Joni Mitchell – Big Yellow Taxi

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They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
And put them in a tree museum
And they charged all the people
A dollar and a half to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And they put up a parking lot

Hey farmer farmer
Put away that D.D.T. now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

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Lyrics submitted by Nelly

Track duration: 02:15

"Big Yellow Taxi" as written by Joni Mitchell

Lyrics © Joni Mitchell/Crazy Crow Music/Siquomb Music, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Big Yellow Taxi song meanings
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34 Comments

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  • 0
    My Interpretation:I've always interpreted this song like this:

    She's complaining, all getting riled up about how they "paved paradise and put up a parking lot." She sings all this about how she's outraged, how its just *awful.*

    But that's not really true. In fact, she is just pouring all her negative emotions into this facade of environmental awareness, when, in fact, she is devastated by the loss of her lover. She goes to great lengths to try and disguise her sadness with anger at the people who destroyed paradise, but her real pain shows through at the chorus, and, eventually, during the bridge, when the real reason for her despair and anger and everything reveals itself--if only for two lines; her walls are up pretty high, and this is just a momentary lapse of willpower.

    So, yeah. This song is about denial. And it is done *perfectly.*
    Flag lightningrod14on February 17, 2013   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    General Comment:Most women of my generation ( I am 48) think this is about Joni's daughter that she surrendered for adoption. I'm a man so I take their word for it. It was too painful even for a great artist like Joni Mitchell to address directly so it's hidden in the lyrics. The big yellow taxi took away her little girl, not her old man. I think anyone who gives up a child knowing you'll never know another thing about her would feel like they don't know what they got 'till it's gone. Joni was tortured by this feeling and it came out in a great song. I'm adopted and I reunited with my maternal birth family after about 37 years. My biological mother died when I was 3. That was about two years after she gave me up. She was run over by a truck. I give Joni Mitchell all the credit in the world for pressing on a giving the big yellow taxi story a new, happier final verse. This song always makes me feel like crying because I secretly know what it's really about.
    Flagged bigYellaTaxi2on February 12, 2012   Link
  • +1
    Song Meaning:I just found out the true story!
    Joni used to play at a club in Yorkville, Toronto called the Paradise...it was bought out and flatted to make way for a parking lot! It now has a luxury hotel with a plaque that says "This used to be Paradise".

    The trees were transplanted to the Government Buildings..costly!

    This song was autobiographical and based on her experiences in Yorkville of the 60's - the Haight Ashbury of the North.
    Flagged Grooveonon October 28, 2011   Link
    • 2 Replies
  • 0
    General Comment:I think the song is about losing things that are valuable in return for something that is harmful or losing it's value after the change. It's a song written during the Vietnam war, uncontrolled development, and during Earth Day/Enviromental beginnings, etc. Wiping out beautful places...for what? a parking lot?...spraying insecticides/pesticides that killed birds in their eggs...for what? apples that don't have spots? "Big yellow taxi takes my (man) away"...the original sung from a woman's perspective - I think it's referring to the Military - taking young men to a war that had dubious reasons for being waged...for what? Our young men dieing? So, the song sums up all those things when we take away or destroy something beautiful because of misguided reasons and the result turns tragic. Sometimes things are better left alone (open space, organic, staying out of wars). Think of the Eagles "The Last Resort" as having a similar theme, but Paved covers a broader spectrum of social issues.
    Flag mradams25on August 31, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Wow! getting a bit deep here aren't we? Perhaps she just wanted to rhyme some sentences, like most song writers do. The Pink Hotel, Boutique and swinging hot spot could be anything or any colour, it's just a reference to tearing up a field and putting up a shopping mall or a parking lot.. The questions about "old man" being a father or boyfriend/lover, well, in the 60's and 70's your husband, boyfriend was referred to as your old man. The song simply states that she is noticing that we are destroying nature for the comforts of life, and at the end of the song, she hears the screen door slam as her boyfriend/lover jumps in a taxi and leaves her. I lived in Toronto in the 60's, 70's and 80's and never seen a yellow police car with a cherry on top, RayMan!!! Both parts of the song are tied together by the repeated verse "you don't know what you've got until it's gone"
    Flagged jimbo63on August 04, 2010   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:i think the whole song is centered around her man leaving her... even though she repeats the paradise phrase over and over again its not about the issues in the 60's, its about #1 sometimes people can wreck paradise by trying to develope it more (relationships), you can take the beauty out of the relationship and put it out of reach (trees in the museum), you can try to rid the blemishes/flaws from your partner but in doin so you may get rid off their passion and beauty and strengths (farmer using ddt for apples, also kills birds and bees) and it all wraps up at the end when she talks about her man leaving her... You dont know what youve got till its gone... so cherish it when its there... dont try to develope or change it), dont try to remove the flaws, accept them, dont remove the passion and place it out of reach, bcs you may end up losing something valuable and you dont know what youve got till its gone
    Flag juliusdjacksonon May 14, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:This song, I'm pretty sure, is about how people just knock down land and put up hotels and parking lots and not knowing but they've done till it's done. So pretty much, think before you do, Don't get blinded by want.
    Flagged LovingMusic2010on February 06, 2010   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:A song in which Joni complains that they paved Paradise to put up a parking lot. Though actually it would have elevated traffic on the outskirts of Paradise. Something in which Joni fails to point out, perhaps because it doesn't fit in with her blinkered view of the world. Nevertheless nice song.
    Flag Tunkamajion December 11, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Catchy tune: misguided ideology. "Big Yellow Taxi" in becoming a rallying cry for the environmental movement, exemplifies the dangers of environmental overreaction. As a result of banning DDT, millions have died from Malaria. In spite of millions of deaths the song is still celebrated. Fortunately DDT is finally beginning to keep people safe again. parkwayblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/…
    Flag Moreawareon August 29, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:My favourite line is:

    "They took all the trees
    Put 'em in a tree museum
    And they charged all the people
    A dollar and a half just to see 'em!"

    ...because that's a VERY CANADIAN view of the dangers of raw, unbridled capitalism! Joni, you're a genius!!!

    Okay everyone, there's a KEY to understanding part of this song that you will not get unless you lived in Toronto, Canada (like I did) back in the 1970's. The POLICE CARS at that time in Toronto were YELLOW (with a single cherry red light on top). This is the "BIG YELLOW TAXI" that Joni is referring to in the song (Joni has explained this). The conclusion? Her boyfriend didn't just take off... he was ARRESTED by the Police. Who knows, maybe it was following an environmental protest of some sort...
    Flagged RayManon September 11, 2008   Link

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