"Big Yellow Taxi" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Joni Mitchell | ||||
from the album Ladies of the Canyon | ||||
B-side | "Woodstock" | |||
Released | April 1970 | |||
Recorded | 1970 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:16 | |||
Label | Reprise | |||
Songwriter(s) | Joni Mitchell | |||
Producer(s) | Joni Mitchell | |||
Joni Mitchell singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Official Lyric Video | ||||
"Big Yellow Taxi" on YouTube |
"Big Yellow Taxi" is a song written, composed, and originally recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell in 1970, and originally released on her album Ladies of the Canyon . It was a hit in her native Canada (No. 14) as well as Australia (No. 6) and the UK (No. 11). It only reached No. 67 in the US in 1970, but was later a bigger hit there for her in a live version released in 1974, which peaked at No. 24. Charting versions have also been recorded by The Neighborhood (who had the original top US 40 hit with the track in 1970, peaking at No. 29), and most notably by Amy Grant in 1994 and Counting Crows in 2002. The song was also sampled in Janet Jackson's "Got 'til It's Gone" (1997).
In 1996, speaking to journalist Robert Hilburn, Mitchell said this about writing the song:
I wrote 'Big Yellow Taxi' on my first trip to Hawaii. 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. That's when I sat down and wrote the song. [3]
The song is known for its environmental concern – "They paved paradise to put up a parking lot" and "Hey farmer, farmer, put away that DDT now" – and sentimental sound. The line "They took all the trees, and 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. [4] [5]
In the song's final verse, the political gives way to the personal. Mitchell recounts the departure of her "old man" in the eponymous "big yellow taxi", which may refer to the old Metro Toronto Police patrol cars, which until 1986 were painted yellow. [6] 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.
Mitchell's original recording was first released as a single and then, as stated above, included on her 1970 album Ladies of the Canyon . A later live version was released in 1974 (1975 in France and Spain) on Miles of Aisles and reached No. 24 on the U.S. charts. Billboard regarded the live version as "more full of life" than any of the singles Mitchell released in a long time. [7] Cash Box called the live version "a great rendition of this excellent lyrical song." [8]
In 1995, to coincide with the song's inclusion in the American sitcom Friends , the song was rereleased as a maxi-single with new remixes in a variety of styles.
The song still receives significant airplay in Canada; in 2005, it was voted No. 9 on CBC's list of the top 50 essential Canadian tracks.
In 2007, Joni Mitchell released the album Shine, which includes a newly recorded, rearranged version of the song.
An animated music video of Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" was produced by John Wilson of Fine Arts Films as an animated short for the Sonny and Cher television show in the mid-1970s. The only commercial release of this full-length music video was in the Video Gems home video release on VHS titled John Wilson's Mini Musicals, also released as The Fantastic All-Electric Music Movie . The home video also contains an animated music video of Mitchell's song "Both Sides, Now".
1995 maxi-single
Chart (1970) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (Kent Music Report) [9] | 6 |
Canada Top Singles ( RPM ) | 14 |
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) [10] | 27 |
Netherlands (Single Top 100) [11] | 19 |
UK Singles (Official Charts Company) [12] | 11 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [13] | 67 |
US Billboard Easy Listening [14] | 33 |
US Cash Box Top 100 [15] | 100 |
Chart (1974–1975) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Billboard Hot 100 [13] | 24 |
US Billboard Easy Listening [14] | 27 |
US Cash Box Top 100 [16] | 25 |
Chart (1996) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play [17] | 39 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Canada (Music Canada) [18] | Platinum | 80,000‡ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [19] | Gold | 400,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
"Big Yellow Taxi" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Amy Grant | ||||
from the album House of Love | ||||
Released | March 1995 | |||
Length | 3:01 | |||
Label | A&M | |||
Songwriter(s) | Joni Mitchell | |||
Producer(s) | Keith Thomas | |||
Amy Grant singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"Big Yellow Taxi" on YouTube |
In 1995, American singer 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 (third in the US) pop radio single from her 1994 album, House of Love . Grant's version featured slightly altered lyrics, which she changed at Joni Mitchell's request. [20]
The cover peaked at No. 67 on the US Billboard Hot 100, No. 25 in Canada, No. 20 on the UK Singles Chart, and No. 4 in Iceland. Grant also released a music video for the single, which was aired in the US and UK and released to home video on Grant's Greatest Videos 1986-2004 DVD. Grant also performed the song for her 2006 concert album, Time Again... Amy Grant Live .
