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Big Yellow Taxi

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Today is Joni Mitchell’s birthday. Born Roberta Joan Anderson in 1943, she’s 68.

Joni Mitchell is the influential creator of a collection of songs that stand apart from the standard music industry categories. “Both Sides Now” and “Woodstock” are touchstones for a generation, but this one is my favorite because it is a good tune that still matters.

“Big Yellow Taxi” will last a long time – as long as its predictions continue to come true. Valuable bits and pieces of our world are being lost while we argue about who deserves to have the most money. Meanwhile, Switzerland has a Tree Museum. And sadly, it will always be true that “you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone.”

One account says Mitchell wrote this song on a trip to Hawaii, discouraged to look out her hotel window on to a huge parking lot. Of course, without parking lots, how could airports operate? And without airports, how could Canadians get to Hawaii?

What’s the most disheartening parking lot you’ve seen?
And the most cheerful?

82 thoughts on “Big Yellow Taxi”

    1. well said and i am glad they are here. yosemite put up a couple of parking lots so the people who pay a dollar and a half (actuallu a little more) could not drive aroud to see em anymore they have to take the bus. same thing in alaska at danali where the bus to mt mckinley leaves every couple of hours and if you want to get out and hike along the way they will pull over and let you. both those are wonderful tree museums. yellowstone is one of my favorites and the trees used to be so intense you couldbn’t see the park. the fire of 1988 took a whole bunch of them away and while the original resonse was to bad the result was fantastic. new growth, wildlife and rejuvination throughout. the worst parking lot i have seen is l.a., new york or chicago at rush hour. what a pity. how silly that there is no better way to do it. i always think of bucky fuller saying that helicopters are the only logical way to go. why would you pave all that land it is ridicilous but like so many thing we do it because thats the way its always been done. missing it after its gone. there is a lesson to be leaned isn’t there. enjoy the people around you, enjoy the day the moment the smell the vibe the essence. do it. try even though yoda says there is no try all i can do is keep trying.

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  2. Rise and Shine Baboons!

    On a three-week long family camping vacation in which we headed West, we encountered the worst In Rock Spring, Wyoming. There we found the most desolate “camping park” with wall-to-wall gravel, nary a tree in sight, and an ugly central building with a camp store and bathrooms. There were one or two other campers there. It was late. Western distances are very long, so we stayed there–who knows how long we would have needed to drive to raise the camper in a dark campground. So we pitched the camper then drug out the little black and white TV after dark so we did not need to venture out into the nothingness. We also thought we might catch some weather and news. The ONLY thing being broadcast was Rush Limbaugh. We turned it off and played games with the kids.

    Not one of us ever have forgotten this place because of the extreme awfulness. This place stands as a family joke as the worst place we have ever been, parking lot or otherwise.

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  3. Good morning baboons!

    Parking lots are not places I generally contemplate with a great deal of emotion. So long as I can find my car when I return for it, I’m happy. The parking lot at the Minnesota Zoo, is one place I have a lot of trouble finding my after a concert at the amphitheater. No matter how carefully I have noted that I have left the car in, say, the Elephant lot, there always seems to be several levels to the lot, and inevitably I’m looking in the wrong one. Of course, it doesn’t help that it’s not well lit.

    The parking lot at Mount Rushmore is kinda fun because you’ll see license plates from all over the U.S., I even spotted some from overseas there.

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    1. rushmore is fun. the only place i notice all the plates, you are right. the zoo…if thats your big challange we need to get you out more or cut you off after three beers at the concerts.

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    2. PJ – that made me think of visiting Itasca so my s-i-l (from Morgan City, LA – near the very end of the river) could walk across the beginning of the Mississippi. there were all sorts of license plates there also. fun to see. it was a rainy, cold day but s-i-l wanted to walk across anyway. she slipped on the rocks and fell in. she wasn’t upset – just wet and cold.

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  4. Morning all. LIke PJ, I haven’t spent much time contemplating parking lots.

    The most frustrating parking lot that I encounter in daily life has to be the parking lot at the Hub at 66th and Nicollet. Clearly the designers had dinner brought in with copious amount of wine before they finished that one.

    Pretty parking lots? Hmmmmmmmm.

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    1. ive been doing the hub parking lot since 1960 when i bought my catholic school cordoroys and neckties there. the parking lot was luxurious then. think life may have changed a little?

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    2. Perhaps the designers are related to the drunken Irishman who Jesse Ventura claimed had laid out the streets in St. Paul.

