Joni Mitchell tager bladet fra munden i et interview med L.A. Times, hvor bl.a. Bob Dylan får en kæverasler, Jimi Hendrix får et posthumt kærligt klap på skulderen, The Summer of Love klandres for sin sexisme, alderen og skrøbeligheden i kroppen får en tapper kommentar med på vejen osv. Joni Mitchell har aldrig lidt af behagesyge eller flinkeskolen, men har ofte sagt sin uforbeholdne mening i offentligheden, selv om det kostede på karriereplanet. Men sådan er det jo i musikbranchen – og udenfor. Og det respekterer jeg hende for…

“Just before he died, Jimi Hendrix, his drummer [Mitch Mitchell] and I would sit up all night listening to tapes of our shows. Jimi was the sweetest guy. He made his reputation by setting his guitar on fire, but that eventually became repugnant to him. “I can’t stand to do that anymore,” he said, “but they’ve come to expect it. I’d like to just stand still like Miles.”

“Bob [Dylan]is not authentic at all. He’s a plagiarist, and his name and voice are fake. Everything about Bob is a deception. We are like night and day, he and I.”

“It’s an ugly term — it’s “confessional” if you don’t get it; if you do get it, you see yourself in the songs. I usually use “I” as the narrator in my songs, but not all the “I’s” are me; they’re characters. It’s theater. Tennessee Williams’ plays are drawn from personal experience — does that make him “confessional”? If I’m playing Joan of Arc, you wouldn’t tell me, “That performance was very confessional.” I’m usually the playwright and actress — but in this case, with John, we now have a new actress! Right?”