To environmentalists, ecofeminists and/or Wiccans: if you could help me

[Nikki Stone 1]

I am trying to collect material over the summer for a graduate project next year and my goal is to look at music written and performed for the good of the environment, or which acknowledges the environment as alive and connected to us. I am looking for both political and spiritual types of songs, and if one artist combined both, it would be great, but not necessary.

I have been googling and getting different websites, but I don't know the relative merits of different artists or bands. I wondered if any DUers might have suggestions along these lines.

Any suggestions would be really helpful and I thank you in advance.

Nikki

Please message me if you don't feel like posting publicly. Thanks.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. I'm not technically any of those

allthough I have studied all of them. :shrug: If that means anything.

The flute songs of the Native Americans just "grab me".

Anything by Carlos Nakai
http://www.canyonrecords.com/artnakai.htm

[OneBlueSky]

2. a lot of John Hall's work relates to protecting the environment . . .

and particularly to nuclear power . . . you might check out some of his stuff -- and also the "No Nukes" concert album from some years back that he helped organize . . .

I also recall a rather unusual group call Bright Morning Star that did some interesting environmental tunes . . . don't know if they're still around or if their stuff is still available, though . . .

also, Pete Seeger has written several environmental songs like "My Dirty Stream" . . . he'd be a good one to check out, too . . .

not much, but I hope it's helpful . . .

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

16. Hall is running for Congress in my district and he has a great shot at it!

And yes, Seeger is an excellent choice!

[Mountainman]

3. My favorite two enviornmental songs

Artist: Neil Young Lyrics
Song: After The Gold Rush Lyrics
Well, I dreamed I saw the knights
In armor coming,
Saying something about a queen.
There were peasants singing and
Drummers drumming
And the archer split the tree.
There was a fanfare blowing
To the sun
That was floating on the breeze.
Look at Mother Nature on the run
In the nineteen seventies.
Look at Mother Nature on the run
In the nineteen seventies.

I was lying in a burned out basement
With the full moon in my eyes.
I was hoping for replacement
When the sun burst thru the sky.
There was a band playing in my head
And I felt like getting high.
I was thinking about what a
Friend had said
I was hoping it was a lie.
Thinking about what a
Friend had said
I was hoping it was a lie.

Well, I dreamed I saw the silver
Space ships flying
In the yellow haze of the sun,
There were children crying
And colors flying
All around the chosen ones.
All in a dream, all in a dream
The loading had begun.
They were flying Mother Nature's
Silver seed to a new home in the sun.
Flying Mother Nature's
Silver seed to a new home.


BLESS THE BEASTS AND CHILDREN
sheet music cover

Bless the beasts and the children
For in this world they have no voice
They have no choice

Bless the beasts and the children
For the world can never be
The world they see

Light their way
When the darkness surrounds them
Give them love
Let it shine all around them

Bless the beasts and the children
Give them shelter from a storm
Keep them safe
Keep them warm

Light their way
When the darkness surrounds them
Give them love
Let it shine all around them

Bless the beasts and the children
Give them shelter from a storm
Keep them safe
Keep them warm

The children
The children

[hunter]

4. Maybe stuff here:

http://www.timbuk3music.com/music.html

The classic being:

"The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades"

or here:

http://www.bananaslugstringband.com

I used to hang out with "ecofeminists" but it sort of ended like this:



Quite frankly, they frighten me.

[nofurylike]

5. Buffy Sainte-Marie

http://www.creative-native.com/

http://www.cradleboard.org/2000/press.html

Sweet America, etc.


Tracy Chapman, too...

http://www.atlanticrecords.com/tracychapman

great project, Nikki Stone! i wish you great success, and delight doing it!


lifelong ecodyke and mind is a blank this late...
hmmm thinking...
maybe after some sleep.




peace!

[roguevalley]

6. native American bands always have relevant songs

http://www.nativetelecom.org/

http://www.natv.org/

http://www.crazycrow.com/links_nativeam/media.php

http://www.hanksville.org/NAresources/indices/NAmedia.html

Jeanie Greene has lots of singers you might want to check out:

www.jeaniegreene.com/

http://www.jeaniegreene.com/

Wiccan and Pagan music:

http://psychevanhetfolk.homestead.com/WICCA_FOLK_and_NEOPAGAN_FOLK.html

http://www.collegewicca.com/BOSfiles/music.html

http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/music/

http://www.paganmusic.com/links.htm

[nofurylike]

24. outstanding links and music, thank you, roguevalley!! wow!! eom

[roguevalley]

25. you are welcome, my sweet. :)

[nofurylike]

26. mmmh kind... :) eom

[sandnsea]

7. Walkin' Jim Stoltz

http://www.walkinjim.com/

[shadowknows69]

8. Don't forget the late great John Denver.

The song "Calypso" is about one of his (and my) heroes, Jacques Cousteau. I think Jethro Tull has some great "paganesque" music. "Songs from the wood" is a good start.

[bananas]

9. The sound tracks for two classic enviro movies

"Dark Star" and "Silent Running".
The water bottle composition in Dark Star is unmatched.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000F169/qid=1150445840/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-2193752-8607208?s=dvd&v=glance&n=130
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000063UR1/ref=pd_sim_d_1/002-2193752-8607208?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=130

[bananas]

10. Woodie Guthrie "This Land is Your Land"

What bands and srtists has you googling led you to?