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    3. I was trying to park in that lot once, in the morning before there were very many cars in it, after we had just gotten about five inches of snow and it was drifted a little, and I could not for the life of me figure out where I was supposed to go – I kept hitting medians under the snow.

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  5. there are nice parking lots along the road where they have the scenic rest stops. some of these you dont even have to get out of the car for. back in the vw van days i would roll open the top ( i loved that roll the top open feature) nd take a fistfull of pictures and head back down the road. i am also famous for shooting while the grass along the roadside whizzes by in the foreground. i always think these will be inspirational pictures for painting from later then the pictures show up and the mountains in the distance are the size of your little fingernail in the picture and you wonder why that was going ot be inspirational. except banff……the wole place is a scenic overlook, every time you go around the corner you say wow that is the most beautiful mountain i have ever seen then you go a mile and come around the corner and say wow that is the beautiful mountain i have ever seen . you get wow’d out about 2 hours into the day, emotionally spent by being overstimulated for a nonstop 20, 30 40 miles.pull offs to catch your breath everywhere.

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  6. We have a small airport that is doing a lot of business with the oil boom. The terminal building has been expanded several times in the past couple of years. When we first moved here the parking lot was really small, gravel, with one row for about 8 cars described as short term parking and the row right behind it with coarser gravel grandly described as long term parking. The parking lots at the U of Manitoba look like graveyards since there are white three foot high posts at regular intervals for block heaters to be plugged in.

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    1. i had some chinese airports like that where one year it is gravel the next year it is the biggest damn airport you ever saw. qingdao comes to mind

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  7. you don’t know what youve got til its gone. how are the jim ed aftershocks settling in. i heard the replay of the midday show and then another on sunday night and it is starting to sink in. we need to celebrate while it is here. i will celebrate the trail today. keeping dale, jim ed and the rest of you in my headlights and enjoying the vibe.
    hey board game night 11/11 starting out at the loft for munchies then caravaning to my house. let me know whos in and i will arrange the guset list at the loft. i think it starts at 4-6 could be 5-7 i will confirm

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    1. We discussed going to the show Saturday, 11-12 at the Fitz. This is the Tom Keith Memorial. However, upon investigation, there are no tickets and the Fitz does not open until 4:00pm. The show is at 5:00pm. This means we stand in line and wait. Friday is to be cold. I don’t know that my arthritis can tolerate this at my advanced age, unfortunately. I’d love to go but the logistics make it very difficult.

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      4. We can save you a spot so your arthritis can saunter up to us at the last minute. I can still handle Holidazzle, so I’ll be OK.

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      5. verily-what time were you thinking of getting in the line? We want to come as well, but don’t want to get there too late.

        We are made of pretty sturdy stuff, so could also help hold places in line.

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      7. Don’t know if anyone has gone back to read the R.I.P. Tom Keith blog. Postings are still being made.

        We plan on going to the Tribute show as well. If it is anything like the tribute to Bill Holm, it will be memorable.

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  8. The Loft will be hosting its first-ever Members Only Happy Hour on November 11 from 6-7 p.m. in room 208 at Open Book. Feel free to arrive anytime during the hour. Loft staff will be on hand to talk about opportunities and resources for writers and readers, including upcoming events, grants and awards, and classes.

    And it wouldn’t be happy hour without hors d’oeurvres, beer, wine, and other drinks–all on us, of course. Please let us know if you’re coming (and even though this is an exclusive member event, feel free to bring a friend or two). You can RSVP online.

    let me know i have 3 spots reserved and can tweek it i am sure

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    2. I’m planning on it. I am also picking up Donna at her daughter’s place. I’m pretty sure she can be talked into Happy Hour.

      Speaking of Happy Hours…for those of you in the metro area, there is a free wine tasting Thursday night at the Top Ten in Woodbury. They usually sample about 80 or 90 different wines. Starts at 6:30; best to arrive early if you want to park close. The wine is on sale, too, 20% off.

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      2. I don’t think we’ll make it to Open Book, but if it’s over at 7:00, and we could plan to be at Tim’s at 8:00? I’ll email you, tim…

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  9. Good morning to all,

    A number of years ago I heard or read a tribute to Joni Mitchell which made me more aware of her great talent. I think her singing style is her greatest talent with her voice soaring and bending like no other singer. I also very much like her songs including those mentioned by Dale and others such as Chelsae Morning and You Turn Me on, I’m a Radio.

    There are a lot of very large ugly parking lots. Most or all Walmart lots are bad including the one in Albert Lea. There are some really large ugly ones around some sports stadiums. The lot at the Lanscape Arboretum is nice with wide stripes of trees and scrubs between sections of that lot.

