Joni Mitchell's "Judgment" on Beethoven

My co-author, Kerry Candaele (see book cover on top right of this page), will occasionally also be contributing to this blog.  Recently he sent this along:  As far as I know, there are not many contemporary musicians or songwriters who have written songs about Beethoven.  Joni Michell did, and offered up "Judgment of The Moon and Stars" as her take on Beethoven in the early 1970s. It's obvious that she did some research before sitting down to compose.  Recorded version follows.  There's also a live version on YouTube in which she says she wrote it as a kind of "pep talk" for Ludwig after reading this terrific book. -- Kerry Candaele