Feb 25, 20222 min read

Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell, etc. (1970) 2/26/22

Lot's of links today! Check 'em out! below!

When singer/songwriter extraordinaire Joni Mitchell took her first trip to Hawaii, circa 1969, she was appalled.

In her words: " I took a taxi to the hotel and when I woke up the next morning, I 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... this blight on paradise."

So she sat down and wrote today's "Great Song of the '70s:" Big Yellow Taxi."

It's a song about how the environment was being ruined, and how people "Don't know what they've got 'til it's gone."

For example, the lyric, "They took all the trees, put 'em in a tree museum, charged the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em" refers to Foster Gardens in Waikiki, which was--and still is--a beautiful botanical garden surrounded by "big city" cement and traffic.

In another verse, Joni tackled the issue of DDT and how the insecticide was killing off birds and other wildlife. (That issue was thankfully resolved in 1972, when DDT was virtually banned after bald eagles were put on the endangered list. (They've made an epic comeback since then).

When "Big Yellow Taxi" was originally released in 1970, it did quite well in Joni's native Canada, reaching #14 on the Top 40. In the US, it cracked the Top 40 at#33.

But then, the song kept coming back--again and again!

Later in 1970, a group called Neighborhood became a one-hit wonder in the US with their cover version, which made it to #29 on the Hot 100.

In 1974, Joni was back on the charts with a live version, which made it to #24 on the Hot 100.

Then, skipping ahead 20 years to 1994, Amy Grant took her cover to #4 in Canada and Iceland...and #14 in Billboard's Adult Contemporary Char.

Notice how the chart positions just keep getting better?

Finally, in 2003, The Counting Crows and Vanessa Carlton released the most successful version of all. It charted in 13 countries, making the Top 10 in Scotland (#10), Ireland (#7), New Zealand (#4), and Australia( #3).

By then, Billboard had diversified to reflect more "niche" formats...and because of that, "Big Yellow Taxi" scored on FIVE different charts: #2 on the Adult Alternative Chart, #5 on the Adult Contemporary and Adult Top40 Charts, and #30 on the Mainstream Chart. On the Hot 100, it peaked at #42.

This was all well and good, but music critics lambasted this version with scathing reviews, some of which I can't quote without violating Facebook community standards. (Yes, they were that bad!)

The biggest gripe was that the Counting Crows missed the point of the song entirely, making it cold, heartless, and commercial.

Britain's New Music Express even put it on their list of the worst songs of the 2000s!

But IS it?

Over the years, "Big Yellow Taxi" has been covered by literally DOZENS of other artists...from Bob Dylan to Sheryl Crow to Harry Styles.

And why not!? It's a "Great Song of the '70s, '90s, and unless you're a music critic, the '00s as well!"

Joni Mitchell (1970):