Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell

They paved paradise And 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 Till it's gone They paved paradise And put up a parking lot. They took all the trees And put them in a tree museum And they charged all the people A dollar and a half just to see 'em 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. Hey farmer farmer Put away that D.D.T. 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 Till it's gone They paved paradise And put up a parking lot. 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 Till it's gone They paved paradise And put up a parking lot.

They paved paradise and 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 till it's gone They paved paradise and put up a parking lot Shoo-bop-bop-bop-bop, shoo-bop-bop-bop They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum And then they charged all the poeple twenty-five bucks just to see 'em 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 Shoo-bop-bop-bop-bop, shoo-bop-bop-bop Hey farmer, farmer, put away your 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 till it's gone They paved paradise and put up a parking lot I say, they paved paradise and they put up a parking lot 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 Shoo-bop-bop-bop-bop Late last night i heard the screen door slam And a big yellow taxi carried off my old man Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got till it's gone They paved paradise and they put up a parking lot Shoo-bop-bop-bop-bop 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 Shoo-bop-bop-bop-bop Oh, now, they paved paradise and they put up a parking lot Shoo-bop-bop-bop-bop Hey, steam rolled paradise and put up a parking lot Shoo-bop-bop-bop-bop

You catch everything I never could You believed when I gave up for good And when you stand beside me, I could tell I'm stronger than I've ever been But if you're leave, you know you don't come back I came home last night, I had no good news I came home last night, I had no good news And you've been sleeping through the brightest flash of apocalyptic ruin And if you leave, I'll never sing another tune Put on your red shoes; sing it to me, lover-girl When you do, my love, I forget the world And if you say "run," I may run with you I've got nothing else, I've got nowhere else As the sun goes fading in the west There's an army east that's rising still And when you stand beside me, I feel something stronger than I ever could But if you leave, you better run away for good

Why do the birds sing so early in the dawn? Their honeysuckle melodies, before my day's alarm I imagine they're rehearsing for some big, elaborate show That I've not been invited to, so I should never know The songs they like to sing, I suppose they're not too far From all the songs I sing, when I'm alone late in my car (when I'm alone late in my car) And if I were the postman awake for the afternoon I'd be the lucky someone eavesdropping on their tunes But I think I like it better when I sleep late past their call For all I know, perhaps the birds don't even sing at all We are nothing Love comes easily to you But not the hurt You're impervious to blue I wish I knew How to sing about the other colors too

Jumped and took a fall Expected I would fly I didn't know that wings Were made of wax and wires But I forgive the sun For burning like it's June 'Cause bones can always mend But there's only one of you You're gravity to me You keep me in my place And without your pull I'd just be lost in space I'm tethered to your heart Oh, any distance wide When whispering your words I hear them amplified And I'm out here on a limb In this vacuum of two So believe when I say That my eyes see only you You're gravity to me You keep me in my place And without your pull I'd just be lost in space

I'm traveling in some vehicle I'm sitting in some cafe A defector from the petty wars That shell shock love away There's comfort in melancholy When there's no need to explain It's just as natural as the weather In this moody sky today In our possessive coupling So much could not be expressed So now i'm returning to myself These things that you and i suppressed I see something of myself in everyone Just at this moment of the world As snow gathers like bolts of lace Waltzing on a ballroom girl You know it never has been easy Whether you do or you do not resign Whether you travel the breadth of extremities Or stick to some straighter line Now here's a man and a woman sitting on a rock They're either going to thaw out or freeze Listen... Strains of benny goodman Coming thru' the snow and the pinewood trees I'm porous with travel fever But you know i'm so glad to be on my own Still somehow the slightest touch of a stranger Can set up trembling in my bones I know - no one's going to show me everything We all come and go unknown Each so deep and superficial Between the forceps and the stone Well i looked at the granite markers Those tribute to finality - to eternity And then i looked at myself here Chicken scratching for my immortality In the church they light the candles And the wax rolls down like tears There's the hope and the hopelessness I've witnessed thirty years We're only particles of change i know, i know Orbiting around the sun But how can i have that point of view When i'm always bound and tied to someone White flags of winter chimneys Waving truce against the moon In the mirrors of a modern bank >from the window of a hotel room I'm traveling in some vehicle I'm sitting in some cafe A defector from the petty wars Until love sucks me back that way