Joni Mitchell “The Circle Game” The Way It Is—CBC TV, Toronto, ON, January 21, 1968. This was recorded two months before her debut album Song to a Seagull was released (March 1968). She was still known mainly as a songwriter whose work had been recorded by others (Tom Rush, Judy Collins, Ian & Sylvia). “The Circle Game” had been written in 1966, recorded by other artists in 1967, but Joni herself wouldn’t release it until 1970 on Ladies of the Canyon. This CBC clip is one of the earliest survivi