Cameron Crowe writing about Joni Mitchell is a match made in music heaven. For the somehow uninitiated (seriously, go stream if you’re unfamiliar), Joni Mitchell is one of the most influential singer-songwriters in music history. Her songs are deeply personal and incorporate a variety of musical styles into her folk sensibilities, later inspiring everyone from Bob Dylan to Alanis Morissette and even Prince. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, and her transcendent, poetic lyrics remain unmatched. With no exaggeration, “A Case of You” is quite honestly the most romantic song ever written, and it’s not even close.
As Above the Line also pointed out, Cameron Crowe has been writing about Joni Mitchell for decades. “Every journalist has their dream list of interview subjects. Mine was Marvin Gaye, Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell. I never got to Marvin Gaye, but Joni Mitchell more than made up for it,” Crowe said as an introduction to the reprint of his 1979 interview with her. “My last cover story for the magazine, and still my favorite.”
Crowe’s work is at its best when it’s semi-autobiographical, and while he is certainly not Joni Mitchell, he feels exquisitely qualified to help tell her story. After all, he’s already been doing it for a very long time. Crowe will be writing and directing the film of her life and has been reportedly developing it with Mitchell for over two years. The film is being described as an unconventional biopic, instead “akin to an autobiography.” It’s clear that Mitchell is going to be in control of her own narrative, a blessing often not provided to the music greats … usually because they’ve passed away before they had the chance to tell their own story in their own words.
