Big Yellow Taxi Printer-friendly version of this lyric
by Joni Mitchell
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
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged 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 that 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
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
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Assignment:
Goggle this song of Joni Mitchell's.
1. Find out why she wrote the song. Write a paragraph describing why she wrote the song.
2. Each verse seems to refer to an event or activity of some kind. Choose one of these events (verses) and explain what she is protesting.
3. I have always been confused by the title. How does the title add ambiguity to the song?
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28 comments:
UMMM... Is this the thing that we need to write about for Friday? because, if it is... No one has written about it, and, we never went over it in class. :S
alright due to my superior abilities with the tool wikipedia, i have an answer to all questions.
1) she wrote this song on a holiday she took to hawaii. On that holiday when she looked out of her hotel's window, she saw the beautiful mountainside, but when her gaze had shifted lower to the parking lot, she saw it blighted the beauty of nature, and how industrialization plagues the earth's natural beauty. Then she wrote the song and played it so all near and far might agree to what she had written
2) i have two guesses as to what she might mean by big yellow taxi. Maybe she calls it this because within that parking lot the majority of cars were taxis, bringing people around cities to where they need to go. An example of the plague of industrialization. Another presumption i have is that maybe she had witnessed earlier someone drive up in a yellow taxi to stake claim to a land to build buildings... i dont know its called interpreting.
whoops, my answer above is to question 3... now i shall do 2
alright, now question 2)
my verse of choice shall be the trees in the museum. What shes protesting is people destroy habitats, and just as another way to make money put up what they destroyed in a museum so people pay to see them. Its a pretty clear example of how were destroying the environment, exploiting everything we come in contact with. Clearly we are not being the stewards of the earth as we were called to be.
1) Joni wrote this song when she traveled to mexico and saw the magnificent mountains in the background. She was awestruck to realize that right below this beautiful sight, She saw a large dull parking lot as far as the eye could see. This drove the young joni mitchell to write this song.
2) I chose to write about the 2nd verse. Within this verse there is alot of meaning. She is saying people are taking the natural beauty of the world, and melding it into our economy, forcing people to pay for the sites that should be free to everyone.
3)I personally dislike the title. I think she tried to make the title prestige, but ultimatly failed to do so, It just does not relate to the whole of the song. Besides my opinion, maybe she named it the big yellow taxi because it relating to something more personal in her life. Maybe shes trying to relate the transportation of taxi's to the fact that they cause us to move more foward with technology and urban growth.
1. Joni Mitchell wrote "Big Yellow Taxi" on her first trip to Hawaii. She said that when she woke up the first morning she saw beautiful mountains off in the distance, then she looked down and she saw a huge parking lot for a very long ways. She is describing how our things are taking away nature.
2.Where Mitchell says "Took all the trees, put 'em in a tree museum/And charged the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em", she is reffering to the Foster Botanical Garden in Honolulu, Hawaii. This museum takes rare and endangered trees and puts them in a museum for people to see. She is saying to leave the trees where they belong, the wild.
3. Song title is probably a metaphor of some type. The old man may not be her father, but possibly a boyfriend or something. This title could possibly be a metaphor for a relationship that has been ended. The big yellow taxi could be the world of today or the world when this song was written. The taxi taking away the beauty of nature.
1. Joni Mitchell got the idea for this song when she was on vacation in Hawaii. It is said that she "woke up one morning in her hotel room and looked out at the beautiful green mountians in the distance and the parking lot that was as far as the eye could see." She said that it broked her heart to see this blight on paradise, and that made her write this song.
2. The second verse is talking about the trees that were all taken away just to be put in a museum where people had to pay a dollar and a half just to go look at them. In this verse, she is protesting against how much of the trees are being taken away. She is making trees seem precious and that we shouldn't just waste the trees, as they are valuable for us.
3. The title "Big Yellow Taxi" is confusing because when I researched the song it said that she took a big yellow taxi to her hotel. And then later, on it says in the fourth verse that he dad was being taken away in a big yellow taxi. Back then police cars were yellow and thus tells us that her father is being taken away by the police. But then the title has two meanings, a yellow taxi that drove her to her hotel, and a yellow taxi, or a police car that took her dad away from her. For me, this makes the title confusing.
