Is there any figurative language in big yellow taxi?

Answer 1

Yes. I always thought that the line Pink Pair of Dice - or is it Pink Paradise- foot of the parking Lot- was a veiled reference to Admiral Rosenthal ( the name means Pink Valley or alternately Valley of Roses)- Palisades Amusement Park which closed in l97l. In a very real sense it was a Pink Paradise- and had a sort of sloping asphalt side road which seemed to fit in to the song. Babe"s Taxicabs- the used a Baseball as a trademark, were located in nearby Fort Lee, and surely they took a big drop when the park went out of business. you don"t know what you"ve got- till it"s gone- Pink Paradise, foot of the parking lot. oversized fabric dice were a common souvenir in amusement arcades, also- frequently hung over the mirrors ( rear view) of automobiles as a sort of luck charm.

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I am not going to delete any of that because I think it is too funny. The lyrics are "They paved paradise / Put up a parkin' lot." I have no idea where that person figured anything about dice or a foot... Anyway for those of you looking for figurative language:

The song was written by Joni Mitchell.

It contains alliteration in the lines I quoted above. Also onomatopoeia in the line "I heard the screen door slam".