US CD single
UK CD single
Chart (1995) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [21] | 156 |
Canada Top Singles ( RPM ) [22] | 25 |
Canada Adult Contemporary ( RPM ) [23] | 4 |
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100) [24] | 67 |
Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40) [25] | 4 |
Scotland (OCC) [26] | 17 |
UK Singles (OCC) [27] | 20 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [28] | 67 |
US Adult Contemporary ( Billboard ) [29] | 18 |
US Adult Pop Airplay ( Billboard ) [30] | 28 |
Chart (1995) | Position |
---|---|
Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM) [31] | 47 |
Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40) [32] | 96 |
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard) [33] | 38 |
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
United States | March 1995 | — | A&M | |
United Kingdom | June 12, 1995 |
| [34] |
"Big Yellow Taxi" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Counting Crows featuring Vanessa Carlton | ||||
from the album Hard Candy | ||||
Released | November 11, 2002 | |||
Genre | Pop rock | |||
Length | 3:47 | |||
Label | Geffen | |||
Songwriter(s) | Joni Mitchell | |||
Producer(s) | Steve Lilywhite | |||
Counting Crows singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Vanessa Carlton singles chronology | ||||
|
In 2002, Counting Crows covered the song with backing vocals by Vanessa Carlton. It was included on the soundtrack to the film Two Weeks Notice . Originally, the song was a hidden track on the band's 2002 album Hard Candy , and it did not include Carlton until it was to be featured in the film. New releases of the album included it as a track with her added, as with her in the video (which was shot on Coney Island, Brooklyn, and in nearby Bensonhurst), although Counting Crows and Carlton neither appeared in the video together nor recorded together. This version slightly changed Mitchell's original lyrics to describe when the eponymous taxi "took my girl away", instead of Mitchell's "took away my old man". The original version of the song without Vanessa was included on the album Nolee Mix, which was released to promote the My Scene dolls.
This cover reached No. 42 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and entered the top five on three other Billboard listings. The song became the band's only top-20 single in the United Kingdom, peaking at No. 13, and it reached the top 10 in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. The single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).
The music video features the Counting Crows performing on a boardwalk in Coney Island, New York. Vanessa Carlton also walks around the streets and sings along to the song. Several people are shown looking back at mirages of past relationships or friendships that they regret losing. Meanwhile, a yellow taxi drives through the streets, calling the attention of the Crows, Carlton, and the former couples. The taxis are transporting mirage of themselves or their former significant other, with some trying to chase after it. The "big yellow taxi [that] took my old man/girl away". One former couple does in fact again meet face to face.
The Village Voice named this cover the worst song of the 2000s, [35] and the Village Voice's scathing review of the cover is archived on Joni Mitchell's website. [36] The review derided the cover as having paved paradise (Mitchell's original song) and put up a parking lot.
Adam, we don't know if you misunderstood the song's anti-globalization, anti-industrialization, anti-corporation message, or just chose to ignore it so you could get free Frappucinos for life. But we're gonna hip you to a harsh reality. Seriously, you know the line about how they "paved paradise and put up a parking lot?" Like how they replaced something beautiful with something cold and heartless and commercial? That's you. You're the parking lot, motherfucker. You drove your shitty steamroller over something everyone loved so you could pander your sensitive pussyhound whine to people waiting in line at the Carl's Jr. They paved Nirvana and put up a Counting Crow. Argh!
Additionally, NME also included this cover on its list of the worst songs of the 2000s, [37] and Ultimate Classic Rock highlighted this song in its Terrible Classic Rock Covers series. [38] In April 2022, American Songwriter ranked "Big Yellow Taxi" at number 10 on their list of "The Top 10 Counting Crows Songs". [39]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Big Yellow Taxi" (featuring Vanessa Carlton) | Joni Mitchell | 3:48 |
2. | "Big Yellow Taxi" | Mitchell | 3:56 |
3. | "If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead)" (live and acoustic) | Adam Duritz | 4:00 |
4. | "Hard Candy" (live and acoustic) | Duritz | 3:41 |
5. | "Big Yellow Taxi" (enhanced video) |
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [72] | Platinum | 70,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [73] | Silver | 200,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [74] | Gold | 500,000* |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
United States | November 11, 2002 | Hot adult contemporary radio | Geffen | [75] |
Australia | January 13, 2003 | CD | [76] | |
United States | Triple A radio | [77] | ||
February 3, 2003 | Contemporary hit radio | [78] | ||
United Kingdom |
| [79] |
According to Mitchell's official Website, "'Big Yellow Taxi' has been recorded by 556 other artists" as of June 5, 2023. [80] Some notable versions include:
Be Not Nobody is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton, released on April 30, 2002, through A&M Records. As of late 2004 the album had sold 1.38 million copies in the US according to Nielsen SoundScan, and Variety magazine reported in July 2003 that it had sold 2.3 million worldwide. Billboard magazine placed Carlton at number twenty-one on its year-end "Top Pop Artists" list for 2002.
"Woodstock" is a song written by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. At least four versions of the song were released in 1970. Mitchell's own version was first performed live in 1969 and appeared in April 1970 on her album Ladies of the Canyon and as the B-side to her single "Big Yellow Taxi". A version by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young appeared on their album Déjà Vu in March 1970 and became a staple of classic rock radio and the best-known version of the song in the United States. A third version, by the British band Matthews Southern Comfort, became the best-known version in the United Kingdom and was the highest charting version of the song in the UK, reaching the top of the Singles Chart in 1970. A fourth version by studio project the Assembled Multitude also became a chart hit.
