| "A Case of You" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Joni Mitchell from the album 'Blue' | |
| Released | 1971 |
| Recorded | 1971 |
| Genre | Folk, Folk rock |
| Length | 4:20 |
| Label | Reprise |
| Writer | Joni Mitchell |
"A Case of You" is a song by Joni Mitchell, from her 1971 album Blue. It is one of her most well-known songs.
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Mitchell recorded A Case of You in 1971, during her early folk period. The song was first released on the 1971 album Blue with Mitchell playing Appalachian dulcimer, accompanied by James Taylor on acoustic guitar. The recent release of the live album Amchitka - the 1970 concert that launched Greenpeace shows that the song was written earlier than 1971 as Mitchell performs a live version of "A Case of You" at the concert. The line "I am as constant as a northern star" is a quotation from Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar.
Mitchell later re-recorded it on her live album Miles of Aisles (1974). The song is found on Mitchell's Misses (1996), and Both Sides Now (2000) in an orchestral version featuring a new vocal by Mitchell.
The song is found on many bootleg recordings from her 1983 tour. "A Case of You" has also been performed by artists as diverse as Sloan, Tori Amos, Brian Kennedy, Michelle Branch, Keller Williams, k.d. lang, Lyn Paul, Caroline Lavelle, Kate Earl, Cristina Branco, Diana Krall, Jane Monheit, Julia Murney, Javier, Philip Morrow and Colin Meloy of the Decemberists, Dawn Langstroth (Highwire, Linn Records), and James Blake.[1]
Prince recorded a version, retitled "A Case of U", on his 2002 album, One Nite Alone.... He also played the song in 1983 during the First Avenue performance where the album versions of "Purple Rain" and several other tracks from the Purple Rain album were recorded.
The song appears in the films Truly, Madly, Deeply, Practical Magic, and Waking the Dead.
In 2011, Joni Mitchell was voted the no. 1 female artist and A Case Of You the no. 1 female song by listeners of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.[2]