Before, during and after the completion of this collection, I made a series of paintings on cardboard, much larger in format than those belonging to the 1978 Songs by Joni Mitchell collection, but similarly inspired by some of the singer's compositions. Most of them dealt with my impossible passion for that boy, that had started in my art school. But these paintings were born at different times between 1976 and 1983 (the year when I first met the Canadian musician and when the ache inflicted by my wrecking love gradually began to fade). Therefore they do not constitute a whole set, comparatively. However some do belong legitimately to this chapter of my work (see "Paintings" section).

Thus years passed... until 1983, when Joni Mitchell gave two concerts in Paris as part of the World Tour she undertook for supporting her new album Wild Things Run Fast. The first concert was staged at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees on April 30th and the second one at the Casino de Paris on May 1st. It was the second series of concerts, and the last to date that Joni Mitchell ever gave in France. Her first appearance on a French stage had taken place a decade earlier at the Salle Pleyel, with Jackson Brown as a guest during the first part (at the time, I had not heard of Joni Mitchell yet).
The concerts of 1983 were therefore events and I meant to attend both, which I did. For the one taking place at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysees, needless to say that I broke my piggy bank as I bought the best seats in the centre of the first row, for two of my close friends and I.

After several unsuccessful attempts to contact Joni Mitchell during the couple of months preceding the musician's venues in France, my then boyfriend who at the time knew Leonard Cohen's French lady friend, had succeeded into passing a note to the singer, which recounted the existence of my work inspired by Joni Mitchell. The note inquired about the possibilities of a meeting with her during her forthcoming visit to Paris.