John Low wrote:
Ive always been lead to believe that Neil Youngs song Stupid Girl
was directed at Joni Mitchell. Hinton, in his biography of Joni, says
this is supposedly the case and Im sure Ive read it elsewhere too.
Does anyone know where this story came from and is it really true? Has
Neil Young actually said anywhere that she was the inspiration
behind the song? But didnt Zuma and HOSL come out almost at the
same time in 1975, surely too close together for this to be the case?
----
Ive never seen any credible evidence that this song is about Joni.
Indeed , Johnny Rogan writes in his major biog Neil Young: Zero to
Sixty (publ last yr) : " The songs subject was widely assumed to be
Joni Mitchell, although this was most likely wishful thinking on the
part of an over-imaginative critic. Beneath the insulting refrain lay
the story of a girls inability to vanquish the past and start afresh".
Joni Mitchell has shown an admirable ability to vanquish the past
whether it was childhood illness, heartbreak or career setbacks -- as
Neil Young would have known at that time anyway.
And, yes, John as you say , the two albums were released very close
together .
I think the Stupid Girl/JM link is another one of those speculative
whos that song about interpretations that start off as fiction yet
end up being accepted as fact. JM herself has said of such
misreadings of her own work : "Assumptions were made in interpreting
the lyrics ... that this was about so-and-so ... all that nonsense that
destroys the ability of the listener to identify with a song. Plus they
were misinterpretations ... "
Karen
