The Bob Dylan song that inspired Joni Mitchell to write songs

Dylan arrived on the folk scene shortly before Mitchell and began to carve out his place as one of the greatest songwriters of all time in the early 1960s. With tracks like “The Times They Are-a-Changin’,” he proved he could combine poetry with politics and developed a distinctive personal style that endeared him to Mitchell. In fact, it was Dylan, alongside Canadian poet Leonard Cohen, who first encouraged Mitchell to turn her poems into songs.

But Dylan’s influence on Mitchell continued beyond this first step. The intimate nature of his songwriting found its way into her own work, as she once recalled in a conversation with Malka Marom on The EntertainersMitchell shared her admiration for his lyrical style, his focus on the “personal narrative,” and even his negativity.

“The fact that he had the courage,” she commented, “you know, to come out in music and speak his mind, and it seemed to me like he was really putting himself out there. And I think his influence was to personalize my work.” Mitchell cited Dylan’s 1965 song “Positively 4th Street” as a particular example of his personal lyrical style, singing the first line to illustrate it.

“You got some nerve saying you’re my friend,” Dylan begins over a gleaming organ and sparkling piano, “When I was down, you just stood there and grinned.” This personal style, which directly addresses the subject of his grievances, is present throughout the song. The instrumentation remains constant as Dylan takes us through various acts of betrayal – fake “how are you?” and lost faith – and it’s easy to see why Mitchell admired his style.

It’s a track that is both very personal and very negative. Dylan doesn’t mince his words when it comes to his feelings towards this person, speaking out their problems on the radio, and Mitchell was inspired to do the same. When she first got into music just a few years later, she honed her own style of personal songwriting, expressing her own feelings of love and hate accompanied by gentle sounds.

Although Mitchell was inspired to take this path by Dylan, it served to foster her originality. She developed one of the most distinctive voices not only in folk music, but in all of music history, and found her place alongside Dylan as one of the greats. Perhaps this serves as proof that the greatest songwriters write from their own experiences and put authenticity first in their art.

Related topics