Song · Joni Mitchell
“Carey” by Joni Mitchell
From the album Blue (1971)
“Carey” by Joni Mitchell appears on 13 radio countdowns from 4 stations between 2001 and 2023. It was first released in 1971 on the album Blue. Its best result is #78 on the WYEP 2021 Labor Day Countdown. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #586 indie & aaa song of all time and #383 of the '70s.
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"Carey" is the most sun-drenched moment on Joni Mitchell's 1971 album Blue, and it comes straight out of a Greek escape. Early in 1970, just after her relationship with Graham Nash ended, she fled the pressures of fame for Europe and landed in Matala, on the south coast of Crete, among a hippie community living in caves. There she met Cary Raditz, a red-haired American who carried a cane and cooked at the Mermaid café, and wrote the first version of the song for his 24th birthday, finishing it back in the States.
She produced it herself, with Henry Lewy engineering, and her Appalachian dulcimer chimes over Stephen Stills's bass and guitar and Russ Kunkel's drums, loose and cheerful as a night out that nobody wants to end.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1894 | WFPK | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2000 |
| 2004 | 312 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004) | 885 |
| 2009 | 165 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2010 | 543 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Ultimate Road Trip Songs (2010) | 885 |
| 2014 | 664 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014) | 885 |
| 2016 | 521 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Countdown 2016 | 913 |
| 2019 | 599 | WYEP | WYEP Labor Day Weekend Countdown 2019 | 1099 |
| 2019 | 599 | WYEP | WYEP Big Spring Countdown 2019 | 1017 |
| 2020 | 726 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2021 | 78 | WYEP | WYEP 2021 Labor Day Countdown | 168 |
| 2022 | 384 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '70s | 908 |
| 2023 | 297 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 | 1229 |
| 2023 | 652 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of All Time | 909 |
Also listed as: Cary.
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