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Baker's Dozen

My Pioneers: Santigold's Favourite Albums
Tara Joshi , October 10th, 2018 07:44

In this week's Baker's Dozen, Santigold takes Tara Joshi through 13 favourite albums from Salt-N-Pepa to the Cocteau Twins, Fela Kuti, Nina Simone and Bad Brains, and points out that while Morrissey might have gone wrong, you can't take away what his songs once gave her

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Joni Mitchell - Blue
Joni Mitchell is one of my top lyrical influences – she was just such a good writer. Her songs were like journal entries, and it just taught you how to use lyrics – again this was when I was a kid, I think 11 years old was a big age for me in terms of music! This was before the internet, so this was what children did. This record in particular, I actually sing these songs as lullabies to my babies because they work so perfectly – and it means I don't have to sing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', I get to sing 'California' or 'Blue'. I love how high her voice is too, the voice is an instrument and when people can make it come across that way they're doing a great job. Her music is so simple, it's folk music, but what she does is so pure. She's one of my all-time favourites, it's no-frills great songwriting, beautiful melodies, a great quality of voice. She was a great love song writer too – so personal, it's literature: she writes literature. "I remember that time that you told me, you said 'Love is touching souls' / Surely you touched mine 'cause part of you pours out of me / In these lines from time to time" – I mean, come on! You don't just throw that down.