# Perhaps a stupid Question: Big Yellow Taxi **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 24, 2005, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019 "2005-03-24T08:39:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/1 "2005-03-24T08:39:37Z")
My question: Why is the song called “Big Yellow Taxi” when the Big Yellow taxi appears in the song a grand total of once an dseems to have nothing at all to do with the rest of the song? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/2 "2005-03-24T09:18:35Z")
The song _is_ about a Big Yellow Taxi (or more precisely - about the man who left in it). Everything that comes before is just background. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/3 "2005-03-24T13:14:16Z")
I’ve always taken it as avoidance =-- the singer is seriously bummed that his/her lover left in a Big Yellow Taxi, and realizes that “you don’t know what you got 'til it’s gone”, but doesn’t want to think directly about that very painful issue. So most of the song is about other, less personal things that you don’t miss until they’re gone. It’s not until the very end that the real reason for the song comes out. Then the song returns from that island of hurt to the silliness and inanity of the beginning of the song. What I wanna know is why, in the recent remake of the song, they took a perfectly good rhyme: _take all the trees put 'em in a Tree Museum And charge the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em_ and change the last line to _just to see_ them. which _doesn’t_ rhyme. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/4 "2005-03-24T13:17:40Z")
Some songs tell a story, rather than repeating the same few words over and over. The [lyrics](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/joni-mitchell/75370.html) from Joni Mitchell’s original version seem pretty clear to me. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/5 "2005-03-24T13:19:36Z")
Not everybody is a fan of the “shout the title four times in the chorus” school of lyric writing. 😉 Song titles can be central symbols or important details or just something random the singer liked. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/6 "2005-03-24T13:21:27Z")
Joni’s just one of those subtle prairie girls. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/7 "2005-03-24T13:23:34Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > Why is the song called “Big Yellow Taxi” when the Big Yellow taxi appears in the song a grand total of once an dseems to have nothing at all to do with the rest of the song? Because that’s what Joni Mitchell chose to name the song. That is her right. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/8 "2005-03-24T13:25:35Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ve always taken it as avoidance =-- the singer is seriously bummed that his/her lover left in a Big Yellow Taxi, and realizes that “you don’t know what you got 'til it’s gone”, but doesn’t want to think directly about that very painful issue. So most of the song is about other, less personal things that you don’t miss until they’re gone. It’s not until the very end that the real reason for the song comes out. Then the song returns from that island of hurt to the silliness and inanity of the beginning of the song. > > What I wanna know is why, in the recent remake of the song, they took a perfectly good rhyme: > _take all the trees > put 'em in a Tree Museum > And charge the people a dollar and a half > just to see 'em_ > > and change the last line to > > _just to see_ them. > which _doesn’t_ rhyme. No, it doesn’t rhyme, but it avoids the problem of inflation! A dollar and a half won’t get you into any museum, these days! And not that many other dollar amounts scan well. Beyond that, your interpretation is sound. Joni’s boyfriend, who’s just left her, is just the latest in a long series of things she loves that seem to have vanished. ---
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/9 "2005-03-24T13:32:41Z")
Please pardon the intrusion, but I feel I must point out that Joni Mitchell was, and is, a hottie. Thank you for your patience. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/10 "2005-03-24T13:39:57Z")
Has anyone else heard the story that she got the original inspiration for the song looking out the window of a hotel in Hawaii or somewhere like that? (Struck by the contrast between the beautiful scenery in the distance, and the hotel grounds themselves, and realizing that the parking lot had been another part of paradise, before it had been cleared and covered in asphalt.) Not that that necessarily means it’s what the song is really about, just where the idea started. I was curious if anyone else had heard that explanation. Personally I always thought that story took away a little of the punch of the lyric… by itself, the song suggested that they paved over ALL of paradise. Building on a little of it, in order that more people would be able to come and see the rest of it (and so the hotel can make money)… is something that I can kinda justify. PS: I have to admit, I always hear the Amy Grant version. :o ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/11 "2005-03-24T13:52:02Z")
> [@](#): > > No, it doesn’t rhyme, but it avoids the problem of inflation! A dollar and a half won’t get you into any museum, these days! And not that many other dollar amounts scan well. Thanks for the kind words, but, as far as I can see, this really doesn’t fix the $1.50 museum rate. It just ruins the rhyme. (And there still are places you can give a “voluntary” donation of $1.50, but they’ll look at you mean.) ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/12 "2005-03-24T17:10:05Z")
> [@Balle\_M](#): > > Please pardon the intrusion, but I feel I must point out that Joni Mitchell was, and is, a hottie. > > Thank you for your patience. Too true, and a genius song writer to boot. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/13 "2005-03-24T17:16:17Z")
> [@GingerOfTheNorth](#): > > Joni’s just one of those subtle prairie girls. I thought she was a lady of the canyon. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/14 "2005-03-24T17:23:23Z")
And why does she say she “was a free _man_ in Paris,” when she’s clearly a woman? ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/15 "2005-03-24T17:34:15Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > And why does she say she “was a free _man_ in Paris,” when she’s clearly a woman? Can answer that one. The song starts “The way I see it, _he said_” (emphasis added). It was based on real remarks by David Geffen, her friend and record label president. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/16 "2005-03-24T17:55:50Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > And why does she say she “was a free _man_ in Paris,” when she’s clearly a woman? Because she’s singing the quote of the man in the story (David Geffen), who says he was “a free man in Paris, (he) felt unfettered and alive…” ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/17 "2005-03-24T19:51:39Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > I thought she was a lady of the canyon. She had to start somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/18 "2005-03-24T22:32:55Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > I thought she was a lady of the canyon. She’s been many people over the years. Not always any sort of\* lady\*. Even in a single song she can be sappy, deep and dark. Its seem as though rhymes flow out of her as easily as thought from the rest of us. In the '70s I often expected to hear she’d followed Jim, Jimi and Janis [down the dark ladder.](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/joni-mitchell/75390.html) ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-a-stupid-question-big-yellow-taxi/296019/19 "2005-03-24T22:52:19Z")
I used to hate pop songs as ring tones on cell phones, but when I recently upgraded my cell phone, my daughter showed me how to download _Big Yellow Taxi_ as my ringtone. So now I’ve joined the ranks of annoying people with a snappy pop tune as my ringer. :smack: I keep it set low, though. **chrisk** , I’m quite partial to the Amy Grant version, too.