How Green Is My Song?
Posted at 5:30 AM on April 22, 2009
by Dale Connelly
(36 Comments)
For Earth Day 2009, I'd be interested in hearing your nominees for an outstanding "green" song.
In my experience, musicians tend to be sympathetic to environmental causes and concerns. That's not to say there isn't a great song out there that contends global warming is hooey.
I just haven't heard it.
Still, nobody enjoys being lectured. Even if you agree with the argument being made, it can be tedious when somebody's on their soapbox with a guitar.
So musicians who take up political causes in song are wise to do so with some subtlety, or at least a bit of hesitation.
If I had to pick one song that made the most direct case for a focus on the environment with obvious disdain for all the usual bad habits of humankind, (including but not limited to the of the record buying public), it would have to be Don McLean's "Tapestry".
Every thread of creation is held in position
By still other strands of things living
In an earthly tapestry hung from the skyline
Of smoldering cities so grey and so vulgar
As not to be satisfied with their own negativity
But needing to touch all the living as well.Every breeze that blows kindly is one crystal breath
We exhale on the blue diamond heaven
As gentle to touch as the hands of the healer
As soft as farewells whispered over the coffin
We're poisoned by venom with each breath we take
From the brown sulfur chimney and the black highway snakeEvery dawn that breaks golden is held in suspension
Like the yolk of the egg in albumen
Where the birth and the death of unseen generations
Are interdependent in vast orchestration
And painted in colors of tapestry thread
When the dying are born and the living are deadEvery pulse of your heartbeat is one liquid moment
That flows through the veins of your being
Like a river of life flowing on since creation
Approaching the sea with each new generation
You're now just a stagnant and rancid disgrace
That is rapidly drowning the whole human raceEvery fish that swims silent every bird that flies freely
Every doe that steps softly every crisp leaf that falls
All the flowers that grow on this colorful tapestry
Somehow they know that if man is allowed to destroy all we need
He will soon have to pay with his life for his greed.
He's not trying to flatter us, is he?
It's far from a feel good ditty, but it's also hard to argue with his logic.
Plus, it's the only song I can think of that includes the word "albumen".
And it's 40 years old!
What's your favorite "green" song?
Comments (36)
Happy Earth Day, Heartlanders! I still have a button from the very first Earth Day... yes, I know that dates me. Anyway, I'll be wearing the button today with my green Recycling Team t-shirt - and it's a jeans day at work! (I need to get out more, clearly.)
I think a good song for an Earth Day collection would be Peter Mayer's "Blue Boat Home". Doesn't really talk about green or ecology but it does remind me about the special-ness of our little globe.
(& if you have time, "You Butter My Bread" by the Divers for Kris... from the end of the day Toast comments on yesterday's blog!)
thank you, Dale, for those Don McLean lyrics - i never really listened to him except for American Pie - what a gift on Earth Day.
i'll enjoy reading all of the nominations.
oh, btw, Alba had twin boys yesterday at 5:30 and 6:15 p.m. the kids are small - 4 and 6 pounds - and Alba, being a first-timer is having a bit of trouble feeding them both so i was up during the night helping. and after i'm finished feeding and milking everyone else this morning i'm going to take a nap. i think this is her very late April Fool joke on us - but we are happy that Alba is fine and the two kiddos are weak but holding their own. Good Earth Day to All -
catch ya tomorrow
Barb, is this the same Alba who was pregnant last week and then wasn't pregnant two days ago?
Is she some sort of shape-shifter?
I remember when the meanest diatribe against my sister was "You Polluter!".
As far as songs, Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell is one I like. It seems that John Denver had a lot of songs: "Fly Away", "Calypso".
Thanks Dale and Mike!
Happy Earth Day. :-)
I won't have time to think of the songs I know or like that are "green" this morning.
Someone mentioned "Big Yellow Taxi". I'll just add that Keb Mo does a really nice cover of that.
Have a great day, all!
Happy Earth Day!
I view Earth Day as a chance to do something ---so I'll plant garden today.
