MtheGM - Well, I was never much impressed by that song Joni Mitchell did about the parking lot either...although it's got a catchy and enjoyable tune. It's a very lighthearted song, seems to me, nothing that ever pretended to be very deep. I think she was mainly just having fun with the vocals on that one.

However, if you look through the whole catalog of all the work she's done, aside from the odd radio hit she's had here and there, it's quite remarkable in both its musicality, its variety, its intelligence, and its lyrical content. She's one hell of a fine musician, and an extremely capable singer too, plus a great songwriter. I think most in the folk field would agree with me on that. She's also very unique. No one else sounds like Joni Mitchell, but I know more than a few female singers who have tried to.

I personally never liked her material as much as I did that of Buffy Sainte-Marie and Joan Baez, but that's just my personal taste. It's not my evaluation of Joni's talents and abilities. I have a thing for intense female singers with dark hair who sing about social causes...and Joan and Buffy were of that type. Joni Mitchell was a different type. She's more eclectic or something...very artsy...off on her own creative trip...sort of like a latter day jazz beatnik combination. She looks like she should be wearing a black beret and painting impressionist oils between gigs. (and she does paint) ;-) That style of hers didn't interest me as much as Baez and Buffy's did, but I sure respect her musical ability.