Song 18: Big Yellow Taxi, Joni Mitchell

Canadian women make up 22% of the House of Commons, and there are 22 women on this Top 100 Political Music Countdown. Joni Mitchell's on this list twice, one of a handful of artists to break that barrier - a soft voice with big music. 

A quote from Mitchell on the meaning of Big Yellow Taxi:

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 this parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke my heart... this blight on paradise.

Song 39: Woodstock, Joni Mitchell

With her call to get back to the Garden of Eden and her bombers that turn into butterflies, Joni Mitchell's Woodstock captured a new consciousness of the late 60's and early 70's.

I'm going on down to Yasgur's farm

Gonna join in a rock 'n roll band

I'm gonna camp out on the land

And I'm gonna try and get my soul free