I am very excited to share with you, earthlings, my playlist of “eco” songs: a digest of popular songs from my music library about environmental matters. Here’s looking at you, sis!
| Title | Artist | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Supernature (ft. Beth Ditto) [Alan Braxe Mix] | Cerrone | Supernature by (Marc) Cerrone was first released in 1977 with lyrics written by the British-American Lene Lovich. The song has an environmental theme, imagining a future in which the use of artificial chemicals in agriculture has caused “creatures down below” to emerge and “take their sweet revenge” against mankind. Alan Braxe (Alain Quême) brought new life to the track with American singer Beth Ditto in 2015. |
| It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) | R.E.M. | “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” by R.E.M., released in 1987, was written by Michael Stipe who claims to have a lot of dreams about the end of the world, destroyed buildings and the like. |
| Panic | The Smiths | “Panic” is a song by The Smiths released in 1986, written by Johnny Marr and Steven Morrissey. Known for its catchy chorus, the song was inspired by the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, which not only resulted in a notable loss of human life but also stands, to this day, as the costliest man-made disaster in human history. Right after the BBC’s breaking news, a prominent English DJ (Steve Wright) followed the story up by playing Wham!’s “I’m Your Man” (1985), i.e. a frivolous pop song. |
| Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) | Marvin Gaye | Many years before global warming became a hot topic, Marvin Gaye wrote this song about the environment and how we have an obligation to care for the Earth. Motown’s Berry Gordy did not know what the word “ecology” meant when he heard this song. It had to be explained to him. |
| Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? | Moby | “Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?” Moby (Richard Melville Hall) an animal rights advocate who became a vegan in 1987. The song uses a sample of a 1963 recording of the gospel tune “He’ll Roll Your Burdens Away” by The Banks Brothers & The Back Home Choir. The music video highlights issues that have long been close to the artist’s heart: animal rights, environmental protection and climate change. |
| Grafitti Man | John Trudell | John Trudell & Jesse Ed Davis (Native Americans), John Trudell is a Native American songwriter/poet, and an outspoken activist for human rights and environmental issues. In the mid-80’s, Trudell came together with legendary Kiowa Indian guitarist Jesse Ed Davis and formed Grafitti Man; their first cassette, AKA GRAFITTI MAN, was produced in 1985. While the tape was sold only by mail order, a copy reached Bob Dylan, who called it “album of the year” and played it over the PA before concerts. Following Davis’ death, Trudell enlisted guitarist Mark Shark as the musical backbone of Grafitti Man; the band spent part of 1988 touring the US with Midnight Oil. The album features Trudell’s powerful personal and political statements |
| History Repeating | Propellerheads | “History Repeating” by Propellerheads, released in 1997, pursues their Bond obsession. Propellerhead Alex Gifford wrote the song with veteran Welsh singer Shirley Bassey in mind. |
| Doctor My Eyes | Jackson Browne | “Doctor My Eyes” was Jackson Browne’s first single at 23, asking if it was unwise to leave his eyes open for so long, as now he must contend with a “slow parade of fears”. Browne had never had his own band, so putting one together for the album was a challenge: he played the piano himself, the guitar solo was played by Jesse Ed Davis, a brilliant but troubled musician who performed on albums by Willie Nelson, Marvin Gaye and John Lennon, and bass player Lee Sklar and drummer Russ Kunkel, who where James Taylor’s rhythm section and much-admired session pros. |
| Green River | Creedence Clearwater Revival | “Green River” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, released in 1969, written by group leader John Fogerty, is about Putah Creek, near Winters, California where he used to go as a kid learned how to swim. The title Green River, he I got from a soda pop-syrup label. |
| Laat Ons Een Bloem | Louis Neefs | “Laat ons een bloem” by Belgian singer Louis Neefs is the Dutch cover of British singer Wally Whyton’s “Leave them a flower” in 1968. |
| Calypso | John Denver | “Calypso” by John Denver, released in 1975, is about a former British Royal Navy minesweeper converted into a research vessel for the oceanographic researcher Jacques Cousteau. Cousteau, was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author to do the first research on pollution and its effects on the sea. |
| Greenfields | The Brothers Four | “Greenfields” is a song written by Frank Miller, Richard Dehr, and Terry Gilkyson (The Easy Riders) and performed by the Brothers Four |
| This Land Is Your Land | Trini Lopez | American folk singer Woody Guthrie. (born Woodrow Wilson Guthrie on July 14, 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma) inspired several generations both politically and musically with songs such as “This Land Is Your Land”, initially written in 1940 in critical response to Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America”. The legendary Mexican performer and cultural groundbreaker Trini (Trinidad) Lopez covered the song in 1960. |
