I was an avid, ardent Joni Mitchell fan from the time of Court and Spark. I bought DJRD when it came out. Didn't really understand it musically except to say she was "experimenting" with Jazz,😊 which the media repeated over and over. It wasn't until much later, years, that I realized it wasn't a black man on the album cover but actually Joni in a kind of "drag." My lack of sophistication aside, I never once thought it disrespectful or inappropriate. I read it as an homage to the people whose music was influencing her profoundly.

Das crazy