Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 13

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Interlude → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). This page shows that transcription as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Section by section

Intro

• D
  I

Verse 1

• Gadd9/D – D (×2)
  IVadd9 (bass D) – I

Chorus 1

• D – Gadd9 – D
  I – IVadd9 – I

Transition 1

• D
  I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

• D – Gmaj9 – D
  I – IVmaj9 – I

Interlude

• D – Dsus4 – D – A7sus4 – Gadd9 – D – Gadd9 – A7sus4 – A
  I – Isus4 – I – V7sus4 – IVadd9 – I – IVadd9 – V7sus4 – V

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Transition 2

Same chords as Transition 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Outro

• D
  I

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0668, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.