Warning - Despite the title, this version has no big yellow taxi in it!

Written and performed by Joni Mitchell, this song was a hit in 1970. This is her description of how she wrote it:
"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."

Most of the song is a statement about the environment. The "tree museum" is a reference to an actual museum, the Foster Botanical Garden in Honolulu.

In Mitchell's original version the last verse is a sudden departure from the environmental message. The "big yellow taxi", refers to the yellow Toronto police cars that were used at that time. The meaning is ambiguous. Is he a boyfriend, husband or father? Is he being taken away by the police, or just leaving her?

The most successful cover of the song is the recording by Counting Crows (2002), which was featured on the soundtrack of the movie, "Two Weeks Notice." It was the the band's only Top 20 single in the UK. The lyrics were changed a little, with the yellow taxi taking "my girl away."

Dylan's version (1973) made more changes to the lyrics, especially the last verse, to maintain the environmental message, removing all references to a yellow taxi except in the title! As I am a big fan of Dylan, it is his variation I sing here, with my sister Annette, and nephew Lachlan.