Joni Mitchell wrote some of her greatest songs on a guitar that survived the Vietnam War
Joni Mitchell’s 1956 Martin D-28 survived damage from a Vietnam War shrapnel strike before she bought it from a Marine captain in the mid-1960s. She used it to write songs including “Both Sides Now”, “Chelsea Morning” and “Big Yellow Taxi”, and its distinctive sound helped shape her early music.
The guitar’s stable intonation suited Mitchell’s unusual tunings, which she developed after childhood polio weakened her left hand. Around 1970, its top was crushed during a flight; after repairs, Mitchell felt it had lost its sound, and it was later stolen from an airport carousel in Maui. She never recovered it, though decades later she found instruments that met her standards.
In short
- Mitchell’s Martin D-28 survived a shrapnel strike in Vietnam.
- She wrote several celebrated songs on the guitar.
- It was damaged in transit and later stolen in Maui.
Explained simply
Joni Mitchell is a Canadian singer-songwriter whose work helped shape folk and popular music from the 1960s onwards. She is known for writing songs that combine personal observations with distinctive melodies and guitar arrangements.
Mitchell often used tunings that differ from the standard way a guitar is tuned. Childhood polio weakened her left hand, and she developed these tunings in part to make playing easier; they also gave her songs a recognisable sound.
The Martin D-28 was a steel-string acoustic guitar, a type often used for folk music. Its history and sound became closely linked to Mitchell’s early songwriting and recording.