An embarrassing misunderstanding

When I first heard the song "Big Yellow Taxi," as a teenager, I thought "A big yellow taxi took away my old man" referred to some Logan's Run-type dystopia that would take away old people to kill them. It wasn't until many years later when I heard the whole album "Blue" that I realized that her "old man" was probably her lover. And it took me even longer to realize that he wasn't being taken away by the Secret Government, he was leaving because he wanted to leave.

And now I remember why that song meant something to me: across the road from my house was a wood where I used to see deer sometimes. And I watched them bulldoze it to put up more houses in my development. I was kind of bitter about that.