Big Yellow Taxi (3:43)

“Big Yellow Taxi” is a song written and originally performed by Joni Mitchell in 1970. It was a big hit in her native Canada (#14) as well as Australia (#6) and the UK (#11). It only reached #67 in the US in 1970, but was later a bigger hit there for her in a live version released in 1975, which peaked at #24.

Charting versions have also been recorded by The Neighborhood (who had the original top US 40 hit with the track in 1970, peaking at #29), Maire Brennan, Amy Grant, and Counting Crows.

Counting Crows featuring Vanessa Carlton (on back-up vocals) cover of the song is featured on the soundtrack to the movie Two Weeks Notice and is the most successful version to date (U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40). Originally the song was a hidden track on the band’s 2002 album Hard Candy and did not include Vanessa Carlton until it was to be featured in the movie. New releases of the album included it as a track with her added, as with her in the video, although Counting Crows and Vanessa Carlton did not appear in the video together or record together. This song became the band’s only Top 20 single in the UK, peaking at #13. This version slightly changed Mitchell’s original lyrics to describe when the eponymous taxi took “my girl” away, instead of Mitchell’s “my old man”.