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I was Joni Mitchell’s “Carey” – Audio Long Read

The story of a love affair that shaped an iconic album, read by the author.

By Kate Mossman

For 50 years, Cary Raditz, the “mean old daddy” immortalised in one of Joni Mitchell’s best-loved songs, was an enigma. In an interview first published on 17 December 2021 (and one of the New Statesman’s most-read articles of 2022), Kate Mossman tells Raditz’s side of the story for the first time – a love affair that began on Crete in the spring of 1970, and which informed Mitchell’s iconic album, Blue. In this podcast, Mossman reads her piece aloud.

Audio Long Reads is a podcast from the New Statesman showcasing the best of our reported features and essays, read by the authors and voice actors. The podcast is available in all major podcast players and here on the New Statesman website. A new episode is published every Saturday.

How to listen to Audio Long Reads

1. In podcast apps

Audio Long Reads is available to listen on all major podcast players, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, YouTube and more.

Either click the links above to open in your preferred player, or open the podcast app on your device and search for “Audio Long Reads”.

Follow or subscribe in your podcast app to receive new episodes as soon as they publish.

2. On the New Statesman website

The podcast is also available to listen right here on the New Statesman website. Bookmark https://www.newstatesman.com/podcasts/audio-long-reads, where we will publish new episodes every Saturday morning.

3. On your smart speaker

If you have an Amazon Echo, Google Home or Apple HomePod, ask it to “play the latest episode of Audio Long Reads from the New Statesman”.

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The command will also work on other smart devices equipped with Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri.

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