Joni Mitchell’s ex talks heartache as singer-songwriter's masterpiece 'Blue' turns 50

With the confessional honesty that Joni Mitchell displayed on her classic “Blue” album — which was released 50 years ago on June 22, 1971 — perhaps a more apt title would have been “True.”

Indeed, Mitchell’s fourth studio LP — which Rolling Stone ranked at No. 3 on last year’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time — upped the gut-spilling ante for both female and male singer-songwriters. "It made a lot of singer-songwriters — especially male singer-songwriters — very nervous that they were going to have to lay it all out on the table the way Joni had," said Majewski. "I think that the men, they were singing about the times, they were singing about the moment, but they were looking outward. When you go inward, there’s a bravery — and Joni did that with a magnifying glass." And that "Blue" bravery has inspired everyone from Prince — who, after once writing Mitchell a fan letter before he became "Purple Rain" royalty, would go on to cover "A Case of You" — to today’s artists including Brandi Carlile, Lana Del Rey and, of course, Taylor Swift. In fact, on "Blue," Mitchell was getting intimate about her relationships with the likes of Graham Nash and James Taylor long before Swift was dishing about John Mayer and Jake Gyllenhaal.