Hits is a 1996 greatest hits

Greatest hits

A greatest hits album is a music compilation album of successful, previously released songs by a particular artist or band...

 compilation by Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...

. , it has sold 488,000 copies in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. A counterpart album, Misses

Misses (album)

Misses is a 1996 compilation album by Joni Mitchell. The tracks were chosen by Mitchell herself, and her selections concentrate on her lesser known, more experimental work, including jazz influenced recordings from the late 1970s and electronic music from the 1980s. Mitchell also designed the album...

, was released on the same day as Hits. It is composed of lesser known, hand picked favorites of Mitchell herself.

Track listing

All songs were written by Joni Mitchell.

1. "Urge for Going" – 5:05
   • Originally recorded by Tom Rush
     Tom Rush
     Tom Rush is an American folk and blues singer, songwriter, musician and recording artist.- Life and career :Rush was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. His father was a teacher at St. Paul's School, in Concord, New Hampshire. Tom began performing in 1961 while studying at Harvard University after...
     
      in 1967, Mitchell's own version wasn't released until 1972, as the b-side of the "You Turn Me on I'm a Radio" single. First time available on a Joni Mitchell album.
2. "Chelsea Morning
   Chelsea Morning
   "Chelsea Morning" is a song written by Joni Mitchell and introduced on the singer's 1969 album Clouds..The song was inspired by Mitchell's room in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. The inspiration for the first verse comes partly from the distinct décor of her apartment...
   
   " – 2:31
   • From Clouds
   • A hit for Judy Collins
     Judy Collins
     Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington...
     
      in 1969.
3. "Big Yellow Taxi
   Big Yellow Taxi
   "Big Yellow Taxi" is a song written and originally performed by Joni Mitchell in 1970. It was a big hit in her native Canada as well as Australia and the UK...
   
   " – 2:14
   • Released as a single.
4. "Woodstock
   Woodstock (song)
   "Woodstock" is a song about the Woodstock Music and Art Festival of 1969.Joni Mitchell wrote the song from what she had heard from then-boyfriend, Graham Nash, about the festival. She had not been there herself, since she was told it would be more advantageous to appear on The Dick Cavett Show by...
   
   " – 5:27
5. "The Circle Game" – 4:51
   • Tracks 3-5 from Ladies of the Canyon
     Ladies of the Canyon
     Ladies of the Canyon is Joni Mitchell's third album, released in 1970. Its title refers to Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, a center of popular music culture in Los Angeles during the sixties...
     
     .
6. "Carey
   Carey (song)
   "Carey" is a song from the 1971 Joni Mitchell album Blue. It was inspired by her time with a cave-dwelling hippie community in the village of Matala, on the Greek island of Crete.-Autobiographical elements:...
   
   " – 3:02
   • Released as a single.
7. "California" – 3:50
   • Tracks 6-7 from Blue
     Blue (Joni Mitchell album)
     Blue is the fourth album of Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. Exploring the various facets of relationships from infatuation on "A Case of You" to insecurity on "This Flight Tonight", the songs feature simple accompaniments on piano, guitar, and Appalachian dulcimer...
     
     .
8. "You Turn Me On I'm a Radio" – 2:39
   • Released as a single, from For the Roses
     For the Roses
     For the Roses is a 1972 album by Joni Mitchell, between her two biggest commercial and critical successes - Blue and Court and Spark. Despite this, in 2007 it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry...
     
     .
9. "Raised on Robbery" – 3:05
10. "Help Me" – 3:22
11. "Free Man in Paris
    Free Man in Paris
    "Free Man In Paris" is a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. It appeared on her 1974 album Court and Spark, as well as her live album Shadows and Light. It is one of her most popular songs...
    
    " – 3:02
    • Tracks 9-11 released as singles, from the album Court and Spark
      Court and Spark
      Court and Spark is the sixth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. Released in January 1974, the album saw Mitchell infusing her folk-rock style, which she developed throughout her previous five albums, with jazz inflections...
      
      .
12. "River" – 4:04
    • From Blue.
13. "Chinese Café/Unchained Melody
    Unchained Melody
    "Unchained Melody" is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. It has become one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, by some counts having spawned over 500 versions in hundreds of different languages....
    
    " – 5:18
    • From Wild Things Run Fast
      Wild Things Run Fast
      Wild Things Run Fast is Joni Mitchell's eleventh studio album and her first for Geffen Records. Released in 1982, it represents her departure from jazz to a more 80s pop sound....
      
      .
14. "Come in from the Cold" – 7:30
    • From Night Ride Home
      Night Ride Home
      Night Ride Home is the fourteenth album by Joni Mitchell, released in 1991. It was the last of four albums she recorded for Geffen Records....
      
      .
15. "Both Sides Now
    Both Sides Now (song)
    "Both Sides, Now" is a single by Joni Mitchell. Her recording first appeared on the album Clouds, released in 1969. She re-recorded the song in a jazz style for the album of the same name, released in 2000....
    
    " – 4:34
    • Joni Mitchell's signature song
      Signature song
      A signature song is the one song that a popular and well-established singer or band is most closely identified with or best known for, even if they have had success with a variety of songs...
      
      , which became a hit for Judy Collins
      Judy Collins
      Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington...
      
       and was performed by many artists, including Frank Sinatra
      Frank Sinatra
      Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
      
      . From Clouds.

CD 1

1. "Both Sides Now" - 4:33
2. "Chelsea Morning" - 2:36
3. "The Circle Game" - 4:52
4. "Big Yellow Taxi" - 2:16
5. "Woodstock" - 5:29
6. "Carey" - 3:04
7. "River" - 4:05
8. "California" - 3:50
9. "Blue" - 3:05
10. "A Case Of You" - 4:23
11. "You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio" - 2:39
12. "Urge For Going" - 5:08
13. "Woman of Heart and Mind" - 2:38
14. "Raised on Robbery" - 3:07
15. "Help Me" - 3:23
16. "Free Man in Paris" - 3:04
17. "Court and Spark" - 2:46
18. "All I Want" (live) - 3:31
19. "In France They Kiss On Main Street" - 3:19
20. "The Hissing Of Summer Lawns" - 3:01
21. "Edith and the Kingpin" - 3:37
22. "Coyote" - 5:01

CD 2

1. "Hejira" - 6:41
2. "Amelia" - 6:02
3. "Talk to Me" - 3:45
4. "God Must Be a Boogie Man" - 4:35
5. "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" (live) - 3:00
6. "Chinese Cafe/Unchained Melody" - 5:18
7. "Ladies' Man" - 2:40
8. "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care" - 2:39
9. "Good Friends" - 4:25
10. "My Secret Place" (featuring Peter Gabriel
    Peter Gabriel
    Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
    
    ) - 5:01
11. "The Beat of Black Wings" - 5:19
12. "Come in From the Cold" - 3:38
13. "Two Grey Rooms" - 3:56
14. "How Do You Stop" (featuring Seal
    Seal (musician)
    Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel , known simply as Seal, is a British soul and R&B singer-songwriter, of Nigerian and Brazilian background. Seal has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 1992, four Grammy Awards, and an...
    
    ) - 4:09
15. "Sex Kills" - 3:57
16. "Turbulent Indigo" - 3:35
17. "Harlem in Havana" - 4:26
18. "The Tea Leaf Prophecy (Lay Down Your Arms)" (with Herbie Hancock
    Herbie Hancock
    Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
    
    ) - 6:37

(P) 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1994, 1998, 2007