Rock Poetry – Joni Mitchell

“If you can paint with a brush, you can paint with words.”

The Canadian Joni Mitchell actually wanted to become a painter, but then she wrote the song Both Sides Now during a life crisis. It became a worldwide hit and Mitchell became one of the most important and versatile singer-songwriters of the 20th century. Time and again, she has poured life crises into music; she is a precise observer and a gifted storyteller. And so, in addition to her innovative compositions, her “chords of inquiry”, it is her lyrics that set her apart, full of sophisticated linguistic images that are impossible to forget. She has rightly been described as a “painter in music”.

Udo Dahmen, born in 1951, is an author and drummer. From 2003 to 2023, he was artistic director, managing director and professor at the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg.

Beate Sampson is a music journalist, presenter and jazz singer.