She wasn't a political songwriter, but this song makes more of an impact on a listener than much of the far more blatantly political rock of the decade before it.
Yes, I have to agree. I think because it was personal, heartfelt, and didn't have a sanctimonious tone. Not to mention a joyful tune and fun lyrics to sing. She enticed us right into it!
Ah, Joni Mitchell - an artistic genius if there ever was one. Her music changed a lot over the years but "Big Yellow Taxi" stayed in her live sets pretty much as long as she continued performing live. There's a terrific concert from London ca. 1983 on YouTube featuring a nice version of this song and stunning takes of her great later stuff like "Amelia."
Thanks for sharing that concert, Hugh. I look forward to watching it.
So glad you enjoyed it and learned something new. I watched a documentary and videos and find her utterly fascinating. She just has a very unique way of seeing the world, and that comes out in her music. I'd love to listen through all her albums and see all the changes (which I'm guessing you were able to do during your record store years).
I got into her in '74 when 'Court & Spark' was all over the radio, and two important women in my life (my cousin who took me to the Beatles concert and my then girlfriend/now wife) who were huge fans encouraged to to go back and discover her earlier albums. I liked all of them but it was "Blue" and "For The Roses" that really hit me - and then "Hissing" and especially "Hejira" really blew my mind, the latter still being my favorite of her albums. To this day I can't listen to "Song For Sharon," for some reason, without tearing up. Powerful stuff.
Her run of albums from "Ladies" through "Don Juan" is among the greatest consecutive-masterpiece runs in pop music history, imo - right up there with The Fabs from '65 to '69, Stevie Wonder ('72 to '76), Steely Dan ('72 to '79) or just about any other similar career arc one can think of.
How lucky for you to have a cousin and girlfriend/wife who turned you on to Joni's music. And how felicitous that your younger self listened to it.
As I learned in the documentary Lady Blue, she's self-taught and doesn't follow musical conventions, to the point that Wayne Shorter said to her about "Ethiopia," "Those aren't piano or guitar chords, so what are they?"
She also talked about how people are taught not to use colors of the same value in art, but that's exactly what 60s psychedelic poster art does, and that's what she does in her music. When you do that, you get vibration. For some reason, traditional musicians and artists avoid creating that vibration, whereas she actively seeks it out. She said "chords are colors that depict the current state of your emotionality" and uses whatever chords she feels led to use. She's an artistic maverick and innovator following her own inner searching and touching on very deep parts of ourselves. I think one reason we tear up. As you say, powerful stuff.
Amazing to see a woman sitting alone in a spotlight in the dark in huge Wembley Stadium with no accompaniment playing a guitar and singing -- and the audience is spellbound.
Love that tune (and almost anything from Joni's catalogue). She's been a beacon and inspiration for me since the confused, angst-filled teenage years way back in the 1970's. I love that old photo of her and Graham and his take on how she channeled songs. Thanks for the post.
Graham asked her to marry him, and she really loved him and considered it seriously, but felt she could only continue being the creator she wanted to be on her own. A boon for us, a disappoointment for Graham, but they stayed good friends. I love that photo too.
As far as I know (according to not too recent interviews) Joni Mitchell's principles have not changed, though she might by now view paradise differently, she has a piece of it in her native country and lives alone...quite well-adjusted.
That's definitely good news. I do hope she's happy.
I know at one point she got quite disgusted with the music industry and went to the wilds of Canada for a year to live alone, commune with nature, and recuperate, then came back with a new sense of purpose. She's a wise woman, that one.
She did mention hating it anytime she has to re-enter the uncivilized world. Did you know that Robert Plant absolutely hated rock and roll and despised his own career? Have you heard Raising Sand with Robert Plant and Alison Krause? I call that album the Anti-Christ and Virgin Mary together, produced with T-bone Burnett. Robert Plant is enjoying his later musical life.
I did not know that about Robert Plant. I wonder about the story behind it, as I read a biography of Led Zep and had to stop as I found some of the behavior upsetting. But if it's the evil shenanigans of the record industry, I'm reading about that in my prep for just about every other post. Really truly awful.
I have not listened to that album and will do so, now that you've recommended it. I've heard great things about their collaboration.
Thanks for catching that mistake, Dom! I've corrected it, knew she had lived in Toronto before moving to the US but didn't check that that's where she came from.
Toronto is a great town. Used to go there when I was a student in Buffalo many moons ago.
No prob. She spent time in Toronto in the 60s. Yorkville (now a very pricey area of Toronto) was the Greenwich Village of Toronto back then. She and Neil Young would visit the various cafes/bars - play in some.
Sadly the original recording was ruined for me by the incongruity of the laugh at the very end. The live version recorded with Tom Scott and the LA Express remains my favourite. The original reached number 11 in the singles chart here in the UK and was very much seen as a protest song from the beginning although I recall being unsure what a “parking lot” was (we call them car parks)!
I hear you about the laugh being incongruous with the theme of the song.
Having lived in the UK for almost 20 years, I remember not knowing what a car park was when I got there! Now I keep calling parking lots 'car parks' and have to correct myself, as Americans are like "What?".
The version above is your favorite from Miles of Aisles -- I'll have to change the post to make that clear. So thanks for alerting me to the lack of clarity.
She wasn't a political songwriter, but this song makes more of an impact on a listener than much of the far more blatantly political rock of the decade before it.
Yes, I have to agree. I think because it was personal, heartfelt, and didn't have a sanctimonious tone. Not to mention a joyful tune and fun lyrics to sing. She enticed us right into it!
