Like many other musicians, Joni Mitchell operates on a nocturnal schedule. She stays up all night and is only able to sleep when the sun rises. For her, however, this is not an artistic choice. Instead, she has insomnia, which flared up because of numerous stalkers. Today, she feels as though she has to be “the night watchman.”
Joni Mitchell splits her time between California and Canada
Mitchell was born in British Columbia and spent her childhood there. She moved to Los Angeles to pursue her music career and was a crucial part of the Laurel Canyon music scene. These days, she splits her time between both places.
“L.A. is my workplace, B.C. is my heartbeat,” she said in an interview with the Ottowa Citizen, per her official website.
Though Canada is her preferred place, she worries the country is becoming too Americanized.
“Canada has got a bad case of Americanitis,” she explained. “Our governments have become too impressed with America. It’s safer sometimes to stand back a bit from the big guys.”
She has insomnia because of her worry about stalkers
While living and working in California, Mitchell says she dealt with a plague of “stalker after stalker after stalker” in her yard. In the book Joni Mitchell: In Her Own Words by Malka Marom, Marom says she remembers the frightening period.
“I don’t remember what year it was, but I remember that because of stalkers a security system round your house was connected to the police and I triggered the alarm a few times — scared the s— out of me. And I remember thinking how brave you are, to live alone — alone at night, with stalkers murdering artists in this town.”
Mitchell explained that the stalkers deeply frightened her.
“Many stalkers. Many, many, many. Some of them very dangerous,” she said. “A lot of Manson-type butcherous stalkers. They didn’t get me.”
She further explained that her insomnia and “nocturnalism” stemmed from this period of time.
“I’m the night watchman,” she said. “A lot of my insomnia comes from — I can’t sleep until it’s light outside. I am scared of the dark, but I’m so used to being scared of the dark I don’t even notice it. You know what I mean? I’m not sitting in a fearful state, but it has affected my sleep patterns.”
Joni Mitchell says that when she does sleep, she has intense dreams
When it’s light outside, Mitchell does sleep. She explained that she has vivid dreams in “black, and white, color, sound, in music” as well as smell.
“It’s like living fully,” she said.
The intensity of her dreams has a marked impact on her art. Mitchell is a painter, and she takes inspiration from beyond the veil of sleep.
“I want to attempt to paint my dreams, especially the ones where Chögyam [Trungpa] came to me, which were very mystical,” she said. “I have tried to paint it once and I don’t think I succeeded. I need to try again.”
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