Click here to see my original published article: https://lakelanderonline.com/2023/12/08/fall-2023-issue-3/ 

Blue: An Album Review 

By: Emily Eade

The album Blue by Joni Mitchell is the embodiment of who Mitchell is as a person, soft and elegant, but full of pain and emotion. The title of the album expresses Mitchell's true heartbreak at the time. This album would consist of sorrowful lyrics, imagery, and melancholy making it the ultimate breakup album. 

“All I Want” is the first track of the album. Starting the album off with an unforgettable strum of the dulcimer and a low thump of the bass following behind. The song is Mitchell’s way of expressing that she is struggling to choose freedom or love. She knows she is her own person going down a lonely road, but also has a desire for love. This can be seen through the lyrics, “I am on a lonely road and I am traveling, traveling, traveling, traveling. Looking for something, what can it be? Oh, I hate you some, I hate you some, I love you some. Oh, I love you when I forget about me.” 

“Little Green'' is the third track of this album. The song starts off with this powerful, emotional blend of instruments, the acoustic guitar and piano. This song is about the feeling of heartbreak and sorrow Mitchell felt after putting her child up for adoption. This can be seen through the lyrics, “So you sign all the papers in the family name. You're sad and you're sorry but you're not ashamed. Little green, have a happy ending.” Mitchell used this song to express the hope that she had when she put her child up for adoption for a good reason, a better life.

“River” is the eighth song on the album. This song is very minimalistic when it comes to the instruments, but it makes a beautiful connection with Mitchell’s voice. The song is about a recent breakup, with Mitchell longing to escape the emotional bonds that are painful to her. “A Case of You” is the most famous song on the album. The song is a poetic ode to inescapable love, she knows that this love is coming to an end, but it will remain part of her soul. This can be seen through the lyrics, “Just before our love got lost you said, I am as constant as a northern star. And I said, "Constantly in the darkness."

Blue by Joni Mitchell, would become the artist's most known album. The ten-song album is full of powerful emotions of heartbreak and sorrow. This album would become one of the most famous albums in the world.