Don’t it always seem to go/
That you don’t know what you’ve got til its gone.
They paved paradise/
And put up a parking lot.

“Big Yellow Taxi” packs a lot of meaning into a seemingly sweet and innocent-sounding song. It is one of Joni Mitchell’s earlier songs and it might be her biggest hit. It hits on so many levels. Superficially, one of the things that makes it cool is the last verse when we hear her goofing around: singing in a low voice then cracking herself up. It is kind of like a peak into her personality before there was social media. But the song would be great without it.

Mitchell lament’s that we don’t know what we’ve got till it’s gone. She gives us three examples that seem to be similar in that they are all environmental related: We pave paradise put up a parking lot, we use DDT, we cut down trees. All of these things are things that are important to her and people who are fans of her.

That is what the song is about—but that is not the impetus that made her create this song. You see late last night, her boyfriend left her in a big yellow taxi, and now she is feeling remorseful. In the moment when she let him go, she didn’t really care, but today she regrets it. Will we feel the same way about nature when it is gone?

Big Yellow Taxi Lyrics

They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
‘Til it’s gone
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop

They took all the trees
Put them in a tree museum
And they charged all the people
A dollar and a half to see ’em
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
‘Til it’s gone
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop

Hey, farmer, farmer
Put away the DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
‘Til it’s gone
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop

Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
‘Til it’s gone
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop

I said, don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
‘Til it’s gone
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot

Songwriters: Joni Mitchell