In 1964, Joni Mitchell was 21, three months pregnant, and abandoned by the child’s father “in an attic room with no money and winter coming on and only a fireplace for heat. The spindles of the banister were gap-toothed fuel for last winter's occupants”.

She may have been on the cusp of international folk stardom, but that didn’t stop the stigma of childbirth out of wedlock. So Mitchell stayed in Toronto, away from her family, and quietly had her daughter before giving her up for adoption - because, she later said, “I was dirt poor. An unhappy mother does not raise a happy child. It was difficult parting with the child, but I had to let her go”.

Little Green appeared on record two years later, an achingly beautiful paean to her unnamed child and the future happiness she wishes her.

10 female anthems to share with your mum this Mother's Day