Big Yellow Taxi

Joni Mitchell (from a 1996 interview with the Los Angeles Times): "I wrote 'Big Yellow Taxi' on my first trip to Hawaii. 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. 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. That's when I sat down and wrote the song."

This song is about taking things for granted and then missing them when they're gone. In the first verse she uses Waikiki, Hawai'i as an example. It used to be paradise but now it's a fakey tourist destination. When you fly over the islands all of the other islands are nice and green, but when you go over O'ahu you see Waikiki and Honolulu buildings.

The line, "Took all the trees, put 'em in a tree museum, charged the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em" refers to Foster Gardens, a place in Waikiki which is basically a tree museum. It's a huge garden full of trees so tall you feel like Alice in wonderland. DDT is an insecticide which is put onto plants. The insects get poisoned by the insecticide, the birds eat the insect, the bird's eggs are brittle when they are laid, the bird tries to sit on it, and they crack. This is why bald eagles are now endangered.

At the end of the song, her boyfriend leaves her. It sounds like she tried to make him better and ended up losing him instead.

The line, "They paved paradise and put up the parking lot" refers to the destruction of The Garden of Allah, a Hollywood hotel renowned for its rowdy celebration parties.

In 1975, Mitchell released a live version that hit #24 in the US.

A group called The Neighborhood hit #29 in the US with their version of this in 1970. Others to cover this include Percy Faith, Bob Dylan, Amy Grant, and Counting Crows (with Vanessa Carlton singing backup). Janet Jackson also sampled it in 1997 for her hit "Got 'Til It's Gone," thanks to her producer Jimmy Jam, who is a big Joni Mitchell fan.

At the suggestion of Joni Mitchell, Amy Grant updated some of the words on her version, for instance changing the price of the museum from $1.50 to $25. Her cover was released as a single in 1995 peaking at #20 in the UK and #67 in the US.

Mitchell included a slightly revised version of this song on her 2007 album Shine. She explained why to Mojo magazine February 2008: "It fits the record. I didn't have to change anything except the price, which went from 'a buck and a half' to an arm and a leg."

Janet Jackson sampled the line, "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone" in her 1997 song "Got 'Til It's Gone.

The Counting Crows covered the song as an afterthought and originally for a hidden track on their 2002 album Hard Candy. It was only released as a single after Vanessa Carlton's back-up vocals were added for a new version that featured on the soundtrack to the 2003 movie Two Weeks Notice. Their version became the band's only Top 20 single in the UK, peaking at #13. In the US it reached #42.

Dancing Queen

This was written by ABBA members Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. According to ABBA's official site, it was conceived as a dance song with the working title "Boogaloo." They drew inspiration from the 1974 George McCrae disco hit "Rock Your Baby," and from the drumming on the 1972 album Gumbo by Dr. John. Their manager Stig Anderson came up with the title "Dancing Queen," and after several months working on the track, ABBA came up with arguably the world's first Europop Disco hit.

ABBA recorded this about a year before it was released. It was written and recorded around the same time as "Fernando," which was chosen as the single. They knew "Dancing Queen" would also be a hit, so they held it until the album was released before issuing it as a single.

ABBA performed this song on June 18, 1976 at a televised tribute to Queen Silvia and King Gustaf XVI of Sweden, who were married the next day.

This was the only one of ABBA's 14 US Top-40 hits to make it to #1.

Regarding the lyrics, "Night is young and the music's high," many listeners interpret this as a statement that the music makes you feel high. In ABBA's part of the world, however, it simply means that the music is loud.

Along with many other ABBA songs, this was featured in Muriel's Wedding, a hit Australian movie starring Toni Collette and Rachel Griffiths.

According to the BBC Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans, when this song was played at a Windsor Castle event Queen Elizabeth said: "I always try to dance when this song comes on because I am the Queen and I like to dance."

This song also reached #1 in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Rhodesia, South Africa, Sweden and West Germany.

When Benny first played Frida the song's backing track, she burst into tears. "And that was before me and Agnetha had even sung on it!" she smiled to The Guardian. "I knew it was absolutely the best song Abba had ever done."

This came top of a 2014 poll conducted by Blinkbox concerning the most commonly misheard lyrics in Pop. 22% of the people polled admitted they had mistaken the lyric "See that girl, watch that scene, diggin' the dancing queen" for, "See that girl, watch her scream, kicking the dancing queen."

Chris Stein of Blondie says that his group's 1979 hit "Dreaming" is "pretty much a cop" of "Dancing Queen."

