Then, I looked down and there was a parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke my heart…this blight on paradise. 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. It’s called “Big Yellow Taxi,” or, alternately, “They Paved Paradise and Put in a Parking Lot.”Īs archived in Mojo Magazine's March 2019 issue: “I wrote Big Yellow Taxi on my first trip to Hawaii. So I wrote this little rock and roll song to commemorate the occasion. It was my first time there and I was only there for two days which was kind of a bummer, I wish I could’ve really seen more of the island and I arrived there at 11 o’clock at night and the next morning I ran to the window and threw back the curtains and sure enough, there it was, paradise, you know, green, lush hills, old Sugarloaf Mountain up there, white birds flying low, Myna birds all over the place, and, right in the middle of it all, was a big parking lot. Joni introduced the song this way on November 29, 1969: DDT is still used in several other areas of the world. At the time Joni wrote this lyric (1967-68), the continued use of DDT was quite controversial. Because of DDT's effects on birds, the chemical has not been used in the United States since 1972, and can no longer be used except in cases of public health emergency. $3.00 - Resident of Hawaii, 13 years and older with IDįREE - Child, 5 years old and under (must be with adult)ĭDT is a persistent organochlorine pesticide and is largely responsible for the great decrease in the reproductive capabilities and consequently in the populations of fish-eating birds, such as the bald eagle, brown pelican, and osprey. Museum' she sang about where they charged you to see the trees was Foster Botanical Garden' Us that: ''Big Yellow Taxi', by the way, was written about Hawaii and the 'tree Tree Museum: Dave Donelly, reporter for Honolulu's Star-Bulletin, informs

The Royal Hawaiian has 526 beautifully appointed rooms, located in either the elegant Historic Building or the modern Tower Wing. Here, amidst serene gardens behind the coral-colored facade, you can still find the special ambiance of old Hawaii and its gracious island hospitality. The romantic and legendary Pink Palace, built in 1927 is the landmark hotel on Waikiki Beach. The name's Doubt, Shadow of Doubt.Pink Hotel: Although Joni's own words (below) suggest she wrote this on Maui, the Pink Hotel in this song is most likely the Royal Hawaiian in Honolulu.

Shadow of doubt boom forest lyrics