"Both Sides, Now" is a folk rock standard written alone by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, who is credited as both composer and lyricist. The song is in an open tuning, D-A-D-F#-A-D, and uses a modified I-IV-V progression. Her original recording dates from 12 March 1967 and was released in 2020 on the Archives Vol. 1 box set.
Judy Collins recorded the first commercially released version for her 1967 Elektra album Wildflowers. Issued as a single in October 1968, it reached number 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 6 in Canada, and won a Grammy for Best Folk Performance in early 1969. Mitchell included it on her 1969 album Clouds, where it became one of her best-known songs, and her 1991 re-recording with an orchestral arrangement by Vince Mendoza appeared on her 2000 album Both Sides Now. Other versions came from Neil Diamond (1969), Willie Nelson (1970), Frank Sinatra and Doris Day. The song opens the 2014 film And So It Goes and ends the 2018 film Hereditary, while the 2000 version appears in Love Actually and at the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony. Rolling Stone ranked it 170th in its 2004 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
