Court and Spark Court and Spark Court and Spark is the sixth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. It was an immediate commercial and critical success—and remains her most successful album. Released in January 1974, it infuses her folk rock style, which she developed throughout her previous five albums, with jazz inflections. It reached No. 2 in the United States and No. 1 in Canada and eventually received a Double Platinum certification by the RIAA, the highest of Mitchell's career. It also reached the Top 20 in the UK and was voted the best album of the year for 1974 in The
The Blue and the Gray (song) The Blue and the Gray (song) "The Blue and the Gray (or A Mother’s Gift to Her Country)" is a song composed by Paul Dresser. It was a sentimental ballad, written in what came to be known as “mother-and-home” style for which Dresser was known. It was first published in 1900 in New York by Howley, Haviland & Co. and was one of the more popular songs published and recorded in the early 1900s. The colors in the title refer to United States Army and Confederate States Army uniforms of the period, respectively. Upon its release, "The Blue and the