JONI MITCHELL "Big Yellow Taxi" 1970

By Karen Bliss 12/7/12 | www.samaritanmag.com

A statement on the destruction of the environment, Canadian folk singer Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” originally appeared on her Ladies of the Canyon album. The lyrics include "They paved paradise to put up a parking lot" and "Hey farmer, farmer, put away that DDT now.” The song did well, peaking at No. 14 in Canada, No. 6 in Australia and No. 11 in the U.K. A live version reached No. 24 in the U.S. in 1975. Mitchell told journalist Alan McDougall that she wrote “Big Yellow Taxi” when she awoke in a Hawaii hotel room, “threw back the curtains and saw these beautiful green mountains in the distance. Then, I looked down and there was a parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke my heart.” — K.B.