Ah, Joni Mitchell - an artistic genius if there ever was one. Her music changed a lot over the years but "Big Yellow Taxi" stayed in her live sets pretty much as long as she continued performing live. There's a terrific concert from London ca. 1983 on YouTube featuring a nice version of this song and stunning takes of her great later stuff like "Amelia."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7_sRywdqFw
Loved your post Ellen, and I learned something new - 589 covers of BYT? Holy moly! That's pushing into "Yesterday" territory. . .
Thanks for sharing that concert, Hugh. I look forward to watching it.
So glad you enjoyed it and learned something new. I watched a documentary and videos and find her utterly fascinating. She just has a very unique way of seeing the world, and that comes out in her music. I'd love to listen through all her albums and see all the changes (which I'm guessing you were able to do during your record store years).
I got into her in '74 when 'Court & Spark' was all over the radio, and two important women in my life (my cousin who took me to the Beatles concert and my then girlfriend/now wife) who were huge fans encouraged to to go back and discover her earlier albums. I liked all of them but it was "Blue" and "For The Roses" that really hit me - and then "Hissing" and especially "Hejira" really blew my mind, the latter still being my favorite of her albums. To this day I can't listen to "Song For Sharon," for some reason, without tearing up. Powerful stuff.
Her run of albums from "Ladies" through "Don Juan" is among the greatest consecutive-masterpiece runs in pop music history, imo - right up there with The Fabs from '65 to '69, Stevie Wonder ('72 to '76), Steely Dan ('72 to '79) or just about any other similar career arc one can think of.
How lucky for you to have a cousin and girlfriend/wife who turned you on to Joni's music. And how felicitous that your younger self listened to it.
As I learned in the documentary Lady Blue, she's self-taught and doesn't follow musical conventions, to the point that Wayne Shorter said to her about "Ethiopia," "Those aren't piano or guitar chords, so what are they?"
She also talked about how people are taught not to use colors of the same value in art, but that's exactly what 60s psychedelic poster art does, and that's what she does in her music. When you do that, you get vibration. For some reason, traditional musicians and artists avoid creating that vibration, whereas she actively seeks it out. She said "chords are colors that depict the current state of your emotionality" and uses whatever chords she feels led to use. She's an artistic maverick and innovator following her own inner searching and touching on very deep parts of ourselves. I think one reason we tear up. As you say, powerful stuff.
Watched that concert last night -- fabulous!
Amazing to see a woman sitting alone in a spotlight in the dark in huge Wembley Stadium with no accompaniment playing a guitar and singing -- and the audience is spellbound.
Great song that has held up for all these decades.
Love that tune (and almost anything from Joni's catalogue). She's been a beacon and inspiration for me since the confused, angst-filled teenage years way back in the 1970's. I love that old photo of her and Graham and his take on how she channeled songs. Thanks for the post.
A good person to be inspired by!
Graham asked her to marry him, and she really loved him and considered it seriously, but felt she could only continue being the creator she wanted to be on her own. A boon for us, a disappoointment for Graham, but they stayed good friends. I love that photo too.
This is one of my favorites of all the songs you've covered. It is still highly relevant.
It's not 'heavy' like the others, if you remember that 60s lingo. (Heavy, man!)
It's completely relevant, sadly. If only politicians would listen to the songs and not just dance to them at inaugurations!
As far as I know (according to not too recent interviews) Joni Mitchell's principles have not changed, though she might by now view paradise differently, she has a piece of it in her native country and lives alone...quite well-adjusted.
That's definitely good news. I do hope she's happy.
I know at one point she got quite disgusted with the music industry and went to the wilds of Canada for a year to live alone, commune with nature, and recuperate, then came back with a new sense of purpose. She's a wise woman, that one.
She did mention hating it anytime she has to re-enter the uncivilized world. Did you know that Robert Plant absolutely hated rock and roll and despised his own career? Have you heard Raising Sand with Robert Plant and Alison Krause? I call that album the Anti-Christ and Virgin Mary together, produced with T-bone Burnett. Robert Plant is enjoying his later musical life.
The uncivilized world -- love it.
I did not know that about Robert Plant. I wonder about the story behind it, as I read a biography of Led Zep and had to stop as I found some of the behavior upsetting. But if it's the evil shenanigans of the record industry, I'm reading about that in my prep for just about every other post. Really truly awful.
I have not listened to that album and will do so, now that you've recommended it. I've heard great things about their collaboration.
That album title is Raising Sand…my bad. Played the dickens out of it driving the beaches in Florida.
I wish Joni was from my hometown (Totonto). She was actually born in Fort Macleod, Alberta.
Thanks for catching that mistake, Dom! I've corrected it, knew she had lived in Toronto before moving to the US but didn't check that that's where she came from.
Toronto is a great town. Used to go there when I was a student in Buffalo many moons ago.
No prob. She spent time in Toronto in the 60s. Yorkville (now a very pricey area of Toronto) was the Greenwich Village of Toronto back then. She and Neil Young would visit the various cafes/bars - play in some.
Sadly the original recording was ruined for me by the incongruity of the laugh at the very end. The live version recorded with Tom Scott and the LA Express remains my favourite. The original reached number 11 in the singles chart here in the UK and was very much seen as a protest song from the beginning although I recall being unsure what a “parking lot” was (we call them car parks)!
I hear you about the laugh being incongruous with the theme of the song.
Having lived in the UK for almost 20 years, I remember not knowing what a car park was when I got there! Now I keep calling parking lots 'car parks' and have to correct myself, as Americans are like "What?".
The version above is your favorite from Miles of Aisles -- I'll have to change the post to make that clear. So thanks for alerting me to the lack of clarity.