1) Joni Mitchell wrote this song on her first big trip to Hawaii. As she woke up one morning she saw the beautiful mountains in the back round. Then she realized there was a very big parking lot taking up lots of space that was not needed. She was angered about this because whoever built this parking lot destroyed the habitat of many animals.
2) In the third verse of this song Joni talk about the DDT that was used to help the farmers. Although this seemed like something that would be very beneficial it was not. In the end it caused a very big problem and this angered her even more. By say, “give me spots on my apples” she indicates that the DDT was used to help apples grow properly. In the end the DDT destroyed the life of the bees and the birds.
3) The title adds confusion to the song because it only talks about a yellow taxi once in the story. This may be the most important part of the story because the man may be her dad and he is an important person in her life. So as she is in her hotel in Hawaii she hers the door to the yellow taxi which takes her dad away, meaning that her dad has left her alone.
1) Joni Mitchell wrote this song because she was upset on how things were. She was in Hawaii looking out of the window from her hotel room and could see all of the beautiful land that was around, and than she noticed how all of the land was being took up by all of the human activities.
2) The verse that says “paved paradise to put up a parking lot”. Saying for farmers to cut down all of their trees and that you can put them into a museum for people to see them if they wanted to see trees they can pay to go see them, so that we can use all of that land for buildings and parking lots.
3) I think she named it “The Big Yellow Taxi” because she took a taxi to the hotel that she was staying at. But another reason is that I think is that the yellow taxi was the first thing she noticed about the whole world becoming pavement and buildings, because all that she could see was pavement and yellow taxi’s.
1. Joni wrote this song on her first trip to Hawaii. She wrote it because the beautiful land was being over turned and blacktop was being placed.
2.The third verse shows that she is against the people who cut down the trees and them charging others to see them.
3.Well I think it has something to do with the verse that is not here. The one about the yellow tracter.
1. Joni Mitchell wrote "The Big Yellow Taxi" on her first trip to Hawaii. She woke up in the morning and was awe struck at the view she saw. She saw a parking lot as far as the eye could see and her heart was broken. (not sure why) She thought this was like paradise I guess.
2. "They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em"
She was saying that they charged the people to look at trees that were part of nature and they could have been seen in nature, and that this was stupid and unfair to do. She thought that people should be able to see them without paying I suppose.
3. The title of the song adds ambiguity because it is just a small phrase in the song that only is said once, instead of normal titles that are repetitious in the song. But the title shows that her old man must have been important to her and she stressed this in this phrase. I think that maybe she was saying that the parking lot portrayed heaven and her dad died and was taken away by a taxi to go to paradise. She may have been grieving his loss at the time. Who Knows??
1. Joni Mitchell wrote the song “Big Yellow Taxi” while on a visit to Hawaii. In a interview she said that one morning she opened the curtain to see beautiful scenery than looked down to see a huge parking lot. She is astonished at this massive parking lot, as far as the eye could see, and she described these emotions as a environmental statement within her song. You can not pave a paradise, or but things in a museum, like she has seen, and still expect them to be as beautiful as in their original setting.
2. In the second verse she writes these lyrics
“They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em”
She is referring to a museum in Honolulu in which she had to pay money to see beautiful plants, some being rare and endangered. She is protesting the idea of having to pay to see these plants out of their natural setting, and also protesting that they were out of their natural environment.
3. The title is “Big Yellow Taxi” which is referred to several times within the song. There is several ideas’ of why it may be called this. In the verse that speaks about her old man being taken away, there is much assumption that the old man was taken away by the old Toronto Police service patrol cars, being yellow. Also in an interview she says that a she took a taxi to this “Paved Paradise”, where she further more wrote the song.
1. According to wikipedia Joni wrote this song when she was in Hawaii. She was in her hotel room and looking out at the beautiful mountains in the distance and then closer to her there was just alot of pavement and city and it broke her heart that all that paradise was paved over. That's when she wrote the song.
