"Coyote" is the opening song from Joni Mitchell's 1976 album '' Hejira'' and also the album's first single.

Background

"Coyote” was inspired by

Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American actor, playwright, author, screenwriter, and director whose career spanned half a century. He won 10 Obie Awards for writing and directing, the most by any write ...

, with whom Mitchell was briefly linked during

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

's 1975–76

Rolling Thunder Revue The Rolling Thunder Revue was a 1975–1976 concert tour by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan with numerous musicians and collaborators. The purpose of the tour was to allow Dylan, who had now become a major recording artist and concert perfor ...

tour.

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...

’s 2019

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

about the tour includes footage of Mitchell performing the song at

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960 ...

's house, with Dylan and

Roger McGuinn James Roger McGuinn (born James Joseph McGuinn III; July 13, 1942) is an American musician. He is best known for being the frontman and leader of the Byrds. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with the Byrds. As a ...

accompanying her on acoustic guitar. Prior to the performance McGuinn states “Joni wrote this song about this tour and on this tour and for this tour.” In biographer David Yaffe’s 2017 book ''Reckless Daughter'', Mitchell describes how she "had a flirtation” with Sam Shepard. In her 2019 book ''Joni Mitchell: New Critical Readings'', Ruth Charnock described the song as "either the most flirtatious song about fucking or the most graphic song about flirting ever written". In Chris O'Dell's 2009 autobiography ''Miss O'Dell'' she details an affair she had with married playwright Sam Shepard and states that Shepard then cheated on her with Joni Mitchell. O'Dell claims that "Coyote" is written about Sam Shepard. The song describes Coyote as being "too far from the Bay of Fundy". In the summers of 1972 and 1973, Shepard resided in a waterside cottage in West Advocate, Nova Scotia, located on a strip of land which extends into the Bay of Fundy. The narrator also mentions looking an actual coyote in the face while "on the road to Baljennie near my old home town", a reference to the former hamlet of Baljennie, Saskatchewan. Mitchell was raised in

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it wi ...

North Battleford North Battleford is a city in west-central Saskatchewan, Canada. It is the seventh largest city in the province and is directly across the North Saskatchewan River from the Town of Battleford. Together, the two communities are known as "The Batt ...

, and

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as th ...

in Saskatchewan.

Reception and legacy

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' included the song on an unranked list of Mitchell's essential 50 songs in 2021. In an article accompanying the list, critic Douglas Wolk noted that it possesses "long, tricky, rattling verses that chronicle a romance with a womanizing man whose life is very different from the narrator’s" and that it had been a "highlight" of her live repertoire for several years before she recorded it for ''Hejira''.

played Mitchell's original studio-album version on the "Noah's Ark part 2" episode of the third season of his ''Theme Time Radio Hour'' show in 2009, introducing it as a song by a "strong-willed woman, and I mean that in the best possible way".

Later versions

A live version of "Coyote" was performed by Mitchell with the Band for the concert movie ''

The Last Waltz ''The Last Waltz'' was a concert by the Canadian-American rock group The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. ''The Last Waltz'' was advertised as The Band's "farewell concert a ...

'', and is included on the film's soundtrack album. Another live version appears on Joni Mitchell's live album '' Shadows and Light''. Like the original, it featured Jaco Pastorius on bass, but features

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works, and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progre ...

as a second guitarist and

Don Alias Charles "Don" Alias (December 25, 1939 in New York City – March 28, 2006 in New York City) was an American jazz percussionist. Alias was best known for playing congas and other hand drums. He was, however, a capable drum kit performer: for ...

replacing Bobbye Hall on percussion. "Coyote" appeared on the 1992 Mitchell tribute album ''

Back to the Garden ''Back to the Garden'' is a tribute album to Joni Mitchell, released in 1992. It was released on Intrepid Records, after the Canadian chart success of their 1991 Bruce Cockburn tribute, ''Kick at the Darkness''. The album's first single was Slo ...

'', with Canadian band

Spirit of the West Spirit of the West were a Canadian folk rock band from North Vancouver, active from 1983 to 2016. They were popular on the Canadian folk music scene in the 1980s before evolving a blend of hard rock, Britpop, and Celtic folk influences which ...

covering the song.

Personnel

* Joni Mitchell – acoustic and electric guitars, vocals *

Jaco Pastorius John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III (; December 1, 1951 – September 21, 1987) was an American jazz bassist, composer and producer. He recorded albums as a solo artist and band leader and was a member of Weather Report from 1976 to 1981. ...

– bass guitar *

Bobbye Hall Bobbye Jean Hall is an American percussionist who has recorded with a variety of rock, soul, blues and jazz artists, and has appeared on 20 songs that reached the top ten in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Early career, work for Motown and move to ...

– percussion

Charts

References

External links

"Coyote"
at

Last.fm Last.fm is a music website founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. Using a music recommender system called "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user's musical taste by recording details of the tracks the user listens to, e ...

"Coyote" lyrics
at Joni Mitchell's official site {{authority control

Coyote (song) "Coyote" is the opening song from Joni Mitchell's 1976 album '' Hejira'' and also the album's first single. Background "Coyote” was inspired by Sam Shepard, with whom Mitchell was briefly linked during Bob Dylan's 1975–76 Rolling Thunder Revu ...

Songs written by Joni Mitchell 1977 singles Asylum Records singles Song recordings produced by Joni Mitchell