All Along The Watchtower

This was written and originally recorded by Bob Dylan in 1967, but it was the Jimi Hendrix cover that made the song famous. Many other artists have covered it, including Eric Clapton, Neil Young, U2, Dave Matthews Band and The Grateful Dead. Dylan was so impressed with Jimi's version that Dylan for years played it the way that Jimi had recorded it.

This was Hendrix' only Top 40 hit in the US, where his influence far outpaced his popularity. He charted a few times in the UK, where he rose to fame before making a name for himself in America.

This was recorded while Hendrix played with the Jimi Hendrix Experience: Hendrix on guitar, Noel Redding on bass, and Mitch Mitchell on drums. For this song, however, Redding was not on bass; Hendrix did it. Redding was also the guitar player for his band Fat Mattress, which Hendrix referred to as Thin Pillow. Hendrix often felt that Redding did not put his heart into the bass and was concerned that Redding concentrated more on Fat Mattress than he did on the Experience. Things like these led to him being replaced by Billy Cox.

The original version of this song is very slow. Jimi Hendrix' version had a large impact on Dylan which made him make his own version "heavier."

Hendrix: "All those people who don't like Bob Dylan's songs should read his lyrics. They are filled with the joys and sadness of life. I am as Dylan, none of us can sing normally.

Sometimes, I play Dylan's songs and they are so much like me that it seems to me that I wrote them. I have the feeling that Watchtower is a song I could have come up with, but I'm sure I would never have finished it. Thinking about Dylan, I often consider that I'd never be able to write the words he manages to come up with, but I'd like him to help me, because I have loads of songs I can't finish. I just lay a few words on the paper, and I just can't go forward. But now things are getting better, I'm a bit more self-confident."

Hendrix had been working on and off with the members of the band Traffic as he recorded Electric Ladyland. Traffic guitarist Dave Mason caught Hendrix at a party and the two discussed Bob Dylan's newest album, John Wesley Harding, containing "All Along The Watchtower." Hendrix, long fascinated with Dylan, decided to cover the song on the album. On the resulting track, Mason plays rhythm on a 12-string acoustic guitar.

In our interview with Mason, he explained: "Hendrix just happened to be sitting in one of those semi-private clubs in London. He was there one night just sitting alone, and it was like, "F--k, I'm just going to go over and say hi and talk to him."

Mason recorded the song himself in the Hendrix arrangement for his 1974 self-titled album. He also made the song a mainstay of his concerts. Mason says it's a deceptively simple song: "It's just the same three chords, and they never change."

This was used in an episode of The Simpsons when Homer's mother was telling him a story that took place in the '60s about why she had to leave him.

In a 2008 poll conducted by a panel of experts in the Total Guitar magazine, this was voted the best cover song of all time. The Beatles' rendition of "Twist and Shout," first recorded by the Top Notes, came second, followed by the Guns N' Roses version of the Wings song "Live and Let Die" in third place.

Amazing Grace

"Amazing Grace" is a hymn first published in 1779 by John Newton, an Englishman who worked on slave ships. On one voyage, they came across a nasty storm and Newton thought the ship was going to sink. After they made it through, Newton became deeply religious and later became a minister. Newton wrote this based on his religious conversion, and how God saved him even though he was a "wretch." To this day, it remains a very popular hymn.

Judy Collins' 1970 version spent 67 weeks on the UK chart, which is longer than any other single by a female artist. She recorded it at St Paul's Chapel, Colombia University.

Collin's version was re-released in the UK in 1971 and again in 1972, and it charted again both times. In 1972, The Pipes And Drums And Military Band Of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards released their version, which went to #1 and was the biggest-selling single on 1972 in the UK.

Joan Baez sang this to open the Philadelphia stage of Live Aid in 1985. There were over 100,000 people in the crowd, and most of them sang it with her.

Arlo Guthrie performed this at Woodstock in 1969.

Under The Boardwalk

The session to record this song was scheduled for May 20, 1964, but The Drifters lead singer Rudy Lewis was found dead that morning (the cause of death is unclear, but likely either a drug overdose or heart attack). The session was rescheduled for the next day, and Johnny Moore was called in to replace Lewis. Moore was with The Drifters in 1958 when their manager fired everyone in the band and brought in new members. He was a convenient replacement for Lewis, and stayed on as their main vocalist.

