10 Happy Songs That Are Insanely Dark
4. Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell is known to have one of the most beautiful voices in the folk rock scene. From the way she inhibits her songs to her approach to writing lyrics like poetry, there are subtle hints of beauty in nearly every song she has put out. While "Big Yellow Taxi" is one of the sunniest tracks she has put out, the story behind the song is actually a bit more concerning than you might expect.
As opposed to the standard song concepts of love, happiness, or breakups, this tune takes an environmentalist bent as it talks about the natural beauties of the world being swept away due to man-made necessities. In Mitchell's story, the natural resources become so exploited that the last of the natural trees are put into a museum, where humans can charge the last admirers of nature just to look at them.
To add insult to injury, the last verse shows Mitchell's lover departing, taking with him the last natural love that she had in her possession. Suddenly, the good natured hook of "Paved Paradise and put up a parking lot" becomes much more poignant, as it depicts the empty hole left in Mitchell's soul.
It's never easy to deliver these messages in a saccharine way, but Joni Mitchell proves that she can put a positive tune to just about any situation.