Ladies of the Canyon is the third studio album by the Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released on Reprise Records in 1970. It peaked at No. 27 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. The title makes reference to Laurel Canyon, a center of popular music culture in Los Angeles during the 1960s, where Mitchell lived while she was writing the album. Specifically, Mitchell lived and wrote at 8217 Lookout Mountain Avenue, the house which is the subject of Graham Nash's "Our House". The album includes several of Mitchell's most noted songs, such as "Big Yellow Taxi", "Woodstock" and "The Circle Game".
Hard Candy is the fourth studio album by American rock band Counting Crows, released in the United Kingdom on July 7, 2002, and the following day in the United States.
Hejira is the eighth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released in 1976 on Asylum Records. Its material was written during a period of frequent travel in late 1975 and early 1976, and reflects Mitchell's experiences on the road during that time. It is characterized by lyrically dense, sprawling songs and musical backing by several jazz-oriented instrumentalists, most prominently fretless bass player Jaco Pastorius, guitarist Larry Carlton, and drummer John Guerin.
Miles of Aisles is the first live album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released in 1974 on Asylum Records. It is a double album documenting her concerts in support of the Court and Spark album with her backing band for the tour, the L.A. Express. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and became one of her biggest-selling records, certified a gold record by the RIAA.
"The Way You Move" is a hip-hop and soul song by the American hip hop duo OutKast, performed by its member Big Boi. The song features OutKast mentor Sleepy Brown on guest vocals. Along with "Hey Ya!", recorded by OutKast's other member André 3000, "The Way You Move" is one of the two lead singles from Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, OutKast's double album project that includes a solo album from each member.
"The First Cut Is the Deepest" is a 1967 song written by British singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, originally released by P. P. Arnold in April 1967. Stevens's own version originally appeared on his album New Masters in December 1967.
"Got 'til It's Gone" is a song by American singer Janet Jackson, featuring American rapper Q-Tip and Canadian singer Joni Mitchell, from her sixth studio album, The Velvet Rope (1997). It was written by Jackson, Jam and Lewis, with additional writing by René Elizondo Jr., Mitchell, and Kamaal Ibn Fareed. The song was produced by Jackson, Jam and Lewis. It was released as the lead single from The Velvet Rope in 1997, by Virgin Records. The song was recorded at Flyte Tyme Studios in Edina, Minnesota. For "Got 'til It's Gone", Jackson opted for a less polished sound which resulted in an authentic blend of R&B, pop, and hip hop with traces of reggae influences.
"A Thousand Miles" is the debut single of American pop singer Vanessa Carlton. Produced by Curtis Schweitzer and Ron Fair, the song was released as the lead single for Carlton's first album, Be Not Nobody (2002). First released to US radio in February 2002, it became Carlton's biggest hit in the United States and her only single to reach the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number five. The song also experienced commercial success worldwide, reaching number one in Australia, number three in Ireland, and the top 10 in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
"Landslide" is a song by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, written and performed by Stevie Nicks. The song was first featured on the band's self-titled album Fleetwood Mac (1975). The original recording also appears on the compilation albums 25 Years – The Chain (1992), The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac (2002) and 50 Years – Don't Stop (2018), while a live version was released as a single 23 years later from the live reunion album The Dance (1997). "Landslide" reached No. 51 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 10 on the Adult Contemporary chart. "Landslide" was certified gold in October 2009 for sales of over 500,000 copies in the United States. According to Nielsen Soundscan, "Landslide" sold 2,093,186 copies in the United States as of 2017.
"Pretty Baby" is a song by American singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton from her 2002 debut album, Be Not Nobody. The song was released as the third single from the album in on December 2, 2002, but did not experience prolonged chart success in the United States or abroad.
So Fresh: The Hits of Autumn 2003 is a compilation of songs that were popular in Australia in summer 2003. It was released on 28 March 2003.
Shine is the 19th studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released on September 25, 2007, by Hear Music. It is Mitchell's first album of new material since Taming the Tiger (1998).
"Ordinary Day" is a song written and performed by Vanessa Carlton from her 2002 debut album, Be Not Nobody. Carlton wrote the song when she was 17 and was the first song that she had ever written in only one sitting. Released as a single on July 1, 2002, the song peaked at number 30 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
The American rock group Counting Crows has released seven studio albums, one extended play, two compilation albums and five live albums. Five of the band's singles charted within the top 40 of the US Radio Songs chart, and "Mr. Jones" and "A Long December" reached the top 10.
Since her debut album in 1968, Canadian musician Joni Mitchell has released 19 studio albums, most recently 2007's Shine. Her most commercially successful period was the early-mid 1970s, which included 1970's Ladies of the Canyon, 1971's Blue and 1974's Court and Spark, all three of which reached Platinum status in the US.
"Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" is a 1980 single written by James Warren and first performed by British pop band the Korgis, with Warren as the lead singer. It has subsequently been covered by numerous other artists.
The discography of American singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton consists of six studio albums and 16 singles.
With the release of two 'best of' albums, Joni Mitchell looks back at her hits--and misses--and the artistry that's earning renewed recognition.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)