"Chelsea Morning" is a song written and composed by
Joni Mitchell
Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...
and recorded for the singer's second album, ''
Clouds
In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may com ...
'', which she released in 1969.
Background
The song was inspired by Mitchell's room in the
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
neighborhood of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The inspiration for the first verse comes partly from the distinct décor of her apartment. While in Philadelphia, Mitchell and friends had made a
mobile
Mobile may refer to:
Places
* Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city
* Mobile County, Alabama
* Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S.
* Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Mobile ( ...
from shards of colored glass they had found in the street and wire coat hangers, which filtered the light coming into her room through the window and created the "rainbow on the wall."
[Hilburn, Robert: Los Angeles Times]
"Joni Mitchell looks at both sides now: her hits -- and misses"
, ''NewStandard''. 12/7/96. Retrieved June 29, 2008. During coffeehouse performances of this song in the late 1960s, Mitchell explained that the famous stained glass had been rescued from the salvaged windows of a demolished home for unwed mothers.
The lyrics of this song demonstrate Mitchell's talent with imagery, and her strong use of visual inspiration, which comes from her background in visual art. Example: "The sun poured in like butterscotch and stuck to all my senses." Mitchell explained in 1996: "It was a very young and lovely time ... before I had a record deal. I think it's a very sweet song, but I don't think of it as part of my best work. To me, most of those early songs seem like the work of an ingenue."
"Chelsea Morning" predated the release of Mitchell's
1968 debut album, but she held off recording the song until her second album ''Clouds'' partly because it had already been recorded by other artists. The version by
Judy Collins
Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning seven decades. An Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, she is known for her ec ...
had been initially slated for ''
Who Knows Where the Time Goes
"Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" is a song written by the English folk-rock singer and songwriter Sandy Denny. Denny originally recorded the song as a demo in 1967, singing and playing guitar on the track. Later that year, she briefly joined the ...
'', but "Chelsea Morning" did not make the track listing for the album, instead given an April 1969 single release. Supported mainly by
easy listening
Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...
radio, the track reached #25 on
''Billboard's'' Easy Listening chart with peripheral
''Billboard'' Hot 100 impact, peaking there at #78. "Chelsea Morning" made a belated debut as a Judy Collins album track on the singer's 1971 album release ''Living''. Collins re-recorded "Chelsea Morning" for her 1999 retrospective double-album release ''Forever: An Anthology''.
Chelsea Clinton
Chelsea Victoria Clinton (born February 27, 1980) is an American writer and global health advocate. She is the only child of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton ...
, daughter of President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
and
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
, was named after the song, "Chelsea Morning", after the couple heard Judy Collins' version of the song playing during a stroll in the Chelsea neighborhood of London.
Other versions
Prior to coming out on the Mitchell album, the song had been issued as a track on the
debut album by
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...
in 1968, as a single by
Gloria Loring
Gloria Loring-Lagler (born Gloria Jean Goff; December 10, 1946) is an American singer and actress. She is known for playing Liz Chandler on ''Days of Our Lives'' for six years (1980–86). She and singer-actor Carl Anderson performed the duet " ...
, and as a single by
Judy Collins
Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning seven decades. An Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, she is known for her ec ...
earlier in 1969.
[Unterberger, Richie (2008). "'Chelsea Morning' - Joni Mitchell" ''AllMusic''. Retrieved June 29, 2008.] Jennifer Warnes
Jennifer Jean Warnes (born March 3, 1947) is an American singer and songwriter. She has performed as a vocalist on a number of film soundtracks. She has won two Grammy Awards, in 1983 for the Joe Cocker duet "Up Where We Belong" and in 1987 fo ...
recorded it for her debut album, ''I Can See Everything'', also in 1968, and, in 1969, this version was released as a single. The earliest commercial appearance of the song, however, was likely its interpretation by
Dave Van Ronk
David Kenneth Ritz Van Ronk (June 30, 1936 – February 10, 2002) was an American folk singer. An important figure in the American folk music revival and New York City's Greenwich Village scene in the 1960s, he was nicknamed the "Mayor of Mac ...
on his 1967 album ''
Dave Van Ronk and the Hudson Dusters
''Dave Van Ronk and the Hudson Dusters'' is a 1967 album featuring Dave Van Ronk.
Van Ronk on the album
"The six Dusters cuts on this disc make me think that we were probably too eclectic for the market we were courting, and that a thinking man' ...
''.
In 1970, three versions of "Chelsea Morning" were produced:
* ''Green Lyte Sunday featuring Susan Darby'' reached #4 as Easy Listening in ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' in August 1970.
*
Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66 reached #21 as Easy Listening in ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' in November 1970.
*
Sylvia McNeill
Sylvia McNeill (born 5 August 1947, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England) is a British people, British pop music, pop and rock music, rock singer and songwriter.
She began her career singing and playing bass guitar with various groups and bands. ...
on RCA 1922 (UK 45rpm) produced by
Jack Good, is another notable version.
In 1971,
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...
recorded "Chelsea Morning" for his album ''
Stones
In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's o ...
''. (He had previously interpreted "
Both Sides Now
"Both Sides, Now" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. First recorded by Judy Collins, it appeared on the US singles chart during the fall of 1968. The next year it was included on Mitchell's album ''Clouds'', and became one of ...
" in a performance at Douglas Weston's Troubadour which had been recorded on his live album ''Gold''.)
In 1972, a Finnish rendering, titled "Kaupungin Aamu", was recorded by
Anki for her album ''Ennen Aurinkoa''.
In 1974,
Kjell Hansson recorded the Swedish rendering "Skärgårdsmorgon" for his album ''Dig''.
In 1985, Mitchell's version was included in the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
of the feature film ''
After Hours''.
In 2004,
Rebecca Luker
Rebecca Luker (April 17, 1961 – December 23, 2020) was an American actress, singer, and recording artist, noted for her "crystal clear operatic soprano" and for maintaining long runs in Broadway musicals over the course of her three-decade-lo ...
recorded "Chelsea Morning" for her album ''Leaving Home''.
Marian Call
Marian Call (born February 24, 1982 in Gig Harbor, Washington) is an American singer-songwriter based in Juneau, Alaska. Call has released three studio albums: ''Vanilla'' (2007), ''Got to Fly'' (2008), and ''Something Fierce'' (2011). In ear ...
recorded it for her 2007 album, ''Vanilla''.
Judy Collins rerecorded "Chelsea Morning" for her 2021 album ''White Bird: Anthology of Favorites''.
References
{{authority control
1967 songs
1969 singles
Joni Mitchell songs
Judy Collins songs
Fairport Convention songs
Folk rock songs
Songs written by Joni Mitchell
Elektra Records singles
Songs about New York City
Song recordings produced by Joni Mitchell
Song recordings produced by Paul A. Rothchild