14 అక్టోబర్, 2026

"The subject of her citizenship became part of a larger cultural conversation in April this year..."

"...when The New York Times created a list of 'the 30 greatest living American songwriters.' Ms. Mitchell was not included. 'We elected not to steal that honor from Canada,' The Times wrote in an article about its selection process. (Just a month before, the Juno Awards, Canada’s equivalent to the Grammys, had honored Ms. Mitchell in Ontario with a lifetime achievement award.) The Times’s reasoning did not sit well with fans and cultural commentators who felt that she... should nevertheless have been included."

Says the New York Times, in "Joni Mitchell Is Now an American, After 60 Years of Living in the U.S./On Tuesday, she announced the news of her U.S. citizenship on social media with a video and a photo of herself at the ceremony."
వీరిచే పోస్ట్ చేయబడింది Ann Althouse వద్ద 9:10 AM
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48 కామెంట్‌లు:

Aggie చెప్పారు...

Well, good for her. I wonder why, this moment? Is it because things in Canada are getting dire, or because she wants to vote, here? Anyway, congratulations and I hope she makes the most of it. Who knows, anybody can be a success in America.

14-10-26 9:22 AM
tcrosse చెప్పారు...

So many loyalists are willing to do anything for Canada except live in it.

14-10-26 9:23 AM
Kylos చెప్పారు...

My brother-in-law from Nicaragua just passed his citizenship interview yesterday. Nice to know the system still works well.

14-10-26 9:27 AM
CJinPA చెప్పారు...

If you think citizenship is something you shrug at, you're not a "cultural commentator" you're a "pop culture commentator," aka "everyone."

14-10-26 9:28 AM
Amexpat చెప్పారు...

Joni's not running for public office so her actual citzenship is not relvant for being included in a greatest American songwriters list. What's relevant is where she lived and what she wrote about. She was very influential in the Laurel Canyon music scene and wrote many greart songs that reflect her time in the US . So she definitely should have been included in a greatest American songwriters list. Same for Neil Young, even before he became a US citizen.

I wouldn't include Gordon Lightfoot as he lived in Canada for most of his productive songwriting life and his songs have a more Canadian perspective.

Leonard Cohen should be on a greatest songwriters list, but I'm not sure which country.

14-10-26 9:28 AM
RCOCEAN II చెప్పారు...

Canada's gain. Our loss.

14-10-26 9:30 AM
Big Mike చెప్పారు...

No MAID for Joni!

14-10-26 9:33 AM
Iman చెప్పారు...

Her “Court and Spark” album is still one of my faves over 50 years later. I’m cheered to hear this news about Mitchell.

14-10-26 10:01 AM
Leland చెప్పారు...

What Big Mike wrote was what I was thinking.

14-10-26 10:04 AM
Meade చెప్పారు...

Trump should rename her. Joni Mitchamerican.

14-10-26 10:55 AM
Captain BillieBob చెప్పారు...

She gets to look at both sides now.

14-10-26 11:08 AM
Joe Bar చెప్పారు...

Well, good for Joni. I love her music.

14-10-26 11:08 AM
tim maguire చెప్పారు...

Why does the New York Times think it gets to tell Canada what to do? Canadians can honor Ms. Mitchell all they want without the Times' permission.

14-10-26 11:08 AM
James K చెప్పారు...

So apparently she is not so appalled by Trump as to leave the US or to spurn US citizenship. Good for her.

14-10-26 11:18 AM
Whiskeybum చెప్పారు...

Althouse - the link you provided to the 30 greatest songwriters goes to a page where only the selection process was described. When you go from that page to the actual list page, you have to subscribe to the NYT, i.e., it’s no longer a gift link. Would you please re-link to the list page?

14-10-26 12:12 PM
boatbuilder చెప్పారు...

If she wasn't "American," why would fans and cultural commentators be upset that she wasn't included? Is this a "no borders" thing?

14-10-26 12:14 PM
boatbuilder చెప్పారు...

Hell, why not include Paul McCartney and Elton John if you're going all in?

14-10-26 12:16 PM
boatbuilder చెప్పారు...

Whiskeybum is correct. Can't see the list.
If John Hiatt isn't on there it's crap.

14-10-26 12:20 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit చెప్పారు...

"The subject of her citizenship became part of a larger cultural conversation in April this year..."

I thought this was a Congresswoman Omar post.

14-10-26 12:23 PM
William చెప్పారు...

