I'm going to treat that as a request Cheapie.
I had envisioned posting covers side by side with Joni's songs, but soon found the task too mammouth. Time ... where does it go? Did you know, there have been almost 600 covers of "Clouds" (Both Sides Now) alone?
The Cliff's Notes wikipedia entry references covers by Amy Grant, Nancy Wilson (Heart), Sonic Youth, Morrissey, Courtney Love (Hole), Prince, Chaka Khan, Alanis Morissette, Björk, Counting Crows, Stevie Nicks, Jeff Buckley, Elvis Costello, Dan Fogelberg, Janet Jackson, Maynard James Keenan, Cyndi Lauper, George Michael, Annie Lennox, k.d. lang, Sarah McLachlan, Norah Jones, Tina Turner, Leonard Cohen, Judy Collins, Madonna, Kurt Cobain, Frank Turner, Cassandra Wilson, Cat Power, George Michael, Marillion, Juice Newton, Conor Oberst, The Roots, Roxette, The Sundays, Clannad, Shawn Colvin, Anita Baker, Fiona Apple, Holly Brook, KT Tunstall, Seal, Tori Amos, Keith Green, Spank Rock, Schuyler Fisk, Kate Voegele, Regina Spektor, Me'Shell Ndegeocello, Keith Jarrett, Slash, Stephin Merritt, Laura Marling, Keri Noble, Joanna Newsom, Boards of Canada, James Blake, Ani DiFranco, Eva Cassidy, Sarah Dawn Finer, Herbie Hancock and that's just for starters. I can add Kate Wolf, Michael Chapdelaine, John Meyer, Dave Matthews, Bruce Springstein, Paul Simon, Jeff Beck, Steve Hogarth, Leo Kottke, Michael Hedges, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Mandy Moore, Nena, Natalie Merchant, Steve Jordan, Fiona Apple, Matthews Southern Comfort, Bonnie Rait, Lonestar, Tracy Chapman, Sheryl Crowe, Popa Chubby, Frank Marino, Leslie West, Steely Dan, Vanessa Carlton, Keb' Mo', Emmylou Harris, Elton John, Lady Gaga, Wynonna Judd, Joan Osborne, Bryan Adams, Anna Nalick, Missy Higgins, Cyndi Lauper, Diana Krall, Rickie Lee Jones, Taylor Swift and of course Nazareth ... all without thinking too hard.
There are also dozens of songs that are answers to Joni song's like "Our House" by Graham Nash, James Taylor's "Long Ago And Far Away" which features Joni on backup vocals and Neil Young's "Sugar Mountain". It is also rumoured that Young's "Cowgirl In The Sand" and "Cinnamon Girl" were inspired by Joni. Other song's that pay tribute to he are legion. In "Raspberry Beret" Prince references "McGee's General Store" from Joni's song "Paprika Plains" and Led Zeppelin's "Going to California" was said to be written about Robert Plant and Jimmy Page's infatuation with her, a claim that seems to be borne out by the fact that, in live performances, Plant often says "Joni" after the line "To find a queen without a king, they say she plays guitar and cries and sings." Jimmy Page also uses a double dropped D guitar tuning on the song similar to the alternative tunings Joni often uses. The Sonic Youth song, "Hey Joni" is named for her. Alanis Morissette mentions Joni in "Your House", and British folk singer Frank Turner mentions her in his song "Sunshine State". Fellow Canadian songwriter Ferron invokes Joni to open the song "Maya", singing: "Last night I dreamed Joni Mitchell cut her hair and changed her name to Gaia. And she spoke to me in a confident air and said...'You better push the edge of Maya.'".
Joni Mitchell has received eight Grammy Awards during her career and 15 nominations. She also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002, with the citation describing her as "one of the most important female recording artists of the rock era" and "a powerful influence on all artists who embrace diversity, imagination and integrity." She was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1981 and received a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in 2000. In 2002 she became only the third popular Canadian singer/songwriter (along with Gordon Lightfoot and Leonard Cohen), to be appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour. She received an honorary doctorate in music from McGill University and in 2007 she was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Also in 2007, Canada Post featured Joni on a postage stamp. She's received Billboard's Century Award and the Polar Music Prize. In 1997, she was inducted into the Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 1999 she was listed as fifth on VH1's list of "The 100 Greatest Women of Rock N' Roll." In 2010, VH1 named her the #44 "Greatest Artist of All Time". TIME magazine named the album Blue as among the "All-Time 100 Albums."
Joni will turn 68 in November. She's come a long way from the little girl who lived in a home without indoor plumbing and running water and contracted polio at age eight during the 1951 Canadian epidemic (the same one in which singer Neil Young, then aged five and living in Ontario, also contracted the virus). It was the last major epidemic in North America before Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was successfully tested. Bedridden for weeks in the hospital, Joni became aware that she would have to live in an iron lung for the remainder of her life if her condition worsened. She beat the odds and she's survived. Joni is currently receiving treatment for "Morgellons syndrome". She spoke to the Los Angeles Times on April 22, 2010 about the disease, saying, "I have this weird, incurable disease that seems like it's from outer space, but my health's the best it's been in a while." She described Morgellons as a "slow, unpredictable killer", but said she is determined to fight the disease. "I have a tremendous will to live: I'm a polio survivor ... "
By Request (sorta)
This Flight Tonight
~ Nazareth ~
