Joni Mitchell – Song to a Seagull

Joni Mitchell’s songs were already popular with the likes of Tom Rush and Judy Collins when David Crosby saw her potential as a performer and brought her to Reprise Records. Released in March 1968, Mitchell’s Crosby-produced debut features relatively simple instrumentation, but the dense, sophisticated songwriting showed Joni was already looking beyond the folk idiom for inspiration (hints of classical composition can be heard here). The ten originals on Song to a Seagull are split conceptually into two sides: “I Came to the City,” which sketches such melancholy urban characters as “Nathan la Franeer,” and “Out of the City and Down to the Seaside,” whose odes to the freedom of nature soar beautifully. The original mix has been recently updated by Mitchell and mixer Matt Lee. “The original mix was atrocious,” says Mitchell. “It sounded like it was recorded under a jello bowl, so I fixed it!” 2021 remaster on vinyl LP.

01. I CAME TO THE CITY 02. I HAD A KING 03. MICHAEL FROM THE MOUNTAINS 04. NIGHT IN THE CITY 05. MARCIE 06. NATHAN LA FRANEER 07. OUT OF THE CITY AND DOWN TO THE SEASIDE 08. SISOTOWELL LANE 09. THE DAWNTREADER 10. THE PIRATE OF PENANCE 11. SONG TO A SEAGULL 12. CACTUS TREE