That was a joke, wasn't it?I suppose, to about the same extent as the comment to which I was replying.

EVERYBODY copies her?

Not being a Mitchell follower, I'm not sure which came first, "Help Me" or "Free Man in Paris" or "Night in the City" or dozens of others, they all sound pretty much alike to me, and I don't think I'm completely tone deaf.

Irving Berlin wrote some of the most successful songs in the history of popular music, he also wrote tons and tons of crap. I'd describe Mitchell as talented but uneven.

Now, on another matter discussed above, borrowing melodies from earlier compositions is as old as music itself. One remembers (if one is old enough) the TV commercials with the late John Williams, "Isn't that a beautiful melody? You probably know it as 'Stranger in Paradise', but actually...".