2."They took all the trees, put 'em in a tree museum and they charged teh people a dollar and a half just to see 'em" Sounds like she is prostesting to the clearing of the land and also (according to my research) is referring to the Foster Botanical Garden where there were alot of rare and endangered trees. Of course they're rare and endangered because everywhere they used to be is paved over and what you used to be able to see for free you now have to pay for to see. Sounds to me like that's what she was protesting.
3. Well it adds uncertainty to the meaning I suppose because it only addresses one part of the song but I kind of like it. After all the meaning of the song is meant to be found in the song and not in the title. Also, maybe the part about the taxi taking the man away was the most personal part of the song for her, maybe it broke her heart all over again because land she loved was gone and then someone she loved was gone also. Double heart-break and pain, so it's possible that that is the climax of the song.I think it is so I think it actually adds new dimensions to the song. A little ambiguity is good sometimes.
1. Joni Mitchell wrote this song because when she was on a trip to Hawaii she looked out her window and saw the breathtaking scenery. Then she looked down and saw the parking lot below. It stretched as far as the eye could see. Her heart was broken. She wanted to express how she felt, so she wrote the song.
2. They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
I think that Joni Mitchell is protesting about not being able to see the trees in the outdoors because there are none. She is saying that today if you want to see a tree you need to go to a museum and pay to see them. People are not concerned with the outdoors anymore; all they can think about is more stores and more housing.
3. The title adds ambiguity to the song because she does not put a whole lot of emphasis on that phrase in the song. She almost just says that line and is done with it. Why doesn't she name the song "Put up a Parking Lot" or "Paving Paradise"? The title just seems to not have a whole lot of importance.
Big Yellow Taxi
1. Joni Mitchell wrote the song “The Big Yellow Taxi” because she was on a trip to Hawaii. She was writing about what she saw out of her window. She saw the beautiful scenery of the beautiful green mountains. Then she looked down to the parking lot and when she saw that it broke her heart. That is why she sat down and wrote the song.
2. In verse 6 it is saying “Late last night I heard the screen door slam and a big yellow taxi took away my old man”. I think they her and her dad got into a fight during eating supper. He was yelling at her and she was up with her so he left and he slammed the screen door. As she heard the screen door slam she thought that her old man left.
3. The title of this song “The Big Yellow Taxi” is very confusing. In the song it doesn’t really talk about the taxi. Well I know at the beginning that when she was looking through her window at the hotel she noticed the big yellow taxi.
1. Joni Mitchell wrote this song when she was on vacaiton in Hawaii. She looked out her window and saw a huge beautiful mountain. However she was disgusted when she saw a giant parking lot tainting her of it. She was so moved that she decided to write this song in protest.
2.In verse three she is protesting how people take nature and put it away. Thats bad enough but then she professes her displeasure of how people are made to pay to see it.
3.The title of this song gives it more meaning because that image can put a different spin on the song for different people.
1. She wrote it on a trip to Hawaii, when she looked out her hotel window she saw beautiful mountains and then she saw a big parking lot, it broke her heart, that blight on paradise
2. In the verse about the DDT she is saying she wants to stop the animals from being harmed even if it means she has to take a lower quality fruits.
3. The title “Big Yellow Taxi” is a reference to the urbanization of the world. She is saying that the taxi is a symbol of the city and by it taking away her father, someone who is dear to her, the cities, are taking away the beautiful nature
1.) Joni Mitchell wrote the song“Big yellow taxi” on her trip to Hawaii. She took a yellow taxi to her hotel and the next day when she woke up the next morning, and had looked out the window to spot beautiful green mountains. But as took her eyes off she saw the huge parking lot. It saddens her to see what could have been all paradise. that’s when she sat down and wrote the song
2.)The line, "They paved paradise and put up the parking lot” refers to how we so easily destruct, and just replace it with Hollywood hotels and such.
3.) The title “Big yellow taxi” could refer to a lot of parts in this song. The main one that we often could look at is that the Yellow taxi takes her old man away. I would think it was actually her dad got like taken away for some reason, but its actually her boyfriend and he left cause she drove him away.
1)She wrote this song during her trip to hawaii. She got the idea by randomly looking out her window in the hotel,to see the spectacular view of the pacific mountains and a parking lot.
2)"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" when she says this phase, i think she i protesting that when the world is so wonderful people can take it for granted very easy and want to charge it.
