Big Yellow Taxi

By: Joni Mitchell

     This song is mainly about having something and then having it taken away from you.  Specifically, in this song, the thing being taken away is natural recourses, such as trees.  Joni Mitchell wrote this song about a trip to Hawaii and seeing beautiful trees, and Hawaiian sites and it then being paved over by a parking lot for a tourist attraction.  In this song, Joni says that they “cut down all the trees and put them in a tree museum.” Then, she continues to sing, "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you got, til its gone?"

     This issue originally took place in 1970 but the song is being used now.  Environmentalists were trying to make a change, and reach out to Americans so they were aware of what is going on in the world. 

      The issue of conservation is controversial because nonrenewable resources cannot be replaced, so they can be run out of if not used carefully.  Common viewpoints of this issue is that nonrenewable resources should be carefully used. However, others believe that new supplies should be made with the trees, or other resources.  The view point in this song is through an environmentalist stating that the land should stay natural.  Forests cover about one third of the earth’s total land area today. 

The Song's Lyrics:

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 'em in a tree museum
And then they charged all the people a dollar and a half just 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 put up a parking lot

Hey farmer, farmer, put away your DDT 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

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 carried off 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

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.