13. Joni MitchellBlue
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.
