“Big Yellow Taxi”– Joni Mitchell wrote this song in response to environmental concerns such as those found in Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring:
They paved paradise- 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 ‘til it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
They took all the trees And put them in a tree museum
Then they charged the people A dollar and a half just to see ’em
Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
Hey farmer, farmer Put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples But LEAVE me the birds and the bees Please!
Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
Late last night I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi took away my old man
Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
I said Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
Ha ha ha ha.
“Blowin’ in the Wind”– written by Bob Dylan, performed by Peter, Paul, and Mary
(Written about the Civil Rights Movement, as well as war in general)
How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail before she sleeps in the sand?
How many times must the cannonballs fly before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind; the answer is blowing in the wind
How many years must a mountain exist before it is washed to the sea?
How many years can some people exist before they’re allowed to be free?
How many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind; the answer is blowing in the wind
How many times must a man look up before he can see the sky?
How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?
How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind; the answer is blowing in the wind
“Woodstock”– written by Joni Mitchell, performed by Crosby, Still, Nash, and Young
(This video contains footage from the Woodstock Rock festival)
Well I came upon a child of God, he was walking along the road
And I asked him tell me where are you going, this he told me:
(He) said, I’m going down to Yasgur’s farm, going to join in a rock and roll band.
Got to get back to the land, and set my soul free.
We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.
Well, then can I roam beside you? I have come to lose the smog.
And I feel myself a cog in something turning.
And maybe it’s the time of year, yes, said maybe it’s the time of man.
And I don’t know who I am but life is for learning.
We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.
We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.
By the time we got to Woodstock, we were half a million strong,
And everywhere was a song and a celebration.
And I dreamed I saw the bomber jet planes riding shotgun in the sky,
Turning into butterflies above our nation.
We are stardust, we are golden, we are caught in the devil’s bargain,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.
“Ohio”– written in response to the Kent State Massacre by Neil Young ( a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young)
Te lyrics are embedded in the song, which uses footage from the protest.
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