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    1. Yes! And Chelsea Morning has my favorite line in a long time – The sun poured in like butterscotch and stuck to all my senses…

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    2. i am wondering why the vikings want us to finance 250 acres where 11 football fields from downtown can fit. i think thye only need 1. ziggy may have parking lots in mind.
      joni…twisted is one of my favorites, blue. california the ast time i saw richard the circle game both sides now, loved her jazz era and she will be remembered forever as the woman who changed waht a womans voice can sound like. no one before. many many many after.

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  10. hey baboons. the goat who got bounced out of the winners circle in the colorado state fair made the wait wait don’t tell me quiz this weekend.

    Colorado Says State Champion Goat Failed Drug Test
    October 14, 2011 … Colorado Says State Champion Goat Failed Drug Test. … The family says their goat feed may have been tampered with and they plan to appeal. … By The Associated Press
    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=141358922

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  11. Before I moved buildings at the Mother Ship (er…work), I had a lovely view of the visitor parking lot. Which was not a lovely parking lot, but because of the wind currents between the buildings and the small critters in the tall grass nearby attracted hawks. They were all generically “Bob” regardless of gender – and they were beautiful. Sometimes when the thermals were right, they’d fly almost right up to our windows and if the glass hadn’t been there you might have been able to reach out and stroke their beautiful feathers.

    I think the worst parking lot is a lonely one with a closed business in the middle – doubly so if it is a chain store that closed a location. Where there once was human interaction now lies a slab of concrete (probably where there used to be greenery….and if you wait long enough there might be greenery peaking up through cracks in the lot after awhile. There is one such lot by a closed book store near my aunt’s house. It’s in the middle of a big stretch of road that used to be woods and is now Wal-Mart lots and car dealerships and drive-throughs.

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  12. wow, I have been running Big Yellow Taxi in my head for a week now Dale. It’s not helping that I am currently doing the archeological dig of my house, preparing for the appraiser and the re-fi.

    Right now the most bleak parking lot is the one I pull into each day in an industrial park, so I can punch a clock and get a check-it is also my view all day. I need to get back to working on my own, but need to stick with this for a little while longer.

    Funnily enough, the parking lot of fond memory was the one we raced around on with our bikes when I was growing up. In the blizzardy winters, the plow would make a huge snow mountain. My dad was the pastor at the church it belonged to, and it was in western Iowa, where there is a lot of big flat open space. I just heard from my dad that it has closed, and I never got to take the s&h there to see it. I hear my third grade teacher is still living in Coon Rapids, IA (near the rapids of the Racoon River, we could never figure out what was up with Coon Rapids, MN)-we should make that trip–soon.

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  13. A nice parking lot is the one on Mississippi River Boulevard at the T at the end of Summit Avenue, near the flower garden just off the bike path. In the summertime I sometimes park there and have lunch.

    The ugliest parking lot I know is behind Midway shopping center, between the building and St. Anthony Ave. Hardly anyone ever parks there. Most of the parking is in the front. You can avoid the heavy traffic on University by coming in by the back door, but it is the most cheerless place on the planet.

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    1. That is where I always park when I go to that Office Depot (my only reason for going now that the fabric store is gone). The s&h will probably never forget the morning we came in that way and there was a homeless man, asleep under the windows by the doors.

      Agreed, totally depressing, but less prone to feeling one is about to get into a fender-bender than the one along University.

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    2. Linda-response for the weekend.

      Yes, I have been running the oven at night for supper. We have a nice harvest of squash from the yard this year, so I thow a pan of those in with whatever else is baking to get them ready for the freezer (they don’t keep in our basement).

      We are also harvesting our apples (they are tasty, if not beautiful), so a pan of crisp goes in (I’ve still got cranberries from last year’s farmer’s market, so I cook up a bunch of those with a tea strainer full of spices and mix that in with the apples).

      We also have wool blankets and down comforters.

      It’s also nice to have Our Fair Twixie at least pretend she is fond of us for a few weeks, but she is still spending her days outside (where the action is).

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      1. I have three cats, and you would think they would huddle together for warmth, but they disdain each other and want to be on me all the time. I love it when people have cats that like to snuggle with each other. That’s so sweet.

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      2. One of my favorite ads for Aunt Bertha’s Kitty Boutique were for the over-sized, extra fluffy cats who were trained as a team to distribute themselves over your surface area as you slept and not just all bunch up together.

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  14. I can think of two lovely parking lots, one at Yellowstone’s Old Faithful – after prowling around unsuccessfully in the main lot, you finally take a right and are on gravel amid big tall trees… and at my mom’s senior residence – small paved lots but surrounded by flowers, grass and trees!