3)i think it add ambiguity because the title has not a whole lot to do with the song and because it sounds like she i talking more about the view then the big yellow taxi.
1. Joni Mitchell wrote this song because she was looking out of her window while she was in Hawaii. what she saw was DEVASTATING!!!!
she saw a mountain and then she glanced at a parking lot. her heart was shattered and so was her jawbone......well not really...just her heart,..and maybe her elbow but not really just her heart,...and her eyes cause she winessed all of this with her EYES!!
2. Verse 6 is reffering to when her and her dad got in a fight over monopoly and her dad said that he was leaving and he slammed the screen door and waited awkwardly for a big yellow taxi...this was awkward cause he could hear his daughter crying inside and he was just standing there waiting for a taxi.
3. i would love to answer this but it poses to be a problem due to the lack of knowledge on my part. perhaps if i knew what the word ambiguity ment.....wait i will ask my principal...(he just told me that it means ...haziness...or inpercise.....) now i know!!
well the tiltle adds ambiguity because there is only one line that says anything about a big yellow taxi. maybe if the title was "paved Paradise" it would have made more sense but it isnt so the title is a little weird...and unfitting...but hey it is ok because it is her decision and i am incapable of putting my ideas in sombody elses head.
1) Joni Mitchell got the idea for writing this song when she was in Hawii. She said that she was looking out her hotel window and saw beautiful green mountains, then looked down and saw pavement for as for as her eye could see. 'It broke her heart.' The song is also personal to Mitchell. The final verse says one of two things. Either someone she loved walked out on her by taking a taxi. Or her loved one was taken away by the authorities, Toronto Police Service patrol cars that until 1986 were painted yellow.
2) They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
In this verse Mitchell is protesting to putting tropical plants into a museum of living plants at the Foster Botanical Garden in Honolulu. This is a serious thing to her. Not only are they ‘paving paradise and putting in a parking lot.’, there charging people to see what they should be seeing in nature.
3)The title is ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ because I think that stands for the big mechines that tear down creation and take it away, just like a taxi takes people away. ‘Big Yellow taxi is also a very catchy title.
1. Joni got the idea to write this specific song called “Big Yellow Taxi”, when she was on a vacation in Hawaii. She says that she wrote it on her visit to Hawaii. She took at taxi to the hotel she was to stay at and when she woke up the next morning she seen these beautiful green mountains in the distance. But, as she glanced down all she seen was parking lots for as far as her eye could see. She explained how it broke her heart and that’s when she decided to sit down and write the song. (all this info I received from the wikipedia)
2. “They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em”
She’s just clearly saying that it’s ridiculous how the only way to see beautiful creation and nature now is to go to some sort of museum. People are destroying what is naturally supposed to be there, it’s just wrong. Not only that, but people actually expect others to pay to see what God placed here on earth for us to enjoy.
1. Joni Mitchell wrote this song in Hawaii. She woke up and looked out the window and looked at the scenery. She then noticed a massive parking lot in the midst of it all, a blot in the middle of paradise. Her heart was broken so she sat down and wrote that song.
2 in the chorus, she is protesting urbanization. She wants to preserve the beauty of this world and not mess it all up.
3. It focuses on the tragedy in her life. The taxi is death, her dad died and she is sad. ???
But the song is still about paving paradise making there be more than one focus. I don’t know.
To any one who reads this blog after all the comments have been submitted, and actually reads these entries and that is other than your hard working and dedicated teacher, the poem is about things that are lost and never to come back - things that are irreplaceable. In the connection, the Big Yellow Taxi title makes more sense for two reasons. One, the taxi took away someone who was close to her and who would not/could not return. Second, is the disappearance from Toronto streets the yellow police cars to be replaced by the regular and unimaginative white cars.
There you have it class.
1.Joni Mitchelle wrote the song during a visit to Hawaii, she looked out her window into a parking lot and got the idea of the song.
2.4th Paragraph, It seems to be a bit confusing but They paved Paradise and put up a parking light, almost reminds me of Heaven and God is our light.
3. I think Jone Mitchell choose that title because when she looked out her window she seen a big yellow taxi in the Parking lot and thought it should be the title.
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