Lula magazine, issue 2, may 2007
The Snow Child
From her harp plucking fingers to her song bird throat, Joanna Newsom is filled with music and magic.
- What interests you more, music or lyrics?
I usually hear the music first. They're closely bound. That sometimes means they spring to life at the same time, but... but I do think if anything it starts first with the music.
- Who are your favourite poets? Do any of them influence you?
I wouldn't say I'm influenced by a lot of poets, but I mean, my favourite modern day poet is E.E. Cummings.
- And your favourite children's book?
Oh gosh. So many, but probably Mickey and the Midnight Kitchen. It's beautiful. Y'know Maurice Sendak? He did Where The Wild Things Are; I think he did this one before that. The kid gets up [in the middle of the night and] goes down the stairs and falls and falls and falls in the middle of the night to the midnight kitchen...
- If you were going to set a fairytale to a song, which one would it be?
Rapunzel.
- When you graduated high school, did you think that in four or five years' time you were going to be doing this?
No, no; I thought I was going to be a composer and I went to a school for composition. It wasn't the place for me at all. I mean a lot of the ethomusicology classes that I took as like side classes, those really helped; those really exposed me to a lot of old American music, old blues music and so forth. But the actual composition classes, they're like work-shopping classes with people critiquing in them. And what I was doing was so outside of the context of everybody else.
- How long did you stay there for?
I stayed at the school for three years, but um, after two of those I switched to creative writing major, and when I did that, that was when I started singing.
- You mentioned old blues and stuff, is that what you grew up with?
I didn't grow up with a lot of old blues. I grew up with a lot of bluegrass. We'd have bluegrass music around the house and we'd play recordings.
- When did you start playing music?
If I think about it... when I started I was three. It's really difficult for me to remember; I have to take it on good faith.
- So your family plays instruments? Could you picture yourself as a folk family singing group?
Yeah... it'd be a pretty motley crew if we did that. My mom is really good at piano. My dad plays guitar but it's never really been his focus.
- What was your last dream, do you remember?
I haven't remembered a dream in weeks because we've been travelling 'round, and I have to think about it first thing when I wake up or else I'll forget. The last really terrible dream for me was of this massive snake, sticking its tongue under all the doors. It was like brushing people's faces with the tip of its tongue and when it knew where there were people inside, it would smash through and eat them.
Interview by HD.