Song So Wild and Blue: A Life with the Music of Joni Mitchell – An Intimate Memoir and Homage for Writers and Artists

"An intimate, impressionistic Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man mode, interwoven with Mitchell myths and parallels."— New York Times Book Review

"An astonishing exploration of what it means to lead an artist’s life—how to last, dig deep, change, to embrace one’s voice while in conversation with your heroes."—Elizabeth McCracken, author of The Hero of This Book

From the celebrated novelist and memoirist, a gorgeous account of how Joni Mitchell’s work has shaped his writing throughout his life.

From the moment Paul Lisicky heard Joni Mitchell’s music while growing up in New Jersey, he recognized she was that rarity among musicians—a talent whose combination of introspection, liberation, and deep musicality set her apart from any other artist of the time. As a young man, Lisicky was a budding songwriter who took his cues from Mitchell’s mysteries and idiosyncrasies. But as he matured, he set his guitar aside and turned to prose, a practice that would eventually take him to the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and into the professional world of letters, all the while chronicling his own creative process.

As the decades passed, Lisicky’s connection to Mitchell’s artistry only deepened. Her music was a constant, a guide to life, and an artist’s manual in one—a powerful example of art and identity intertwining. As he navigated love and heartbreak and imaginative struggles and the vicissitudes of a creative career, he would often return to Mitchell’s songs, to the solace and lessons that only her musicianship could give.

Paying unique tribute to the woman who shaped generations of creators and thinkers, Lisicky offers his own coming-of-adulthood as testimony to the power of songwriting and staying true to your creative vision. Part memoir, part biography, and part homage, this stunning work of literary nonfiction, Song So Wild and Blue is a joy for devoted Mitchell enthusiasts, budding writers, and artists of all stripes.

How does the soundtrack of a life become the blueprint for creating one’s own?

• Music Memoir: Follow a young songwriter’s journey from emulating his idol’s idiosyncratic style to finding his own voice in prose at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
• LGBTQ+ Coming of Age: A deeply personal account of navigating love, heartbreak, and identity as a young gay man, with Joni’s music as a constant guide and companion.
• Songwriting Influence: Go beyond biography in a detailed homage that treats Mitchell’s catalog as an artist’s manual for navigating the struggles of a creative career.
• Lyrical Prose: A testament to the power of a single artist to shape another, blending criticism, biography, and personal reflection into a gorgeous tribute.

Paul Lisicky is the author of seven books, including Later, The Narrow Door, Unbuilt Projects, The Burning House, Famous Builder, and Lawnboy. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, BuzzFeed, Conjunctions, The Cut, Fence, the New York Times, Ploughshares, and more. His honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the James Michener/Copernicus Society, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and the Rose Dorothea Award from the Provincetown Library. He is currently a professor of English in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Rutgers University–Camden, where he is the editor of StoryQuarterly. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.