Joni Mitchell: Still Standing After All These Years

It’s not often that a musician takes a time-tested popular song written and performed by a music-writing powerhouse (in this case Elton John and Bernie Taupin), and makes it their own. Add to that the fact that Joni Mitchell doesn’t need to lay claim to anyone else’s anthems. She is wealthy in brilliantly crafted songs that have inspired generations of fans. But when this Canadian Queen of Singer-Songwriters took the stage to serenade Elton John and Bernie Taupin with her own jazzed-up rendition of “I’m Still Standing,” anyone witnessing the moment would have recognized that she made the song her own. 

Joni Mitchell’s Comeback and Subsequent Honors

 As the camera cut to Elton John and Bernie Taupin periodically, you could see their joy. There was no covetousness in the moment. Because they (as well as all Joni Mitchell fans) are aware–the fact that she is “still standing,” and has now made a musical comeback of sorts, is miraculous. In June of 2015, she suffered a brain aneurysm. While it remained private as to whether hers ruptured or not, she lost her ability to speak and walk. Five years later, she granted an interview with The Guardian where she’d regained her ability to speak but was still working on her walking. Mitchell had faced the latter challenge in her younger years with a bout of polio that left her having to learn to walk again. As she relayed in her 2020 interview:

 “Once again I couldn’t walk. I had to learn how again. I couldn’t talk. Polio didn’t grab me like that, but the aneurysm took away a lot more, really. Took away my speech and my ability to walk. And, you know, I got my speech back quickly, but the walking I’m still struggling with. But I mean, I’m a fighter. I’ve got Irish blood! [long laugh] So you know, I knew, ‘Here I go again, another battle.’” 

Of course, seeing Joni perform at the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize celebration is not a shock. The event that got everyone in the music world and beyond talking was her amazing comeback in 2022 at the Newport Folk Festival. At that momentous performance, Mitchell was accompanied by Brandi Carlile, a seeming constant companion since she crooned a couple of Mitchell’s standards–“A Case of You” and “Down to You”–as if she’d channeled Joni right in front of her face at Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration. 

Since then, Carlile has become a fixture at any appearance Mitchell has made, as sweet and protective of her as she was of Kris Kristofferson when she guided him onto the stage at the birthday bash. It’s become apparent that Carlile’s demonstrations of kindness to her musical peers has paid off in spades.

Mitchell’s late-in-life comeback has sparked a chain reaction of attention. Later that year, she was honored with the 2022 MusiCares Person of the Year Award. Stars like Cyndi Lauper, Jon Batiste, Mickey Guyton, Brandi Carlile, Black Pumas, Leon Bridges, John Legend, and Lauren Daigle performed songs from her illustrious catalog. Mitchell, in turn, graciously praised them all in her acceptance speech, openly embracing all the generational love that has come flooding her way.

Watch the Video of “I’m Still Standing” Now!

A Second Chance to See Joni Mitchell Live?

I am one of those Joni Mitchell fans who never got to experience seeing her live in concert.

I was a bit late to the game. My first introduction to her music was hearing strains from her album Court and Spark waft through our 70s split-level home from my parent’s record player cabinet – a gorgeous furniture piece they’d purchased in Colorado, which my mom referred to as a “dry sink.” From this cherry wood cabinet, sounds emanated that filled my child’s ears and mind with wonder.

At times I’d sit on the floor by their record holder, flipping through their collection: The Beatles, Sonny and Cher, Brazil ’66, Judy Collins, Johnny Cash, Fleetwood Mac, Andre Crouch, The Eagles, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Beach Boys…I have scenes locked in my memory of various albums, either studying the artists’ pictures, spinning across the living room to their music, or daydreaming. Each one made some kind of impact on me, whether small or great.

