Subscribe: by Email | in Reader

Big Yellow Taxi -- Joni Mitchell

Guest poem submitted by Arun Simha:
(Poem #1005) Big Yellow Taxi
 They paved paradise
 And put up a parking lot
 With a pink hotel, a boutique
 And a swinging hot spot

       [Chorus]

   Don't it always seem to go
   That you don't know what you've got
   Till it's gone
   They paved paradise
   And put up a parking lot

 They took all the trees
 Put 'em in a tree museum
 And they charged the people
 A dollar and a half just to see 'em

       [Chorus]

 Hey farmer farmer
 Put away that DDT now
 Give me spots on my apples
 But leave me the birds and the bees
 Please!

       [Chorus]

 Late last night
 I heard the screen door slam
 And a big yellow taxi
 Took away my old man

       [Chorus etc.]
-- Joni Mitchell
Legendary songwriter/singer, Joni Mitchell wrote the lyrics of this song in
the late 60s. It is popularly believed that the 'paradise' mentioned in this
song refers to Hawaii.

I can quite relate to the angst felt by the poet, for I had the very same
experience recently. I live in Sunnyvale, CA, which is a part of the area
known as Silicon Valley. Three decades ago, Sunnyvale had an idyllic farming
community. I have heard long time residents of California state that they
used to travel to Sunnyvale to buy fruits from its famous orchards.

When I came here in the early 90's from India, it still had a few remnants
of those famous orchards. Alas, the last one has had its curtain call.
Olson's cherry farm which is right at the intersection between El Camino
Real and Mathilda, had been laid to rest after a glorious innings lasting
103 years. A few months ago, the farm seemed like an incongrous oasis
hanging on to life by a thread amidst the mighty gale of industrialization.
Today, they've actually paved the farm and made it into a parking lot. A
shopping mall looks with arrogant disdain at the small "Olson's fruit stand"
which is but a temporary stall for the people who sold the farm. The heart
of the farm, where cherries once blossomed, is where a retail bookstore has
found its bearings. Mr. Olson has recently written a book about his farm,
which has nostalgic pictures of the past and to top the irony, he is going
to sign these books at the very same bookstore.

I moved to Sunnyvale from Bangalore, India which has had its share of
unhindered urban growth in the last two decades. It does seem that
everywhere you look, they're paving paradise to build parking lots.

Arun.

[Links]

Joni Mitchell Discussion list: http://www.jmdl.com/
Joni Mitchell page: http://www.jonimitchell.com/
San Jose Mercury News (http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/)
 [Article, January 22, 2002: Cherry Stand Ends An Era]

20 comments: ( or Leave a comment )

LCK1953 said...

Excellent

RAJASEKARAN RAJADURAI said...

Hi,
Sandra Bullock selected this song in here movie "Two Weeks Notice". It has got a nice romantic rhythm, which I downloaded to practice. Thanks
-- Raj

raymeds said...

Did you know rha Mitchell began smoking at the age of nine as well, a habit which is arguably one of the factors contributing to the change in her voice in recent years?????

Ideas de negocios said...

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, but I am firmly convinced of this and love to learn more about the subject. If possible, acquire knowledge, would you update your blog with more information? It is very helpful to me

lowongan kerja said...

I get a lot of referrals from this site.
I also wrote in a blog: lowongan kerja 2013, lowongan kerja terbaru and info lowongan kerja.

Anonymous said...

Hеya i am foг the first time heге.
I found this board аnd I in finԁing It rеally hеlpful & it helped me out muсh.
I hορе to preѕent something аgaіn and
aid othегs like you aidеd me.

Alsο νisit my page :: plano leasing agent

Anonymous said...

Good day I am so thrilled I found your webpage, I really found you by accident, while I was researching on Bing for something else, Anyhow I am here now and would just like to say cheers for a remarkable post and a all round exciting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don't have time to go through it all at the moment but I have saved it and also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the fantastic work.

Look into my page; online graduate certificate programs

Anonymous said...

My brother recommended I might like this web site. He used to be entirely right.
This submit truly made my day. You can not believe just how so much time I had spent for this information!
Thank you!

Also visit my web page :: joshua pellicer tao pdf

Anonymous said...

I all the time used to read article in news papers but now as I am a user of net thus from now I am using
net for articles or reviews, thanks to web.

Here is my blog ... google Sniper scam

Anonymous said...

I am actually grateful to the owner of this site who has
shared this wonderful article at at this time.



My web-site: Mercedes Cummings

Rahamtul Bari said...

interesting and valuable information about limo thanks to share it with us
buying a new car

Anonymous said...

You can improve your folders using this application. Now, find a web site that will give you good worth for your used iphone.
It retains the SIII sturdy and light at the exact same time.


Here is my webpage: Installous iOS 7 (http://bkswainspace.blogspot.nl/)

Patent Lawyer said...

Joni Mitchell was such a talented lyricist, it's interesting to hear how these words carry so much resonance for you!

Post a Comment