Robbed Hit of the week 2/4/24 - Counting Crows' "Big Yellow Taxi"...
"Big Yellow Taxi" - Counting Crows featuring Vanessa Carlton
from the album Hard Candy (2002)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #42
This week's "robbed hit" comes from the Counting Crows, who had last made the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in the beginning of 2000 with "Hanginaround". Two years later, the Crows returned with their fourth studio Hard Candy. The lead single from the record, "American Girls" featured Sheryl Crow who sang backup. While it spent two weeks at #1 on the fledgling Adult Album Alternative (or "Triple-A") Rock format, and climbed to #24 on the older-skewing Adult Top-40 radio list, pop radio ignored it and it missed the Hot 100 altogether. Surprisingly, maybe from the Crow connection, the single made the British top-40 at #33. Follow-up "Miami" also made the top ten on the Triple-A Rock chart, but that was it.
For the third try from the record, the band not only brought in another star in the female pop world, but also classic from the 70s with Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi". The song was written by Joni Mitchell, who recorded it for her album Ladies Of The Canyon which was released in 1970. At that time it didn't resonate with pop radio, and it only made it to #67 on Billboard's Hot 100, though it reached #33 on the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart. Four years later, a live version from her concert album Miles Of Aisles did better, climbing to #24 on the Hot 100 and #27 on the Adult Contemporary list.
While Joni's original in 1970 missed the top-40, another version of the song by the Neighborhood did do in that same year, peaking at #29...
For their take, the Counting Crows brought in Vanessa Carlton, who had scored a pair of hits in 2002 with "Ordinary Day" and the top ten "A Thousand Miles". Together they kind of transform this into a jangle-pop record, bringing a little too much sunshine to what's in essence a sardonic social statement. It definitely sounds nice, as the bright and shiny production from Steve Lilywhite really punches up the sound (as he is legendary at), but admittedly it loses a little of its warmth in the process. Vanessa adds a nice younger touch to the song, but does it replace the original? Hell no. Is it an embarassment? Also hell no....
While Vanessa and the Crows' version did well on the older-skewing radio formats, reaching #5 on both the Adult Top-40 and Adult Contemporary charts (spending over a year on the latter), made it to #2 on the Triple-A Rock chart, and hit #30 on the Mainstream Top-40 airplay list, the song stalled right under the top-40 on Billboard's Hot 100 in July of 2003. Internationally, the single reached the top ten in Australia (#3), New Zealand (#4), Ireland (#7), and Hungary (#7), and made the top-40 in the United Kingdom (#16), the Netherlands (#23), Romania (#23), Belgium (#33 Flanders), and Austria (#40). The Hard Candy album, released in July as the song was peaking, came in at #5 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, going on to sell over a half million copies.
A final single from the album, "If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead)", went to #40 in Ireland and #50 in the United Kingdom.
(5/10)
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And lastly, in concert at the Sydney Opera House in Australia....
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