amna: Tonight, pbs will
broadcast the ceremony for the
prize for popular song awarded
Disher to Joni Mitchell.
Mitchell has used a wheelchair
since she suffered a brain
aneurysm in 2015, surprised the
crowd and took to the stage to
sing.
♪♪
don't cry ♪♪
amna: Right before that show, I
talked to another musical
legend, Annie Lennox, as she
prepares to honor Mitchell.
♪♪
♪♪ sweet dreams are made of these
♪♪
♪♪ who am I to disagree? ♪♪
amna: Annie Lennox first thing
these lyrics with a debut single
released in the early 1980's.
A scottish-british pop duo.
♪♪ Some of them want to get used
by you ♪♪
amna: That song was announced
just recently has been streamed
over one billion times on
Spotify.
Annie: I have not been here
before today.
Amna: I met up with Linda and
asked about the staying power of
her music.
People covering sweet dreams.
A fantastic cover.
♪♪
what is that like for you to
see?
Annie: It is wonderful.
One song can have so many
different interpretations.
It is almost like happy
birthday.
Do you know what I mean?
♪♪
amna: Her almost five decade
career has taken Lennox far from
her working-class roots in
Scotland.
Through intense years of
touring, success at every
industry level and more recently
dedicating herself to
humanitarian causes, she insists
she has remained the same Annie,
the girl who once heard a Joni
Mitchell album that changed her
life.
You said you did not think you
would be a singer or songwriter
or performer had it not been for
Joni Mitchell.
Annie: She had a huge impact on
me.
I was very young.
I came down to London to study
classical music.
I played piano.
I went to the academy of music.
I do from the very first day I
stepped in the building that it
was right for me.
I shared this basement apartment
and I did not have anything.
With their money, they were very
proud of the lp's that they
bought.
He came in with a Joni Mitchell
album.
It was something else.
What I identified with was this
extraordinary lyrical aspect.
This poetic aspect of visual
painting of sound and word.
It made everything come
together.
Amna: She showed you it was
possible.
Annie: That was life-changing.
That encounter with her music
changed my life.
Amna: Is there one song or one
lyric or anything that really
sits with you?
Annie: Love came to my door.
I thought for sure I would see
him walking up the river in the
dark.
Looking for a woman to call.
Who writes this?
Amna: Last year, Lennox got the
recognition her fans in the
music industry said she
deserved.
She was inducted into the rock
'N' roll hall of fame and
reunited for a rare performance
with Dave Stewart.
Is that something you ever
dreamed of happening?
Annie: When you are someone in
the public eyse as a performer,
people love you or they hate you
or they feel indifferent.
You cannot think too much about
what other people feel.
You are getting an incredible
award.
It is meaningful but it is not.
♪♪
amna: The lennox-stewart
partnership began with the
tourists.
Then they became the
arithmetic's until 1990.
They churned out seven albums in
just eight years, sold over 75
million records worldwide and
got awards including a grammy in
1987.
Annie: It was exhausting.
I think it came from the hunger
to have the ability to make
music.
♪♪
Annie: We were really, really
obsessed with music.
We were totally focused on that.
These were the days leading up
to when I actually had the
privilege of having children.
As a woman, that changes
everything.
It is very different if you are
a man and have children and you
are a musician.
Amna: How did you manage that?
Annie: I had help.
I had very wonderful people
helping me.
That was great because I asked
my kids over and over, did you
feel damaged?
Amna: You asked him that?
Annie: Yes.
I asked them if it was damaging
and they said it was fun.
♪♪
amna: Lennox went solo in 1992,
producing hit after hit.
Walking on broken glass.
Why?
Precious.
Across six studio albums.
She was named best British
female artist a record six times
with a singular sound and a
style all of her own.
Powerful and explicitly
androgynous.
Were you intentional about that?
Annie: That is interesting.
That is an interesting question.
If you are a creative person,
you are looking outside the box.
It is partly decision but it is
also something intuitive.
It just happens to be who you
are.
I am comfortable in the clothes
I choose to wear.
If I'm not comfortable, I'm not
comfortable.
Amna: Very few people reached a
level of voice and platform you
have and fewer people still use
it to deliver other messages.
You founded an entire global Ngo
called the circle specifically
to promote female empowerment
around the world.
Why is that important for you?
Annie: I was really very
fortunate because through comic
relief, this organization, I
have the opportunity to make
little film pieces on their
behalf.
Projects in Africa at that time.
I saw an aspect of the world
that people do not get to see.
I saw the disparity for women
and girls.
Young girls not getting
education.
Young girls becoming pregnant
who had been raped or abused.
Amna: Part of her mission was to
use her voice to change that for
the next generation of women and
girls.
>> This one is for 1986.
Amna: During her visit to the
library of congress in
Washington, Lennox was presented
with papers to copyright her
song, "When tomorrow comes," one
of many hits from her musical
journey.
♪♪
amna: And with Joni Mitchell
looking on, pay tribute to the
woman who showed her this path
was possible.
♪♪
amna: And you can watch Joni
Mitchell, the library of
congress prize for popular song
at 9:00 P.M. Eastern tonight and
on the pbs.org website and the
pbs app.
Check your local listings.