To some extent songwriters have replaced poets in our consciousness. Poets like Byron, Tennyson, Yeats used to be big deals. Some of them were the big movers of their day or, if not, you looked to them to shape your opinion of the big movers of the day. That's all gone now. No one is even curious about Anne Carson's opinon of third world migrations. I bet Joni Mitchell will someday soon chime in on the immigration debate, and, morever, her opinion will be considered important........Richard Rodgers is probably the greatest American composer. My guess is that he was reliably liberal, but it's just a guess because politicis wasn't his thing.

14-10-26 12:29 PM
Amexpat చెప్పారు...

"Hell, why not include Paul McCartney and Elton John if you're going all in?"

Even though they have had a big impact on an American popular music they are very English in their outlook and are perceived by Americans to be English. When they sing about American culture they do so as a foreigner looking in. Like it or not, most Anglo-Canadians are pretty much culturally Americans and can write songs from an American perspective.

14-10-26 12:42 PM
Grant చెప్పారు...

Good for her. At her peak she was the finest threefold musician—songwriter, singer, instrumental performer—in popular music, and I doubt that status will ever be endangered.

14-10-26 12:44 PM
Butkus51 చెప్పారు...

Ever since Rolling Stones had Sister Rosetta Tharpe as the sixth best time guitarist of all time, I gave all lists a rest.

I only pay attention to their politics.

Kidding

Joni Mitchell places 9th, ahead of Duane Allman and Carlos Santana. Of course.

Frank Zappa 47

The Edge 48

He's not even in the top 10,000

But Joni Mitchell could write a tune and her voice was an instrument she also played well.

The Dry cleaner from Des Moines. Love that song

14-10-26 1:21 PM
Rosalyn C. చెప్పారు...


Good for her. She is still mentally and. morally competent and realized that there is something off about living in a country and not being willing to do the work to be part of that country. Trump brought that reality to the public awareness whether you like how he did it or not.
Or maybe this is all about estate taxes. Or a mixture of lots of reasons. Welcome home, Joni.

14-10-26 1:49 PM
Christopher B చెప్పారు...

and of course the Left immediately started slagging her for becoming a citizen now because Trump.

Despite wearing an ICE OUT pin at the Grammys.

Your daily reminder nobody can ever be pure enough.

14-10-26 2:00 PM
Christopher B చెప్పారు...

Link above to Instapundit

14-10-26 2:00 PM
Peachy+2 చెప్పారు...

Many Canadians with wealth come here for our health care.

Wait in line "free" healthcare for all! of Canada - SUCKS.
The head of the Canadian health Care offical, just said so, too.

14-10-26 2:12 PM
Ampersand చెప్పారు...

Ban dual citizenship.

14-10-26 2:16 PM
Just an old country lawyer చెప్పారు...

Amexpat, Rodgers wrote the music, but others, notably Hart and Hammerstein wrote the lyrics.

14-10-26 2:16 PM
baghdadbob చెప్పారు...

Joni has self-diagnosed as having Morgellons, an ailment unaccepted by the medical profession. In Canada she'd have to wait to be seen or convinced to kill herself. Here she has a chance of surviving.

14-10-26 2:31 PM
Kirk Parker చెప్పారు...

Amexpat,

It's quite a bit easier for Brits to maintain an identity separate from "American" no matter how much they perform, write, or live here.

I was in the audience when Bruce Cockburn received the Denise Levertov prize; in addition to him performing some songs there was a Q&A time. One of the questions was: As a Canadian, what do you guys think of us Americans?

I cringed, steeling myself for Mr. "If I Had a Rocket Launcher" to really dump on the US.

Instead, Cockburn was quite gracious. The first words in reply were, "We want to be you! We grow up driving American cars, singing American songs, watching American movies..." Not a single word of disapproval in his entire response.

And it's that opening sentence that defines the reality of Canadians in America. What huge percentage of the Canadian population lives within an hour's drive of the border? And it works in both ways, too: I was 55 years old before I needed anything more than a driver's license to enter Canada.

14-10-26 3:26 PM
Aggie చెప్పారు...

Hah, I thought this was an Omar post, too, at first. Mitchell's music and art wasn't always my style, but I appreciate it, and some of her music is particularly poignant. It's none of my business why she chose now to take citizenship, but I'm glad she did for whatever reason. She's additive to our culture any way you look at it. I feel pretty sure she probably retained her Canadian citizenship too.

Of course the Progressive militants have found reason to question her purity, it's what they do in lieu of thinking or serious contributions.