Garden songs works for me. Inch By Inch, Row By Row sings about making a better piece of ground.
Kermit the Frog sums up a version of the Green life.
And since the water is warming up (slowly) the toads and frogs are singing at night now---reminding me of Hot Frogs on the Loose---a warning of technology ignored and implications of that.
Barb, don't you love those first-timers: no pregnancy and then oh, it's kids (or lambs) after the planning for next year has begun.
Will you be playing the Don McLean song this morning? I don't think I've ever heard it. His "Starry Starry Night" is beautiful.
Oscar the Grouch's, I Love Trash, fits Earth Day. He recycles uniquely and without fail. I read in News Week that Ricky Gervais will appear with Elmo on Sesame Street in November.
That's a must see in my book!
Happy to hear that Alba kidded, Barb!
Tom Paxton's "Whose Garden Was This?" got its point across while neatly sidestepping preachiness. Fear is a powerful motivator.
Barb...congratulations on another set of twins! One more doe to go? You have a herd!!!! Funny how that happens.
The Peter Mayer song reminded me of the song Nanci Griffith sings From a Distance...
Good Morning!
It looks like we are in for a great day, certainly starting of with some great music. I just don't quite get how Dale and Mike can pick the perfect lineup everyday but there it is.
Bristlecone Pine - Michael Johnson
In the Dirt - Karen Savoka
Earth Jam - Bela Fleck (Live At The Quick)
Nothing to do with Earth Day but great tune anyway:
Hard Sock Dance - Phil Woods on "This is How I Feel About Quincy" (It's a Quincy Jones tune)
Happy Earth Day!
How about Morning Has Broken (not the Cat Stevens version) or Louis Armstrong's Wonderful World?
Wishing all Heartlanders a great day on the Earth!
Another thought...Michael Monroe from up the North Shore lives Green, does he have any songs recorded that apply?
At the risk of neglecting albumen and other generalized darkness, how about a more hopeful Earth Day theme song?
I like Kermit too, or Louis Armstrong, and It's A Wonderful Life.
For the same reason that we don't sing a lot of Wagner at birthday parties...
Happy Earth Day Y'all!
Hello Heartlanders,
My brain is in park this morning so I cheated a little and Googled “Green Songs”. There’s a list compiled by Rolling Stone magazine that had a few possible RH songs (even though they’re more just songs with the word green in them). I don’t think I know the Elvis Costello song, I’m hoping to hear that one. I loved hearing him on PHC last Sat night.
Booker T. and the MG’s – “Green Onions”
Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Green River”
Elvis Costello – “Green Shirt”
It's fun to see what people come up with......Down in the Dirt is PERFECT!
Happy Earth Day!
Some thing by the Paul Winter Consort would be good for earth day if they have a tune that you can use on RH. Also, the song by John Prine about the coal company hauling away part of the land. My memory is failing me again, but I think you would know this song.
The coal companies are continuing to do the kind of damage Jonh Prine sung about and some environmentalist are working at trying to stop this.
Following Jim's thinking...how about Randy Newman's song about the burning river?(I refuse to try to spell the name of the river!)
How about John Prine's "Muhlenberg County" which enables you to conjour up vivid pictures of childhood in the country but the realization of how progress can be dangerous.
Hi Folks
Have you played "Why Am I Painting The Living Room?" by P & L Berryman?
Happy day, all.
Sheila
"Rejoice in the Sun" or "Silent Running" performed by Joan Baez?
What about "Down to Earth" by Peter Gabriel - it's the great song that accompanies the credits to WALL-E. I think it's co-written by another Radio Heartland favorite, Randy Newman.
RHers-
I need your HELP.
