In the late 60s, Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash were involved in a romance that ultimately ended with a telegram in which Mitchell wrote: “If you hold sand too tightly in your hand, it will run through your fingers.” In 1971, Mitchell released the album Blue, which has songs on it that are believed to be about their relationship. Here are a few of those songs.
“My Old Man”
In this song, Mitchell sings about her feelings regarding marriage, aka the “piece of paper from the city hall.” It’s alleged that Nash asked Mitchell to marry him at one point, but that she ultimately declined.
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“I remember leaving the house to give her the space to finish ‘My Old Man’. I’m sad that it’s about me again, but it’s so brilliant,” Nash once told The Guardian. “Like the song suggests, I asked her to marry me, but I think she thought I wanted a ‘wife’ to cook meals and so on, which was never my intention. I wanted her to be as free as possible, to be as brilliant as possible. She’s an amazing woman. I’m proud to have been a part of her life. In 100 years’ time, people will remember The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Joni.”
“River”
In the second half of this song, Mitchell references an ended relationship. This is believed to be about her one with Nash. Mitchell calls herself “selfish” and “sad” and sings about losing the best baby she’s ever had.
“He tried hard to help me / You know, he put me at ease / And he loved me so naughty / Made me weak in the knees.”
“It took me a while to listen to ‘Blue’ again after the first time because there’s two or three songs on there that I’m part of,” Nash told Songfacts. “And ‘River’ is a beautiful, beautiful song: ‘I wish I had a river I could skate away on.’“
“Willy”
This song explores the many layers of a relationship. “Willy” was a nickname Mitchell used for Nash, whose middle name is William.
“Every word is true,” Nash said of this song in an interview with Bill DeYoung. “It’s a heartbreaking song for me. To be in love with Joni Mitchell and have that love come back at you, even to the point of marriage – to lose that was devastating for me. I’m old enough now to realize it was a long, long time ago, and I can admit that I was heartbroken.”
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