Big Yellow Taxi

"Big Yellow Taxi"
Single by Joni Mitchell
from the album Ladies of the Canyon
Released	1970
Format	7"
Recorded	1970
Genre	Folk rock
Length	2:16
Label	Warner Bros. Records
Writer(s)	Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell singles chronology
- "Big Yellow Taxi" (1970) "Carey" (1971)

"Big Yellow Taxi"
Single by Máire Brennan
from the album Misty Eyed Adventures
Released	1993
Format	CD single
Label	RCA/BMG Records
Writer(s)	Joni Mitchell
Producer	Calum Malcolm Máire Brennan
Máire Brennan singles chronology
"Jealous Heart" (1992) "Big Yellow Taxi" (1993) "You're the One" (1995)

"Big Yellow Taxi"
Single by Amy Grant
from the album House of Love
Released	1994
Format	Cassette single, CD single
Genre	Adult Contemporary, Pop
Length	3:01
Label	A&M Records
Writer(s)	Joni Mitchell
Producer	Keith Thomas
Amy Grant singles chronology
"Say You'll Be Mine" (1994) "Big Yellow Taxi" (1995) "Oh How the Years Go By" (1995)

"Big Yellow Taxi"
Single by Counting Crows featuring Vanessa Carlton
from the album Hard Candy
Released	2003
Format	CD single
Recorded	2002
Genre	Rock
Length	3:47
Label	Geffen
Writer(s)	Joni Mitchell
Producer	Steve Lilywhite
Certification	Gold
Counting Crows singles chronology
"Miami" (2002) "Big Yellow Taxi" (2003) "If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead)" (2003)

"Big Yellow Taxi" is a song written and originally performed by Joni Mitchell. It reached #67 in 1970 (U.S., Billboard)

Mitchell got the idea for the song during a visit to Hawaii. She looked out of her hotel window at the spectacular Pacific mountain scenery, and then down to a parking lot.

Joni said this about writing the song to journalist Alan McDougall in the early 1970s:

The song is known for its environmental statement (from the lyrics "Paved paradise to put up a parking lot", "Hey farmer, farmer, put away that DDT now") and sentimental sound. The line, "Took all the trees, put 'em in a tree museum/And charged the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em" refers to Foster Botanical Garden in downtown Honolulu, which is a living museum of tropical plants, some rare and endangered.^[2]

In the song's final verse, the political gives way to the personal. Mitchell recounts the departure of her "old man" in the titular "big yellow taxi", referring to the old Toronto Police Service patrol cars that until 1986 were painted yellow. In many covers the departed one may be interpreted as variously a boyfriend, a husband, or a father. The literal interpretation is that he is walking out on the singer by taking a taxi; otherwise it is assumed he is being taken away by the authorities.

The song was first put out as a single and then was put on the album Ladies of the Canyon in 1970; a later live version was released in 1975 and reached #24 on the U.S. charts. Mitchell's playful closing lyrics have made the song the most identifiable in her repertoire, still receiving significant airplay in Canada. In 2005, it was voted #9 on CBC's list of the top 50 essential Canadian tracks.

In 2007, Joni Mitchell released the album Shine that includes a re-work of the song.

Cover versions

Many other artists have covered the song, including Amy Grant, Melanie (Melanie Safka), Counting Crows with and without Vanessa Carlton, Sandi Thom, Kaya, Pinhead Gunpowder, Paul Tillotson, Moya Brennan, Keb Mo, Chris Thomas King, Keren Ann, the a cappella quintet Toxic Audio, and Bob Dylan.

1970s

Bob Dylan slightly rewrote the lyrics on the album Dylan, released in 1973. In this version the taxi becomes a bulldozer that "took away the house and land."

A single version by the singing group The Neighborhood reached the Billboard Top 40 chart (#29) in the summer of 1970.

Joe Dassin translated the song into French as "Le Grand Parking".

1980s

The opening track "Lies (through the 80's)" on the 1980 album by Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Chance includes the (Modified) lyric and melody for the well-known line in this song, "Pull up the trees and put up a parking lot".

The song's title is referenced by Janet Jackson in her single "The Pleasure Principle," from Jackson's 1986 album Control. It is also sampled in Jackson and Q-Tip's single "Got 'Til It's Gone," from Jackson's 1997 album The Velvet Rope.

A slow jazzy cover appears on the album by the late B.B. Gabor.

1990s

In 1993, Máire Brennan released the song as a single with a promotional video, which charted on the World, New-Age and Celtic charts in various countries.^[3]

In 1994 East Bay, California punk rock band Pinhead Gunpowder covered the song for their debut album Jump Salty.

In 1995, Amy Grant released a cover of "Big Yellow Taxi" to pop and Adult Contemporary radio in the United States and United Kingdom. The song was the fourth pop radio single off of her House of Love album (the third in the U.S.). Grant's version featured slightly altered lyrics, which she changed at Joni Mitchell's request. The single peaked at #67 on The Billboard Hot 100, #18 on the Adult Contemporary chart, and at #20 in the U.K. Grant also released a music video for the single, which was aired in the U.S. and U.K. and released to home video on Grant's Greatest Videos 1986-2004 DVD.

In 1996 a "Big Yellow Taxi (Traffic Jam Mix)" peaked on the U.S. dance charts at #39 and was part of the Friends: Music from the TV Series soundtrack album (see Joni Mitchell#Singles and External links).

The song was also performed as part of the finale during the 1997 Lilith Fair tour with the Indigo Girls, Jewel, Sarah McLachlan and Meredith Brooks.

2000s

Counting Crows featuring Vanessa Carlton (on back-up vocals) cover of the song is featured on the soundtrack to the movie Two Weeks Notice and is the most successful version to-date (U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40). Originally the song was a hidden track on the band's 2002 album Hard Candy and did not include Vanessa Carlton until it was to be featured in the movie. New releases of the album included it as a track with her added, as with her in the video, although Counting Crows and Vanessa Carlton did not appear in the video together nor record together. This song became the band's only Top 20 single in the UK, peaking at #13. This version slightly changed Mitchell's original lyrics to describe when the eponymous taxi "took my girl away."

British jazz singer Norma Winstone and the NDR Big Band recorded an arrangement by Colin Towns on the 2006 album It's later than you think.

German pop singer Nena recorded another Version in 2007 on her album Cover me.

Aquila Rose and Idana Valdes along with the Buena Vista Social Club covered this song on the 2009 album Rhythms del Mundo Classics.

In 2008 German soul singer Stefan Gwildis recorded a version with the title "Wenn es weg ist" ("When it's gone") which appeared on his album Wünscht du wärst hier.

Charts

Joni Mitchell version

Amy Grant version

Counting Crows version

Cultural References

In a 1997 episode of I'm Alan Partridge, Fictional DJ Alan Partridge comments that paving Paradise to put up a parking lot would "alleviate traffic on the outskirts of Paradise", something Mitchell forgets to point out in her "blinkered world view".

References

External links

• Joni Mitchell
• Lyrics for original version at jonimitchell.com
• Lyrics for 2007 version at jonimitchell.com
• Traffic Jam Mix / Friends Soundtrack at allmusic
• Traffic Jam Mix Chart Position at Billboard Hot Dance Club Play