The group was distraught over Lewis' death, and their subsequent performance added a tinge of melancholy to the song, which is about spending some time under a seaside boardwalk with a love interest, out of sight from the crowds above.

Many artists have covered this, including The Rolling Stones, John Mellencamp, The Jackson 5, and Bruce Willis.

The Drifters released a sequel to this a few months later called "I've Got Sand In My Shoes." It hit #33 in the US.

This was written by Arthur Resnick and Kenny Young. Resnick also wrote "Good Lovin'" for The Rascals; Young wrote songs for Herman's Hermits and formed a band called Fox.

It was Atlantic Records' head Jerry Wexler who came across the song at Resnick and Young's publishing company, and decided that The Drifters should record it. The group wasn't thrilled with the song, but Wexler had final say on all songs they recorded, and made it clear that they were going to record "Under The Boardwalk.

In a previous Drifters hit, they had a tryst with their baby Up On The Roof. In this song, they decide that it's too hot up there, and seek out a cooler location. They sing in the first line: "when the sun beats down and burns the tar up on the roof..."

This song was produced by Bert Berns along with the English arranger Mike Leander. Berns had just taken over as The Drifters producer, replacing Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who were busy with other projects. Berns stayed on as the group's producer until 1967, when he died of a heart attack.

Rikki Don't Lose That Number

The keyboard riff was taken from "Song For My Father," which was released in 1964 by Jazz composer and pianist Horace Silver. The opening of both songs is nearly identical. It's a good example of how Steely Dan used elements of Jazz in pop songs.

According to a 2006 interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Rikki of the title is Rikki Ducornet, a New York writer and artist. Steely Dan co-front Donald Fagen had met her while both were attending Bard College, a small liberal-arts college located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Ducornet says they met at a college party, and even though she was both pregnant and married at the time, he might have given her his number, although not in the same context as the song. A complete write-up of this incident is at ew.com, and it kind of sounds like it came straight out of a Doonesbury strip.

This is Steely Dan's highest-ever charting single, reaching #4 on the Hot 100 in 1974. The B-side was "Any Major Dude Will Tell You."

Frank Zappa fans of course have a different context for this song. Go to your CD collection and get out You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore (volume 2), select disc 2, and play track 2 - "Dupree's Paradise." Zappa sings a couple of joke lines from "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," with a hilarious deadpan. It's just after the bass-player rant and just before Frank makes another crack about Suzi Quatro cassettes. Zappa and his gang around this time frequently commented on whatever music was popular at the moment.

Speaking on the subject of playing their hit songs in concert, Donald Fagen told Rolling Stone in 2013: "Walter and I aren't fond of 'Rikki Don't Lose That Number.' It's not a bad song. I think it's 'well-written,' but it's so simple. I just have listening fatigue. It's been played so much. Same with 'Reeling in the Years.'"

The beginning of this song features a flapamba, a rare and unusual instrument that is a variant of a marimba. Although the introduction, played by British Jazz musician Victor Feldman, was cut from the original ABC single version, the MCA single reissue restored the flapamba intro but fades out just before the actual end of the track.

John Mahoney sings part of this song in the movie Say Anything... when he finds out his daughter was accepted into a prestigious study program.

The keyboard riff was taken from "Song For My Father," which was released in 1964 by Jazz composer and pianist Horace Silver. The opening of both songs is nearly identical. It's a good example of how Steely Dan used elements of Jazz in pop songs.

According to a 2006 interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Rikki of the title is Rikki Ducornet, a New York writer and artist. Steely Dan co-front Donald Fagen had met her while both were attending Bard College, a small liberal-arts college located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Ducornet says they met at a college party, and even though she was both pregnant and married at the time, he might have given her his number, although not in the same context as the song. A complete write-up of this incident is at ew.com, and it kind of sounds like it came straight out of a Doonesbury strip.

This is Steely Dan's highest-ever charting single, reaching #4 on the Hot 100 in 1974. The B-side was "Any Major Dude Will Tell You."

Frank Zappa fans of course have a different context for this song. Go to your CD collection and get out You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore (volume 2), select disc 2, and play track 2 - "Dupree's Paradise." Zappa sings a couple of joke lines from "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," with a hilarious deadpan. It's just after the bass-player rant and just before Frank makes another crack about Suzi Quatro cassettes. Zappa and his gang around this time frequently commented on whatever music was popular at the moment.

