow she’s arguing that she didn’t give up her daughter cos it would have been inconvenient for her career as she had no career, she wants us to think she gave up her daughter for no reason? Mad and bad as a box of frogs. Not a glint of kindness in her face.

[@faramund9865]

She has similar mannerisms to Trump actually, very likeable.

[@michaelrapson]

How embarrassing.

[@Gillianfife]

What a lot of crap this male could never conceive a baby, who are you kidding. Look at him!

[@lillyess385]

?

[@David53D]

She looks so worn out and toxic probably from decades of chain smoking.

[@Claronium780]

she's aged!

[@RamonaRayTodosSantosBCS]

claronium 780 yes.. as we all eventually will do. Me included.

[@jenjen.rutherford8559]

It happens to all of us darling. What were you expecting ?

[@doc2kiwidig663]

And believe it or not, so have you honey..

[@pinkfreud62]

Yea, but I agree she could find another style with her clothes and hair to make her younger & updated.

[@tedwarden1608]

That’s a damn stupid thing to say she’s seventy seven of course she’s aged!

[@cachristner]

She should really let her hair go grey , the color she has looks wrong on her and looks fake to the point it looks like a wig

[@steveconn]

If she had just raised the kid we could have missed all her shapeless, pretentious music. Too bad.

[@fatgrl1935]

you're a troll to be here and make that comment. you also have taste only in your mouth, obviously.

[@susanlong8978]

Umm sorry but she looks very very ummm ? Not ?

[@peterjeffery8495]

Imagine Toronto in the early-mid 60's. Quite possible to have seen Joni and Gordon Lightfoot and Neil Young all playing their music at the Riverboat Cafe on any given night. Pick another 3 of their contemporaries and show me a better collective songbook. Can't be done. This was back when half of "Toronto The Good" was dry and nothing was open on Sunday. Lets get real though, it was never that "Good" but it pretended to be. If you couldn't get into the Riverboat or wanted a break from folk, folky country or folky rock, you could always slide over to the Mynah Bird and catch Funk & Soul pioneer in the making Rick James years before he Super Freaked the music world.

[@MsBhappy]

Damn, as a Toronto kid born in the mid 90's watching how much it's changed across my life has been a shock. I would do anything to have been born a few decades earlier.

[@pjj9491]

at least Lightfoot could carry a tune outa this trio... i love him...but think mitchell and young....right...no gift....money to smoke....interviewer loves huffing your cigs...