Song to a Seagull Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Karl Dallas

Critical Essay by Karl Dallas

["Songs to a Seagull"] is one of the few [albums] I can think of (the others that spring to mind are "Sgt. Pepper" and the [album by the] Mothers of Invention) which successfully hangs together as a complete whole….

Because Joni Mitchell was originally a painter … the things that stick in the mind from her songs are all visual. The king she lost, painting the pastel walls of her home brown thinking of ladies in gingham while she is a girl dressed in leather….

And all through this album, the seagull that wheels above you cries, and then is suddenly gone.

I think Joni Mitchell is that seagull.

Karl Dallas, "Joni, The Seagull from Saskatoon," in Melody Maker (© IPC Business Press Ltd.), September 28, 1968, p. 26.