Big Yellow Taxi

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
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em

Hey farmer farmer
Put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!

Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man

Joni Mitchell, USA, c. 1967
    DDT is a pesticide that was responsible for a major decline in
    the populations of fish-eating birds, such as the bald eagle,
    brown pelican, peregrine falcon, and osprey.
    At the time Joni Mitchell wrote this song,
    there was a public outcry about its environmental impacts.
    DDT is now banned for agricultural use worldwide.
    Big yellow taxis remain legal (as long as they’re properly licensed)