Having just acquired a 5-string, yes, please, Morty!

I still sing "Marcie", "Nathan la Franeer", "Circle Game", "Both Sides, Now", "Tin Angel", "Urge for Going", "Big Yellow Taxi", "Chelsea Morning", "A Case of You", "Carey", "River", "Amelia", and "Morning Morgantown" (Strewth, I hadn't realised how many until I listed them!)

As you will see, I switched off learning new JM songs in the early 70s, but those I still perform have stood the test of time well. Many of her songs were almost impossible for a chap to sing without considerable rewriting, but I took my lead from Tom Rush, who was the first person I heard singing her material on record.

"Marcie" actually changed the direction of my life. I heard a Canadian singer called Shelley Posen sing that song in the London Troubadour in 1968, and it was while listening to it that I decided to move to London in search of fortune and fame. Shelley taught me to play in open G and open D in the back room of the Troub. I moved to London, only found poverty and notoriety, but had a lot of fun along the way, including seeing JM live and solo a couple of times.

Smoking? It's sad that her voice is going, but I can sympathise with her, I gave up cigarettes years ago, but must confess to a continuing cigar habit. You have to die of something, and preferably not Alzheimers! Joni and I might cough in the faces of those gathered around our death beds, but at least we should be able to recognise who is there!

"There are few pleasures in life that it is worth forgoing for the sake of an extra six months in an old peoples' home." (John Mortimer)

Alan