Her first break in the music world was at the age of sixteen when her parents (with mixed feelings) entered her for a singing contest in Sydney. It was organized by TVB with the winner to be offered a recording contract with one of the big music companies in Hong Kong. She won the competition and was sent back to Hong Kong and met with the TVB producers who wanted her to sign with one of the music labels. After much deliberation she finally decided that it wasn’t right for her at that time and instead returned to Australia to study at University. She pretty much just settled back into life at Uni and put aside any dreams of a music career.
After graduating from University she returned to Hong Kong in 1997 to help run her family’s accounting business and gained CPA certification. Despite her relatively settled career Susan was thinking, “is that all there is in life”. One of the students who she was teaching piano was working for a Hong Kong independent label, and she asked the boss if they wanted a singer. Susan says “I really wanted to record the English songs that I loved. We agreed to make an album and I just went into the studio feeling really relaxed with no stress or pressure and had a fun time recording my ‘Close To You’ album.” When the album came out it in 2002 it was widely acclaimed and quickly became a favourite of music stores to play and the album was soon climbing up the sales charts in countries like Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. The four album release’s since, ‘Close To You’ have also enjoyed wide critical and commercial success establishing Susan as probably the No.1 selling English language female singer of her genre throughout S.E.Asia.
In early 2007 Susan Wong signed a new recording agreement with Hong Kong based Evolution Limited and pre-production is currently underway for her new album that will be recorded in the USA in May. As Susan explains her motivation behind the new album, “Musically I wanted a new challenge and new musical chemistry to give me a different lift and to move on to another stage. Not everyone has opportunity to work with such high calibre musicians and producers like those I’m working with on the new album”.
Someone Like You (2007)
In early 2007, Susan Wong signed a new recording agreement with Hong Kong based Evolution Limited and released her first album under Evolution in August 2007.
The first release under this agreement, Someone Like You, was recorded in Nashville, USA and was quick to win critical and commercial success throughout S. E. Asia. The success of the SACD version in particular bore testament to the fine production, vocal performance and mastering by Grammy award winning engineer Doug Sax. The album was domestically released in Japan in September 2008.
511 (2008)
In Summer 2008 a newly invigorated Susan, began working on fresh ideas for her follow-up album. In September 2008 Susan travelled to Geneva, Switzerland to work on demos with producer Adrien Z. As Susan explained “He brought my music ideas to life. He was able to transform the songs I want to sing into the styling which I dare tried.” The album recording was completed in February/March 2009.
In her blog Susan said of the album; “I guess I took a "more hands on" approach with this album, more than any of the previous ones, as I felt the need to voice out my persona, be more individualistic and independent for my work.” Susan’s bossa nova inspired version of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean received a lot of attention and radio play and the album sold widely across the region.
Step Into My Dreams (2009)
Inspired by the positive feedback to 511, Susan was anxious to start working on her next album and within months of the release of 511 she was forming ideas for new recordings, choosing to again work with producer Adrien Zerbini and arranger Ignacio Lamas. With songs for the albums mostly coming from the late 1960’s/early 1970’s Susan and her band worked on a relaxed, natural acoustic pop feel lead by Ignacio’s skilled guitar style. With some fine performances and some radically rearranged interpretations of well known classics the new album, Step Into My Dreams soon became Susan Wong’s bestselling title and a fan’s favorite.
‘Best Recording Yet’: My LIVE Stories (2013)
After 5 years, Susan Wong returned to Nashville in June 2012 to record her next masterpiece. This masterpiece called My LIVE Stories was recorded live over two days in the world famous Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, USA which Susan described was her ‘best recording yet’. With an ensemble of top notch session musicians and a first class recording environment inside a 100 year old converted church Susan performed a selection of her favourite songs from her previous albums along with new songs.
Highlights include the bossa nova influenced Billie Jean, the blues tinged Cry Me A River, an up tempo Perfect and a spine tingling performance of Desperado. The studio recording was filmed in full HD and released in DVD and Blu-ray formats in December 2012.
