The songs Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash wrote about each other

In his autobiography Wild Tales, Nash writes about his first memory of Mitchell: “She was the whole package: a lovely, sylphlike woman with a natural blush, like windburn, and an elusive quality that seemed lit from within.”

They soon became inseparable and lived together in Laurel Canyon, but the bliss didn’t last forever. The songwriters were being flung in many different directions, which seemed to strain their relationship. Towards the end of their time together, the couple constantly bickering, and one day, Mitchell walked out of the door and never returned after deciding enough was enough.

Nash was heartbroken when Mitchell revealed her exit through a telegram, and he channelled his pain through his songwriting on ‘Our House’. On the track, he blissfully reminisced about the perfect life they built together in the Canyon, which had agonisingly become a distant memory for Nash.

Speaking about the line “I’ll light the fire, you place the flowers”, Nash explained that it was direct from a conversation between the pair. He said: “One day Joan and I got up and went to breakfast at a delicatessen on Ventura Boulevard, and a few doors away there was a little antique store, and in the window, Joan saw this vase, went inside, fell in love with it, bought it, and brought it back to the house.”

Nash continued: “It was a kind of a cold grey morning as it sometimes can be in Los Angeles, and I said, ‘Why don’t I light the fire and you put some flowers in the vase that you just bought.’ So she’s cutting stems and leaves and arranging flowers in this vase, and I’d lit the fire. Now, my and Joan’s life at the time was far from ordinary … and I thought, ‘What an ordinary moment.’ Here I am lighting the fire for my old lady, and she’s putting flowers in this vase that she just bought.”

While Nash was wallowing in the past, Mitchell was stewing on her guilt, which manifested in ‘River’. She sings on the track: “I’m so hard to handle, I’m selfish, and I’m sad, Now I’ve gone and lost the best baby, That I ever had.” At the same time, the singer was struggling to reconcile with her musical output. It culminated in one of the finest Christmas songs ever written. But while the songwriting is perfect, it is Mitchell’s vocal performance that is utterly beautiful.

Given that Mitchell and Nash’s relationship had started to deteriorate beyond recognition, the two artists only knew one way to truly reconcile their feelings towards one another—through their art: songwriting. However, in a somewhat cruel twist of fate, perhaps the defining track about the demise of their love didn’t come from either of those involved in the relationship but their mutual friend, Neil Young and his blissfully beautiful tune ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’.

About the song, Nash recalled to Uncut: “That song means a lot to me because Neil wrote it about me and Joni. It’s such a beautiful song. I knew it was about me the day Neil played it for me at Stephen’s house in Laurel Canyon.”

He continued: “It’s a beautiful song and it was incredibly important for me to hear what Neil had said because he was dead right, it is only love that can break your heart. We are strong, mankind, but these love things can really trip you up. He was only 24 when he wrote that”.

The breakdown of their relationship was a sorry predicament that left them both grieving. It pained Mitchell to send that telegram to Nash while on tour in Europe, but deep down, she knew it was the fairest thing to save both of their sanities. The two songwriters would remain close friends and admirers from afar, never looking to rekindle their love but always feeling warm when thinking about the time they shared with one another.

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