Around the age of 11, I received my own personal record player. I remember sitting in my room and listening to Court and Spark again. Particular songs like the title track and “People’s Parties” made profound impressions. Other artists were spun in my little room from Linda Ronstadt (Simple Dreams) to Stevie Nicks (Bella Donna) to ABBA (Super Trouper). All these artists, and so many more, laid foundations in my spirit – all were varying kinds of musical guides.

It wasn’t until I was in my senior year of high school when Joni Mitchell released her album Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm that I fully embraced her as a legend, a hero, an idol. After purchasing that album on cassette, I bought a double-album cassette of Court and Spark and For the Roses. Next came other albums – Ladies of the Canyon, Song to a Seagull, Blue, Heijira, Hissing of Summer Lawns, Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter – even Dog Eat Dog, which had received not-so-great reviews. None of that mattered. I’d discovered a musical gold mine and was as possessive of it as Smaug was of the Dwarves’ Kingdom Under the Mountain.

Words cannot convey this folk/pop/jazz/New Age songstress’s impact on my heart, my music, and even my life. Though her lyrics were complicated, wordy, and complex, I had almost every word to every one of her songs memorized, while other radio hits I’d heard a thousand times over never made much of a dent (lyrically, anyway). To suggest I was obsessed would be an understatement.

I’ve had regrets in recent years that I didn’t aggressively pursue opportunities to see particular artists in concert when it was all available. If I could turn back time, I’d see Fleetwood Mac, CSN, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, and so many more. The Pandemic was a wake-up call for the entire music world, but it’s been true way before that monumental event shook our world–time is passing, and so are music legends. If you take for granted that they’ll always be around, you’ll miss out on great opportunities to enjoy them live.

My hugest regret has been missing the opportunity to see Joni Mitchell live. I thought that opportunity had passed years ago when she stopped touring and got more invested in her painting. Then her near-death experience occurred. That’s it, I thought–no more chances. But Joni Mitchell has proven that music can actually call you back from the brink of death and re-energize you. Music can heal.

To see Joni Mitchell live, I’ll have to demonstrate hawk-like focus. I’ll have to scour the internet, discover any future possibilities, and possibly pay beaucoup bucks. But it’s still possible that I can see my favorite singer-songwriter of all time take the stage. That is beyond encouraging. That’s a miracle.

Still Standing

Seeing Joni Mitchell sing “I’m Still Standing” took me back to a memory of my mother. She’d battled many illnesses in her 65-year life, and had always come back. I’ve never personally known a woman more filled with a desire to survive, and on top of that, LIVE, than her. Her final battle was with endometrial cancer. Because of personal choices she made in terms of treatment, I subconsciously knew this may be the battle that she would lose.

One day I was driving her to a place she liked to swim, which was about a 30-minute drive. I’d downloaded a handful of songs by Meatloaf, and had discovered one in particular, a heart-pumping rock anthem simply dubbed “Alive.” The chorus hammers home a strong message of survival against the odds:

I’m a runaway train on a broken track
I’m a ticker on a bomb, you can’t turn back this time
That’s right
I got away with it all and I’m still alive
Let the end of the world come tumbling down
I’ll be the last man standing on the ground
As long as I got blood rush through my veins
I’m still alive

I’d already introduced the song to my mom, but that day, I said, “Mom, this should be your theme song. You’re still alive.” I got her to sing along with me, and we were ripping into the chorus at the top of our lungs as we sped down the highway (it felt like speeding, anyway). She was still alive. There was still time. Time would inevitably run out, as it does for everyone, but in that moment, my mother could embrace life in all of its powerful glory and celebrate.

When I saw that performance by Joni Mitchell of “I’m Still Standing,” it meant more than it probably did for most. I saw my mother in her. I saw a woman who gets back up when she’s knocked down and lives every day as if it’s her last. I saw a woman who has not stepped away from her gift. I saw a woman who is still sharing her gift with others, and as a result, is spreading joy. And legions of fans are reciprocating. This Joni Mitchell Comeback is a beautiful thing to witness.

Joni Mitchell is still alive. And she is still standing.