I thought it was an endearing little ditty

December 19, 2021 2:26 PM

“For many years. I never talked about it. I didn’t want anyone to know it was me. Because all they wanted to talk about was my relationship with her.”

Kate Mossman interviews Cary Raditz, the "mean old daddy" of one of Joni Mitchell's best known songs.
posted by Rumple (14 comments total)

Cary did a very similar interview for the Wall Street Journal in 2014: When Joni Mitchell Met Cary Raditz, Her ‘Mean Old Daddy’
posted by Lanark at 3:42 PM on December 19, 2021 [2 favorites]

Fabulous interview. Thanks for posting - I wouldn't have seen it otherwise and I'm a huge fan of Joni's music, and have often wondered about the origin of this song.
posted by bluesky43 at 3:54 PM on December 19, 2021 [3 favorites]

Such a bittersweet personal song - really captures a point in time. Great interview.
posted by Dag Maggot at 4:58 PM on December 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Interesting story for Joni fans but why do I feel like Steve Bannon's misogynist Wall Street doppelgänger has penned a book he so desperately wants to get published that he spills an "exclusive" to a writer conspicuously unaware (hat tip Lanark) that he already shared the story seven years ago to, who else, the Wall Street Journal? Something about this guy makes me want a long hot shower to wash some of my Boomer off.
posted by thecincinnatikid at 5:01 PM on December 19, 2021 [10 favorites]

I thought it was really funny he became a banker.
posted by storybored at 5:16 PM on December 19, 2021 [3 favorites]

I met an old hippie in Chapel Hill who really hated James Taylor.
posted by thelonius at 5:26 PM on December 19, 2021 [6 favorites]

“It’s funny because there is a lot about this I don’t like,” he says. “There is something about celebrity in general – it is dangerous territory. It’s addictive though, you see. It’s awful. It’s a facet of greed.”

"later, I became a banker..."
(an interesting depiction of a character. Like a mash-up Gordon Geko/Zelig)
posted by From Bklyn at 3:33 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

I just imagine, in her instincts, that in the great hall of jazz, that there’s an empty podium there that her statue should be on!” he says sarcastically.

I know people like to shit on both the Mingus album and Mitchell's jazz-pop albums, but the great hall of jazz should absolutely have a statue of Joni Mitchell in it.

Perfect timing that the story has him saying that right before he went full yuppie.

Not too long after, Mitchell would release the album Dog Eat Dog. including the single 'Shiny Toys.' The whole thing is both extremely '80s and probably the angriest music she's ever recorded.
posted by box at 6:21 AM on December 20, 2021 [5 favorites]

Ah, Matala. Said to be the beach to which Zeus carried Europa. (Said by moderns, that is. Ancient sources say only Crete. Good line for the tourists, though.)
posted by BWA at 7:37 AM on December 20, 2021

Kevin Fellezs has a great book on fusion where he addresses the Joni jazz/not jazz question.
posted by umbú at 11:05 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

Cary becoming a banker reminds me of the only thing I can remember about "The Big Fix" - a line from F. Murray Abraham as a former radical turned well off suburbanite that being a radical in the US was like being a spoil sport at an orgy.

Also I really suspect that much like the van life movement of today - it helps to be well heeled to go run off the grid for a while.
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:13 AM on December 20, 2021 [3 favorites]

Seriously, I have wondered my whole life about the guy she was leaving behind in California. Everything about his story is perfect (especially the part where he becomes a banker).
posted by maggiemaggie at 2:52 PM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

I have recently become obsessed with Joni Mitchell’s music from this period and it’s just a cavalcade of terrible boyfriends. Graham Nash seems mostly ok, but James Taylor and Cary seem awful. O.M.G. don’t date James Taylor! (Bonus terrible boyfriend: Sam Shepherd).

From this interview I can kind of see how Cary worked for her. He didn’t treat her like a celebrity and gave her a little piece of normal life. But he’s still transparently a jerk.
posted by chrchr at 8:00 PM on December 20, 2021 [3 favorites]

For reasons I've long since forgotten, a friend of a friend had to give Taylor's daughter a ride home after a school event, and he met them at the gate with a shotgun. So...
posted by wotsac at 9:46 AM on December 21, 2021