[Verse 1]
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swinging hot spot

 [bad word] 
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got till it's gone?
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

[Verse 2]
They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum
And then they charged the people a dollar-and-a-half just to see 'em

 [bad word] 
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got till it's gone?
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

[Verse 3]
Hey farmer, farmer, put away your DDT now
Give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and the bees, please

 [bad word] 
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got till it's gone?
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

[Verse 4]
Late last night I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi took away my old man

 [bad word] 
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

 [bad word] 
I said, 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