Tribute to Female Vocal: Woman In Love (2014) & SusanWongVEVO
From the time when My LIVE Stories was being recorded, the idea for Woman In Love was already in conception. 2 ½ years in the making, recorded over 8 studios in 3 continents – Woman In Love was released worldwide December 1st, 2014. Woman In Love is Susan’s tribute to great women singers before her who made their fame with sensuous and endearing love songs. The album features romantic love songs old and new from Olivia Newton-John’s I Honestly Love You, Barbra Streisand’s classic Woman in Love to Rihanna’s hit Stay and Adele’s Make You Feel My Love.
For Woman In Love, Susan crafted a rare original song Can’t You See (I’m Falling In Love) to be included in the album.
Susan took her rendition of Mary Macgregor’s Torn Between Two Lovers to the big screen where the music video was released in full HD live on SusanWongVEVO. Susan Wong’s VEVO channel now holds a dear collection of Susan Wong’s best and most popular music.
Big Yellow Taxi
Susan Wong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Joni Mitchell
OP: Crazy Crow Music
SP: Sony ATV Music Publishing (HK)
Susan Wong Vocals Ignacio Lamas Guitars
Mimmo Pisino Double Bass Steve Grant Drums
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
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged all 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
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Hey farmer farmer
Put away the D.D.T. now
Give me spots on my apples
Leave me the birds and the bees
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Late last night
I heard my 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
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
The lyrics of Susan Wong's cover of Joni Mitchell's iconic, 1970 song "Big Yellow Taxi" may seem simple and straightforward at first. The first verse, for example, describes how the singer's paradise has been destroyed, with a parking lot, a boutique, and a hotel built in its place. The second verse talks about trees being put in a museum, while the people who used to appreciate them are charged just to glance at them. The third verse is a plea to a farmer to stop using DDT and to preserve the natural living organisms, the birds and the bees. Finally, in the last verse, the singer reveals that even their love story has ended; that the sound of the big yellow taxi taking away her old man emphasizes the song's broader message that taking things for granted and not appreciating them can lead to their loss.
However, there is much more to the song. The song's message is evergreen, and it emphasizes the need to appreciate and protect the planet's natural beauty, which has been taken for granted and neglected by human beings in exchange for development and profit. Additionally, the song's simple structure and catchy chorus have helped it to achieve iconic status, inspiring musicians and artists, and even environmental activists, since its release. The song is a call to action to protect nature instead of paving it over, and the phrase "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot" has become a famous line, almost a proverb, illustrating that we must appreciate nature because it can disappear in an instant.
Line by Line Meaning
They paved paradise
The destruction of something beautiful
Put up a parking lot
To replace natural beauty with something that serves human convenience
With a pink hotel, a boutique
The type of urban development that replaces nature
And a swinging hot spot
More urban development that replaces natural surroundings
Don't it always seem to go
It's common to miss something only after it's gone
That you don't know what you've got
People tend to forget the significance of things in their lives
Till it's gone
Until they no longer have it
They took all the trees
Humans have destroyed natural habitats
Put 'em in a tree museum
Nature preservation efforts have reduced nature to museums and tourist attractions
And they charged all the people
The preservation of nature has become a profitable business
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
The price of enjoying nature is too high
Hey farmer farmer
Calling on farmers to take responsibility for their crops
Put away the D.D.T. now
Stop using harmful pest control chemicals
Give me spots on my apples
Organic, naturally grown food is more desirable
Leave me the birds and the bees
Keeping ecosystems intact is crucial for survival
Late last night
Something occurred that impacted the artist's life
I heard my screen door slam
The sound of something leaving
And a big yellow taxi
The object that caused the singer's distress
Took away my old man
The object is a metaphor for something unknown that has taken away someone important
They paved paradise
Reiteration of the first line's meaning
Put up a parking lot
Reiteration of the second line's meaning
They paved paradise
Reiteration of the first line's meaning
Put up a parking lot
Reiteration of the second line's meaning
Contributed by Nathaniel E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Anonymous
on Imagine
Imagine - Susan Wong - Lyrics
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
Musical Interlude
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
Nothing to kill or stifle
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one