New Lyrics in Big Yellow Taxi?

DownOnRodeo · #1 08-25-2006, 09:02 PM

I was listening to the Big Yellow Taxi cover and it seems to me that the couplet:

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

is changed to

'Late last night I heard the screen door slam
'And a big yellow taxi took away my old band'

Unless I'm mistaken, Lindsey even sings the it so that the 'b' and, in particular, the 'd' in 'band' is very pronounced.

Am I the only one hearing this? I also heard the sound of thunder towards the end of Storms once and when I posted about it everyone else agreed they heard it. Hopefully I'll get a positive response this time too

wondergirl9847 · #2 08-25-2006, 11:20 PM

Yep, he clearly says band.

Thunder at the end of Storms? Never have heard that, but I'll listen with headphones tomorrow and see if I can hear it.

shackin'up · #3 08-26-2006, 04:52 AM

Wow Joe. This pretty spectacular. Again, the guy keeps writnig about his love-hate relation with the mac. Even in covers that have zilch to do with them.

LINDSEY#1FAN · #4 08-26-2006, 10:23 AM

I just listened to it, and it's very clear now that he does say "band", thanks for pointing that out - never would have listened for that!!

jwys_soapbox · #5 08-26-2006, 10:51 AM

Yep, I heard that too, but not knowing the original song very well, I didn't think it unusual.

It does make sense--the opposite of "old man" is "ol' lady," but the replacement doesn't lend itself to the melody occupied by "old man"--too many syllables. You could just "lady" ("took away my lady"). One could say don't screw with the original and just ignore the gender specificity (I remember thinking "what balls" when I heard Everclear covering Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby" years ago) and Lindsey could always say he felt it appropriate to leave it the way it was because it reminded him of the sudden loss of his father--the big yellow taxi being a figure for death in that reading.

I like the band thing though because, although the song was recorded long before he knew what his next solo record would be, as an "acoustic" CD, it will apparently be one in which he will rely on few extra musicians ("Unplugged"), so the "took away my whole band" is kind of ironic.

John

DownOnRodeo · #6 08-26-2006, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwys_soapbox

It does make sense--the opposite of "old man" is "ol' lady," but the replacement doesn't lend itself to the melody occupied by "old man"--too many syllables. You could just "lady" ("took away my lady"). One could say don't screw with the original and just ignore the gender specificity (I remember thinking "what balls" when I heard Everclear covering Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby" years ago) and Lindsey could always say he felt it appropriate to leave it the way it was because it reminded him of the sudden loss of his father--the big yellow taxi being a figure for death in that reading.

I always thought the original was about her father being taken away in an ambulance. So I was curious about everyone's take on the lyrics change. Perhaps Lindsey felt he had done that subject justice with the more intense Street of Dreams and wanted to have fun with this one, to reflect the more upbeat atmosphere of the song.