John Lennon Told Joni Mitchell Her Biggest Album Would Flop
While Joni Mitchell was working on her groundbreaking album Court and Spark in 1973, a drunken John Lennon stumbled into the studio. He was working on Rock ‘n’ Roll, an album fueled by drugs, alcohol, and violence. When he visited Mitchell, he tried to give her advice on her album. She shared what she thought of his remarks.
John Lennon tried to give Joni Mitchell advice on how to write a hit
In 1973, Mitchell and Lennon were recording albums next to each other. After a few drinks, Lennon decided to see how Mitchell’s recording session for Court and Spark was going.
“I played him something,” Mitchell told MOJO (via her official website). “[He said] ‘Oh, it’s all a product of over education. You want a hit, don’t you? Put some fiddles on it!'”
Despite Lennon’s belief that the album would not be a hit, it became her most successful album. It hit No. 2 on the Billboard album chart and received critical acclaim.
Joni Mitchell shared why she thought John Lennon had a problem with her
Mitchell later said she believed that Lennon’s critique of her album was due to his own insecurity.
“That’s a class difficulty he had,” she told Maclean’s. “He’s a working-class lad. I’m sure he had that same fight with [producer] George Martin because he was afraid that he was betraying his class. I know I’m going to get into hot water if I get into this but I have controversial opinions about him.”
She said that other people who were dismissive of her music reminded her of Lennon.
“I watched this [English film], which was a roundup of the best musicians of the 20th century,” she said. “As soon as it hit my era, the intelligence of it dropped considerably. When it came to me, this guy folded his arms and crossed his feet and said, ‘I never liked Joni Mitchell — she’s too twee.’ Well, that’s what John Lennon was like. It was that fear working-class people have of middle-class people.”
Despite her belief, Lennon’s bandmate, Paul McCartney, said Lennon was the “posh” Beatle because of his upbringing.
“His [upbringing] was richer than mine,” McCartney told The Washington Post in 1984. “Nobody knows that. John made himself out to be the big working-class hero, but he was the least working class in the group. John had an auntie who gave him a hundred pounds one birthday; that’s still something I wouldn’t give my kids.”
The Beatles’ girlfriend said he later avoided Mitchell
Mitchell’s biggest takeaway from meeting Lennon was his rudeness. According to Lennon’s girlfriend, May Pang, Lennon had a different take on the interaction. He claimed Mitchell had been flirting with him.
According to Pang, they both avoided Mitchell the next time they saw her at the studio.
“When I saw Joni Mitchell arrive, I got up and went back into the studio,” she wrote in her book Loving John. “John followed after me. Neither of us was in the mood for her.”
