“We’ve continued to have a friendship and, well, I recently sort of re-engaged with Joni, and that’s been wonderful,” Taylor shared in 2020 (via The Guardian). “She came to a show of mine recently, at the Hollywood Bowl, which was an unusual thing for her to do.”
“You Can Close Your Eyes” was released in 1970 and performed by the pair on stage in October of the same year. Mitchell and Taylor wrote the song while they were still together, and it’s become one of the most popular of either’s career (per The Insider). In years following, their romance would inspire various songs by and about one another.
Joni Mitchell suffered a brain aneurysm in 2015 and has spent a good amount of time since recovering. In 2021 during a speech delivered at the Kennedy Center Honors, Mitchell addressed her condition in a hopeful tone: “I’ve had to come back several times from things. And this last one was a real whopper. But, you know, I’m hobbling along but I’m doing all right! (via NME)”
