The legendary song Joni Mitchell dismissed as “arbitrary”
Spending time trying to think of new ways to describe old music is what I get paid for. And, during those moments when I am desperately trying to avoid saying the word “jangly” or “magnetic,” I will search for pretty much any adjective that will do, often ending the laws of comprehension to do so. But describing any part of Joni Mitchell’s career as arbitrary would be difficult.
Her songwriting seems full of poetic purpose and emotional intent, her accompanying instrumentals carved out perfectly to enhance them and endear her to millions, yet the folk legend once dubbed one of her own songs as merely a random jukebox track.
In 1970, Mitchell released ‘Big Yellow Taxi’. In just over two minutes, the song conveyed concerns about environmental destruction inspired by the songwriter’s visit to Hawaii. “I wrote ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ on my first trip to Hawaii,” she explained to the Los Angeles Times in the late 1990s, “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.”
But Mitchell’s view of the natural beauty was quickly ruined when she lowered her gaze. “Then, I looked down, and there was a parking lot as far as the eye could see,” she recalled, “And it broke my heart… this blight on paradise. That’s when I sat down and wrote the song.”
It’s hard to ignore a song as anthemic as ‘Big Yellow Taxi’. However, it is equally difficult to imagine the song with a fresh mind’s eye. ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ has become a universally adored song for its hopeful message of humanity eventually triumphing over its own greed. Whether or not we feel any closer to such a triumph over 50 years after the song was released is by the by.
That environmental heartbreak is certainly conveyed in the song. Over soft strums and playful percussion, Mitchell repeats the words, “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” It’s a line that’s specific to her experience in Hawaii but one that can be clearly understood and empathised with worldwide.
The song is consistently simple in its lyricism, describing more natural phenomena destroyed by man-made creations – trees turned into museum exhibitions and birds killed by pesticides. “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone,” she continually reminds us. Her words are purposeful, but Mitchell herself believed it to be just a “nice little ditty.”
Speaking on the song during an interview with BBC 2 in 1986, Mitchell reflected on the song 15 years on from its release. Sat in an oversized suit and tie, her hair curled, her hand home to a cigarette, she seems like the epitome of cool. Her dismissal of ‘Big Yellow Taxi’, one of her biggest hits, only reflects this.
Shrugging it off, she simply stated, “It’s a nice little ditty, you know? It’s fun to get into. People like it, you know? So it’s one of my arbitrary jukebox tunes”. It seems like a gross devaluation of such an important and influential track, but who are we to argue with Mitchell? “I keep rewriting it,” she concluded, “I rewrite a lot of things to bring them up to date.”
Unfortunately, over half a century on from its first release, ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ still seems just as up to date, a harsh reminder of how carelessly we destroy landscapes delivered through Mitchell’s characteristically sweet vocals and soundscapes.
Revisit ‘Big Yellow Taxi’, the song Joni Mitchell called “arbitrary” below.
