Big Yellow Taxi

Mitchell told Robert Hilburn in 1996 that she wrote it on her first trip to Hawaii. She woke in her hotel, saw green mountains, then looked down on a parking lot stretching as far as she could see, and it broke her heart. The line about the tree museum refers to the Foster Botanical Garden in Honolulu.

Released as a Reprise single in April 1970 before it appeared on Ladies of the Canyon, it reached 15 in Canada, 6 in Australia, 11 in Britain and 67 on the Hot 100. A live version on Miles of Aisles reached 24 in the United States in 1974. She recorded it again for Shine in 2007. The CBC audience voted it ninth among essential Canadian tracks in 2005, and her official site counts 627 other artists who have recorded it.

Covers and samples

The Neighborhood took it to 29 in the United States in 1970. Joe Dassin recorded it as Le Grand Parking that year, Bob Dylan covered it on Dylan in 1973, and Amy Grant reached 67 on the Hot 100 with it in 1995 after changing some lyrics at Mitchell's request. Counting Crows and Vanessa Carlton took it to 42 in 2002 for the film Two Weeks Notice. Janet Jackson sampled it in Got 'til It's Gone in 1997, and Labrinth sampled it in Sundown.