I'm thinking of a Greg Brown song that has a line something like "I'm cleaning up the planet(?) cuz I want to catch some fish." I looked through a stack of GB cds and it's still not coming to me. It's going to bug me all day. Please rescue me!!
in for a minute - Alba has rejected the littlest buckling so far. poor little guy. i've fed him a couple times and now in to heat treat the milk from Dodger this morning so i can give him some. (only because while i was milking Dodger, Tammy W escaped from the kid pen, Artie went bananas because he wanted to be out there too and started bleating like mad - Dodger was on the milk stand, concerned and dancing around, and put her foot in the milk pail. it's been a morning =:-)
out to try to milk Alba for some of that precious colostrum.....
send Alba oxytocin-y thoughts and maybe she'll get the bonding feeling
i won't hear it, but maybe the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" for poor little "Liten" i think (Lee' ten) i think means "little" pa Norsk, correct me if i'm wrong Cynthia, please!! what is the word for little boy?
Julie the song you're looking for is called Spring Wind I believe.
Dale, thanks for the Johnny Cash version of the John Prine song. I very much like John Prine's singing, but I think he would have a hard time matching the great treatment done by Johnny Cash.
Barb -- good luck w/ your mothering help this morning. I just finished "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" (Barbara Kingsolver) last night so have the brooding turkeys in my brain... hopefully some of Lolita Turkey's eventual mothering instinct will float over to Alba.
Thanks for johnny cash's paradise. Great presentation but how about just plain old God Bless America or America the Beautiful! After all it is!
Cynthia - that river is the Cuyahoga, that runs through Akron and Cleveland.
Whenever I think of songs about pollution, the first thing that flashes to my brain is the "T-I-O-N Song" from The Electric Company on PBS. But I don't think it was ever released on any purely music format.
Did you guys know that there is a new "Schoolhouse Rock! Earth" DVD with 11 new cartoons and songs from the creators of the original series??? It was just released at the end of March. Haven't seen/heard any of it yet but I'm definitely going to check it out.
When I read the blog title, the first band that popped into my head was Cloud Cult. They're local and all of their recording and touring is green. They even recycled old jewel cases to use for their first cds. My favorite song of theirs is Transistor Radio. I'm not sure if their songs are green, but I know the band is, haha. Thanks for the Louis Armstrong! I love that song :)
OH, and let's not forget about Tom Lehrer's song, "Pollution."
Barb...how about "Guttunge" (young boy, lad, whippersnapper according to Einer Haugen) Liten would be "the little" lit guten (the little boy?)
Barb, in Finnish, little boy is pikku poika (emphasis on the first syllable of each word, and the p's are said hard, almost like b's. A phonetic translation would be "beekoo boika," but with a bit of the p sound on the b's) Just thought I'd add my two cents :) I just like how it sounds, haha
Listening to the rebroadcast, and I always get the Coca-Cola commercial song in my head "I'd like to teach the world to sing, and live in harmony". I have no idea what the official title of the song it. I also think of Joni Mitchells song from her album "Blue" called "Green". It's all about her daughter she gave up for adoption, but I still think of the song on Earth Day.
Cynthia's suggestion of any Michael Monroe, or Marks suggestion of Michael Johnson, any song will do for me from either one of them guys. Love them to death!
Have a wonderful Earth Day all!
Sitting at the breakfast table this morning (RH playing on living room radio) when Karen Savoca came on with her "In the Dirt" song. My daughter perked up her ears and said "Isn't that the lady with the really tall man who played at that concert?"
Bwaaa...haaa...haaaa. Heartland World Domination is underway!
Alanna...I love the sound of pikku poika! Good idea for a name.
Love your station - listen to it all afternoon in North Carolina. It's probably too late but REM's Cuyahoga.
Was listening last week (Earth Day/ Earth Week) and didn't hear the song, "In The Cool of the Day", by Jean Ritchie (I think). That was always one of my faves on TMS. Would you play it sometime this week in the 8:00 to 9:00 hour?
Also, Sunday my Uncle was telling me about when he was in the service, stationed in England, and went to the pub for a "pint" and some pickled onions. All of a sudden, out of my mouth comes, "I like pickled onions, I like pick-a-lilly, hmmmm, hmmmm, hmmmmmm with a bit of cold meat on a Sunday night." I can't for the life of me remember the rest of the words except "cucumber". Can you help? Thanks!
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