Song to a Seagull

Production

The album was recorded at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, California during the later part of 1967. David Crosby was assigned as producer as part of the deal with Reprise Records. Crosby wanted Mitchell to sound pure and natural, so he asked her to sing into the studio grand piano, and set up extra microphones to capture her voice repeating off the strings; unfortunately the set up captured too much ambient noise, resulting in excessive tape hiss, which could only be removed post-production at the cost of the high sounds in the audio range, which gives the album a flat feel.

Mitchell had written songs that were hits for other artists (e.g., "Both Sides Now" and "Chelsea Morning" by Judy Collins and Dave Van Ronk, "Eastern Rain" by Fairport Convention, "Urge for Going" and "The Circle Game" by Tom Rush), but none of those songs were recorded for her debut.

Content

Mitchell has said that "Sisotowbell" stands for "Somehow, in spite of trouble, ours will be ever lasting love".

The album was dedicated to her Grade 7 English teacher, "Mr. Kratzmann, who taught me to love words".

Release

This album was originally released as Joni Mitchell because the LP album covers were printed incorrectly, cutting off part of the "Song to a Seagull" title (spelled out by birds in flight). The cut-off, as well as the publishers at Reprise Records not noticing the birds spelled out the album name, caused the eponymous album title.

The two sides of the LP were labelled as Part 1 – "I Came to the City", and Part 2 – "Out of the City and Down to the Seaside".

Track listing

All tracks written by Joni Mitchell.

Personnel