The crowd's delusion, I recall. I really don't know crowds, at all.

14-10-26 3:34 PM
AMDG చెప్పారు...

The NYT top 30 living American Songwriters list does not include Billy Joel. This invalidates the entire list.

14-10-26 3:37 PM
Amexpat చెప్పారు...

"It's quite a bit easier for Brits to maintain an identity separate from "American" no matter how much they perform, write, or live here."

Where this is even more apparent is with comedians. While there are some British comedians that can be sucessfull in the US, there's no doubt that they are British - not only from the accent but also from their style and perspective. Not so for the many Canadian comedians that have made it big in the US. There a long list who have made it big in the US and, unless it was pointed out, you wouldn't guess that they were Canadian.

14-10-26 4:05 PM
Iman చెప్పారు...

“The NYT top 30 living American Songwriters list does not include Billy Joel. This invalidates the entire list.”

Biggest hack this side of Barry Manilow.

14-10-26 4:25 PM
Iman చెప్పారు...

“The Edge 48

He's not even in the top 10,000”

Agreed. That documentary that had the Edge, Jack White and Jimmy Page showed what talent the Edge had (not much).

I remember reading about a visit Clapton made to Laurel Canyon back in the day and him saying that Mitchell had taught HIM a few things re: the guitar.

14-10-26 4:32 PM
Josephbleau చెప్పారు...

She is the model of Polite but Wrong.

14-10-26 5:00 PM
rsbsail చెప్పారు...

I assume she kept her Canadian citizenship.

I am opposed to dual citizenship. You can pledge allegiance to to different countries. Congress should pass a law banning it.

14-10-26 5:48 PM
rsbsail చెప్పారు...

I meant to say you "can't" pledge allegiance to two different countries. Sorry about that!

14-10-26 5:51 PM
hawkeyedjb చెప్పారు...

As if we needed any reminding... NYT readers (lefties) hate this country. How do they react to Joni's announcement?
-Welcome, Joni Mitchell. Also, Sorry, Joni Mitchell.
-But in these times?
-I love you Joni, but can I have your spot in Canada?
-In these wicked times, a person has to do what a person has to do.
-I wouldn't put it pass ICE to snatch her 82 year self up and throw her in an inhumane detention center
-Most United States citizens are not nice people
-obviously the United States is an uncivilized society
-the USA is/was/will always be an evil empire
-Most Americans are generally speaking very selfish and cruel
-In our family we cannot imagine anyone... would choose to be an American

14-10-26 6:06 PM
boatbuilder చెప్పారు...

"The NYT top 30 living American Songwriters list does not include Billy Joel. This invalidates the entire list."

AMDG and I agree twice in 24 hours.

14-10-26 6:14 PM
Kirk Parker చెప్పారు...

> AMDG and I agree twice in 24 hours.

I'm having trouble figuring out what this signifies - - should I go buy a lottery ticket, or double up on my prepper supplies?

14-10-26 6:18 PM
Lazarus చెప్పారు...

Joni got some blowback for posting a picture of herself with a US and a Homeland Security flag the day she became a citizen, even though she dissed ICE at an awards ceremony, but everybody gets political blowback of one sort or another.

14-10-26 6:31 PM
Narr చెప్పారు...

That Canada and the US are a single popular culture is proven by "Jeopardy."

14-10-26 6:57 PM
NKP చెప్పారు...

“Blue” - Best ever…

Sadly, Joni’s personal life, like much of her music seemed to reject happiness. Or, maybe it was the other way around.

15-10-26 2:01 AM
Clyde చెప్పారు...

It's a bold move, considering how "fascist" the U.S. has become according to all of the leftists. The fact that an 82-year-old woman from Canada chose to become an American citizen so that she could vote in the country where she has resided for 62 years puts the lie to all of the talk about "fascism."

15-10-26 8:23 AM
MadTownGuy చెప్పారు...

James K said...
"So apparently she is not so appalled by Trump as to leave the US or to spurn US citizenship. Good for her."

She wants to be able to vote a straight (D/DSA) ballot.

15-10-26 9:26 AM
Leora చెప్పారు...

Canada imposes a departure tax. It is a deemed disposition rule where emigrants are taxed on the unrealized capital gains of most non-exempt assets (like stocks and crypto) as if they were sold at fair market value on their last day of residency. Good idea to get out before you sell your intellectual property and invest the proceeds.

15-10-26 4:14 PM

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