Speaking on the subject of playing their hit songs in concert, Donald Fagen told Rolling Stone in 2013: "Walter and I aren't fond of 'Rikki Don't Lose That Number.' It's not a bad song. I think it's 'well-written,' but it's so simple. I just have listening fatigue. It's been played so much. Same with 'Reeling in the Years.'"

The beginning of this song features a flapamba, a rare and unusual instrument that is a variant of a marimba. Although the introduction, played by British Jazz musician Victor Feldman, was cut from the original ABC single version, the MCA single reissue restored the flapamba intro but fades out just before the actual end of the track.

John Mahoney sings part of this song in the movie Say Anything... when he finds out his daughter was accepted into a prestigious study program.

Proud Mary

The phrase "Proud Mary" reminded John Fogerty of a domestic washerwoman, which is what he started writing the song about. When he wrote the music, the first few chords reminded him of a paddle-wheel going around, and he thought of the Mississippi River. Instead of "Proud Mary" being a clean-up lady, "she" became a boat.

Fogerty wrote the lyrics based on 3 song title ideas: "Proud Mary," "Riverboat," and "Rolling On A River."

This was a #4 hit in the US for Ike and Tina Turner in 1971, and a highlight of their live shows. Tina Turner recalled in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 1971 how they came to record this on their Workin' Together album: "When we cut the album, we were lacking a few tunes, so we said 'Well, let's just put in a few things that we're doing on stage. And that's how 'Proud Mary' came about. I had loved it when it first came out. We auditioned a girl and she had sung 'Proud Mary.' This is like 8 months later, and Ike said, 'You know, I forgot all about that tune.' And I said let's do it, but let's change it. So in the car Ike plays the guitar, we just sort of jam. And we just sort of broke into the black version of it. It was never planned to say, 'Well, let's go to the record shop, and I'd like to record this tune by Aretha Franklin'... it's just that we get it for stage, because we give the people a little bit of us and a little bit of what they hear on the radio every day."

This was the first of 5 singles by Creedence that went to #2 on the US chart. They had the most #2 songs without ever having a #1.

Despite popular belief, John Fogerty was not writing from experience when he wrote this. Thanks to his military commitment, he hadn't ventured further east than Montana.

"Proud Mary" attracted 35 covers in the year 1969 alone. Over 100 have been made so far.

Fogerty carried around a notebook with titles that he thought would make good songs. "Proud Mary" was at the top of the list.

The line, "Pumped a lot of pain down in New Orleans" is actually "Pumped a lot of 'Pane," as in propane. He was pumping gas.

Leonard Nimoy, who played "Mr. Spock" on Star Trek, recorded an infamous cover of this song. Near the end, he sings the chorus Elmer Fudd style - "Big wheel keep on toynin', Pwoud Mawy keep on boinin'..." It is included on a CD called Golden Throats.

John Fogerty (about how the guitar riff came about): "I don't know where the germ started. I can kind of remember writing the chords at the beginning of the song. Believe it or not, I was playing around with the famous riff from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. I used to tell people that the song sounds like what it's about. I thought, by the way, that the opening riff sounded just like the wheel at the back of a boat. 'Proud Mary' is not a side-wheeler, it's a stern-wheeler."

Even though Creedence Clearwater Revival was from El Cerrito, California, many people thought they were from New Orleans or some other part of the South because of their swamp rock sound. They helped feed the rumor by naming their second album Bayou Country.

Ike and Tina Turner's version charted for the first time in the UK on the chart dated October 2, 2010 after it was performed on X-Factor by auditioneees Diva Fever. For a reason not known to us it was credited to Tina Turner only.

Ike and Tina performed their version on the season 2 premiere of Soul Train in 1972, becoming the first big act to appear on the program. The show became very popular its first season because of the dancers, but they were able to book many famous guests in subsequent seasons.

The first time that Fogerty heard Ike and Tina's version he was in the car. He recalled to Spinner: "When it ended, if they had a camera and came back to me it'd be like, when Shrek and the donkey go to Far, Far Away and they push the button for that little arcade machine and it tells the whole story of their town! And the Donkey's like [Eddie Murphy impression] 'Let's do that again!' That's how I felt when that ended. I loved it, and I was so honored. I was like, 'Wow, Ike and Tina!' I had actually been following their career for quite some time. Way back in the day, when Janis and Grace Slick started to get known by the kids who were my age, I'd be like, 'Man, Tina Turner, c'mon!' She finally got her due, but for a while there, she wasn't noticed. It was a really good version, and it was different. I mean, that's the key. Instead of the same thing, it was really exciting."