    Many ugly parking lots mentioned above, but my least favorite was the Long Island Expressway heading East on Friday afternoons.

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  15. Anyone else’s computer doing funny things this morning – like none of the designs or gravatars are by our names, and mine is excruciatingly slow…

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  16. I have childhood fondness for the mall parking lots with the animal signs–“Remember we’re parked in the Lion Lot!”–but that’s the most enthusiasm I can dredge up for them. Most of the time I’d as soon park on the street and walk. I loathe the parking lots at the Wedge and the Highland Park Lunds for their poor design and homicidal drivers; the Seward Co-op painted directional lines in theirs, which does help…a little. I have evil parking ramp dreams a lot, which fascinate my roommate no end (“Zo, vat does a parking ramp mean to you, Miz Crow Girl?”). Sometimes I’m driving in them, sometimes I’m trying to find my car, sometimes I’m trying to escape from someone (or any mix of those), but they’re always dark, labyrinthine, cramped and decaying, with chunks fallen out of the walls and rebar or wire net showing through. No, I don’t park downtown when I work there, why do you ask?

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    2. in the early 60’s the new hot resteraunt in the burbs was the camelot. my dads partners took him to lunch at the camel lot with a brown bag complete with peanut butter sandwiches and a cookie.

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  17. While taking son to his freshman year at Morris, Billy Marty Berry and Dale devoted a long segment to a discussion of Morris and to how I should be a less hovering parent. Billy Marty carefully explained that Joni Mitchell had gone to Morris and that it provided inspiration for her song “Free Man in Morris” I can’t remember why there was confusion with the text…something about dental school.

    It is true that you never know what you’ve got til it’s gone.

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  18. Some young woman in Canada knew she had been put up for adoption but didn’t know who her mom was. She worked on it for two years. Can you imagine what it was like for her to discover that her birth mom was Joni Mitchell??

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      1. Or conversely, can you imagine what the woman who gave Steve Jobs up for adoption must have felt when she realized who her son had grown up to be.

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      2. Musing about this, I suspect that any mother who gives up her child for adoption must carry a special grief always.

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  19. The worst parking lot I ever saw was the vacant Faribault Woolen Mill parking lot after the mill closed in 2009. It originally opened in 1865. It was re-opened this fall under new ownership. I’ve had friends who have worked there and it’s really a part of Faribault’s heritage. It was sad to see the mill sit empty.

    The best parking lot I ever saw is the one at the top of Palisade Head on the North Shore. I liked it better before they improved the road. I was telling Jim and Clyde that I used to go up there early in the morning and make my coffee and watch the sun rise over the lake. It’s not possible to do that anymore because it’s a part of Tettegouche SP now and they close the gate at night. They don’t open it early enough to get up there for the sunrise.

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      1. truth is i could spend a week doing joni. i love hter an dcould play the same song over for an afternoon and love it all the more finding more nuances as it went.

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    3. Picking a favorite is nearly impossible, but I’d put Judgement of the Moon and Stars at or near the top. Surprisingly, YouTube doesn’t have a very good version of it – there are a couple of live recordings but the sound is not very good.

      I don’t think I ever make soup without having the lines from Banquet run through my head (“Who let the greedy in/Who Left the needy out/Who made the salty soup/Tell him we’re very hungry now for a sweeter fare”).

      Blue, For the Roses, and Court and Spark played back to back would be two hours well spent. Don’t have time to do it today, but maybe tomorrow.

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  21. Someone above (sorry, now I can’t find your post) mentioned the animal lots. I loved going to Southdale (a big treat for a Western MN girl in the 70s) and telling my dad to park in the raccoon lot or whichever one looked to be closest to the birdcages inside. I guess those would be the cheerful parking lots. Any parking lot in the dark, especially in the winter, seems lonely and disheartening.

    I’m confused about Saturday – does it start at 5 and doors open at 4? A friend is telling me she swears it’s at 7. Dale or someone, can you clarify? Thanks much. So wonderful to see national recognition (e.g. Brian Williams, etc.) of Tom Keith’s career and life.

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      1. he is the news anchor on abc and spoke of tom as the master and wonder we all know him as and it doesn’t sound out of place here but n national tv they don’t get the same coverage as mpr and the newspapers in minneapolis and st paul. brian is cool.

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      2. Tim’s right – Brian Williams is very cool. He came to MSP after the bridge collapsed and his daughter interned on the PHC movie I think. His guest appearance on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me was one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard.

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