ABSTRACT
Joni Mitchell opens her recording career with a leave-taking: “I Had a King” deals with her divorce and move from Canada to the United States. It also establishes the tone of Mitchell’s early work both musically and lyrically. The songs on her first album are reflections of their writer’s personal experiences – a rather novel idea in the late sixties when popular music still tended to concern itself with universal topics, and solitary girls (and boys) with guitars were associated with anti-war songs. “I Had a King” has a wistful, autumnal feel, highlighted by Mitchell’s cool soprano and the warmer undulating tones of her unusually tuned acoustic guitar. Although her vocal bears a strong resemblance to Joan Baez’s declamatory style, the subjectivity of the lyric is a far cry from the Child ballads that formed a part of both women’s early repertoire.