| Is This the World We Created…? | Queen | “Is This the World We Created…?” written and performed by Freddie Mercury and Brian May, released in 1984, is about third-world poverty and the huge imbalances between rich and poor. |
| What The World Needs Now Is Love | Jackie DeShannon | “What the World Needs Now Is Love” by Jackie DeShannon was written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach. Jackie DeShannon (Born Sharon Lee Meyers in Hazel, Kentucky on August 21, 1941) is best known as a pop singer who scored a handful of memorable pop hits in the 1960s, including 1965’s “What the World Needs Now Is Love”. She was also a gifted songwriter who wrote hits for the Byrds, the Searchers, Irma Thomas, and Kim Carnes, and collaborated with Randy Newman and Jimmy Page. |
| Imagine One Day | Grace | Grace & the Victory Riders combine world flavors and rhythms with pop songwriting and a message of social consciousness. Grace is a singer-songwriter who has been influenced by her travels all over the world; she has lived in Africa, India, Jamaica, North America, and Europe. Her journey eventually brought her to Paris, where she first gained a following. |
| Help Is Coming | Ayo | Ayọ states on her website about “Help is coming”: “While this song might seem sad, it is above all meant to inspire hope. It speaks to all those people who struggle with life and are even blamed for their troubles. I try to tell them to believe, in the face of all obstacles, because that s the only way to keep going&because I believe in the universe’s spiritual force.” Ayọ, meaning ‘joy’ in Yoruba, is an Afro-German singer-songwriter, born as Joy Olasunmibo Ogunmakin on 14 September 1980 in Frechen near Cologne, Germany, to a Nigerian father from Ando State and a Romani mother from Romania. |
| Mother Nature’s Son | The Beatles | “Mother Nature’s Son” by The Beatles, released in 1968, discusses the experiences of a “poor young country boy” enjoying his rural surroundings. Paul McCartney, who primarily wrote the song, drew on his own childhood explorations. He considers himself Mother Nature’s son as he “sits beside a mountain stream” singing a song. |
| Love Song to the Earth | Paul McCartney | The Love Song to the Earth project aims to bring climate change to the attention of a new audience and inspire people across the world to encourage their leaders to take action. Paul McCartney has teamed up with a host of famous musicians including Jon Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, Sean Paul, Angelique Kidjo, Natasha Bedingfield, Fergie, Nicole Scherzinger, Leona Lewis and many others. |
| After the Gold Rush (2015 Remaster) | Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris | “After the Gold Rush”, written by Neil Young and initially released in 1970, is widely known as an environmentalism song, with its chorus, “Look at Mother Nature on the run in the 1970s”. Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt recorded it in 1999 for their collaboration Trio II. |
| Where do the Children Play? | Cat Stevens | In this anti-pollution song, Cat Stevens admits we’ve progressed a long way through technological advances, but in doing so, he protests that we have destroyed much of our environment by trucks “pumping petrol gas” and by building over and cementing our children’s play areas in cities. |
| Green Garden | Laura Mvula | “Green Garden” by Laura Mvula is an elegy to Mvula’s old home in Kings Heath, Birmingham, where she and her family moved to from Selly Park. The song is a celebration of the endless summer holidays when they spent most of the time in the garden, making up dance routines or having mammoth water fights. Classically trained Birmingham native Laura Mvula started writing songs on her laptop while working as a supply teacher in a secondary school. |
| Sleeping Satellite | Tasmin Archer | “Sleeping Satellite” by Tasmin Archer, an English singer of West Indian descent, released in 1992, is about how humans stopped going to the moon in 1972 after the novelty wore off. Global warming wasn’t much of a concern in 1992, but environmentalists warned that we would face consequences if we kept polluting our planet. |
| Europa (Earth’s Cry Heaven’s Smile) | Santana | “Europa (Earth’s Cry Heaven’s Smile)” is an instrumental from the Santana album Amigos, written by Carlos Santana and Tom Coster. The 16-bar chord progression follows the Circle of Fifths, similar to the jazz standard “Autumn Leaves”. In Greek mythology, Europa was a mortal who was loved by Zeus, who, in the form of a white bull carried her off to Crete. |
| The Flat Earth | Thomas Dolby | Thomas Dolby has been described as a guy ‘down to earth’ who put a warm blanket on a cold nigh with this song. “The Flat Earth,” is a wondrous R&B daydream of piano and Motown stabs of rhythm guitar. Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher. |
| What a Wonderful World | Louis Armstrong | “What a Wonderful World” written in the late 1960s by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss and performed by Louis Armstrong is about appreciating the beauty of our surroundings. The song was recorded in Las Vegas on April 16, 1967. George Weiss said he wrote the tune specifically for Armstrong, but it was first offered to Tony Bennett, who turned it down. |
Sources
The information sources of the song facts include, but are not limited to, Wikipedia, songfacts.com, discogs.com, secondhandsongs.com, YouTube and artists’ related websites.