[H2O Man]

11. Joanne Shenandoah ....

Here is a link for my friend Joanne. I think this is one that will interest you.

http://www.joanneshenandoah.com/

[bananas]

12. Sarah McLachlan "World On Fire", Stevie Wonder "The Secret Life of Plants"

There was a band called The NRC with a female singer
(Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
Good luck finding anything about them.

13. Water Song by Native American Corbin Harney

you can hear his song on this link.

http://www.pbs.org/circleofstories/storytellers/corbin_harney.html


http://www.pbs.org/circleofstories/player.html?file=http://media.pbs.org/ramgen/electricshadows/corbin_final.rm&fullname=Corbin+Harney&firstName=corbin&subject=%26%23147%3BThe+Water+Song%26%23148%3B

[Delphinus]

14. Thank you for such a wonderful link!

I love being in the flow of life!

[LibertyLover]

15. For some good pagan music

check the music section on www.witchvox.com. They have very good artists represented.

[stop the bleeding]

17. "Ultra Sounds" every Wednesday night from 7-9pm EST

at this link

http://www.wmnf.org/

Click on listen at the top of the screen from there it will ask you to select 1 of three methods/devices for listening.

This show is the da bomb as far as spiritual/environmental music.

The host is a DJ E-Love and she is fabtabulous :)

Hope this helps with the project

[lukasahero]

18. Just a few standards here off the top of my head...

Loggins and Messina - see album "Best Friends" - "Be Free" but there are many others. Kenny Loggins has several on his own as well

Jackson Browne et al - see album "No Nukes" (or just about everything else he's ever done)

Other mainstream artists to check out: Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt, Pete Seeger, Grace Slick, Bruce Hornsby, Don Henley, Sting

Also, not a band particularly known for it's environmental message, but White Lion did "Little Fighter" for Greenpeace. Great song.

[lostnfound]

19. David Rovics has many; he allows downloads free from his website

http://www.davidrovics.com/

Downloads for free are at http://www.soundclick.com/pro/view/01/default.cfm?bandid=111310&content=main&songid=0

One section of his website groups them by topic:

Anti-Sprawl Songs; Songs About Suburbs, Malls, Highways, etc.
Before the Oil Wells Ran Dry (peak oil and it's aftermath) WAITING
Hummer* WAITING
Free (Song for Jeffrey Luers) BEYOND
Everything Looks the Same (strip mall America) BEYOND
Sixty Thousand More (automobile deaths) BEYOND
Beyond the Mall (strip mall America) BEYOND
Used To Be A City (strip mall America/poverty/urban decay/corporate globalization) MAHMUD
Song for the ELF (the Earth Liberation Front) HANG
Parking Lots and Strip Malls (strip mall America) WORLD

Global Warming/Climate Change (see also Ecology/Environment)
Tsunami (Acheh tsunami) BEYOND
Here At the End of the World (global warming/climate change) MAHMUD

[Crowdance]

20. What a valuable thread! Bookmarked with gratitude. n/t

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

21. Check out 'Seize the Day'

There's a few lyrics & free mp3s here:

http://www.seizetheday.org/

- here's their most recent song 'Act of God', part of an upcoming album on climate change:
http://www.seizetheday.org/STDbrnBsh2Mstr.mp3

& you can stream (using the jukebox) & buy songs here:

http://www.moonspace.co.uk/clients/seizetheday/cffiles/download/seizethemedia.cfm

You can also download some songs in realmedia format (checkout 'Real Alternative' if you don't want to install Realplayer) through the individual CD page:

http://www.seizetheday.org/order.htm

With My Hammer (on 'Its your life ... Its our world') is my favorite by them, although its not really relevant for your project.
http://www.seizetheday.org/hammer.htm

[Nikki Stone 1]

22. Thanks so much to everyone who posted and IMd

This gives me so much to work with! Just going through all the links will be a great start on my research.

[rosesaylavee]

23. How about

Dvorak's New World Symphony or Stravinsky's Rite of Spring?

This music was inspired by Nature and I feel very connected to it when I listen to them.

[nofurylike]

27. this thread is precious! saving, to listen to all of it! thanks all! eom

[Warren DeMontague]

28. Cuyahoga by R.E.M.

Quite possibly one of the best "environment" songs ever written, IMHO.

Let's put our heads together and start a new country up
Our father's father's father tried, erased the parts he didn't like
Let's try to fill it in, bank the quarry river, swim
We knee-skinned it you and me, we knee-skinned that river red

This is where we walked, this is where we swam
Take a picture here, take a souvenir

This land is the land of ours, this river runs red over it
We knee-skinned it you and me, we knee-skinned that river red
And we gathered up our friends, bank the quarry river, swim
We knee-skinned it you and me, underneath the river bed

This is where we walked, this is where we swam
Take a picture here, take a souvenir
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone

Let's put our heads together, start a new country up,
Underneath the river bed we burned the river down.
This is where they walked, swam, hunted, danced and sang,
Take a picture here, take a souvenir
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone

Rewrite the book and rule the pages, saving face, secured in faith
Bury, burn the waste behind you

This land is the land of ours, this river runs red over it
We are not your allies, we can not defend
This is where they walked, this is where they swam
Take a picture here, take a souvenir

Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone

http://www.retroweb.com/rem/lyrics/menu_LifesRichPageant.html

[Kurovski]

29. A popular one was "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/joni+mitchell/big+yellow+taxi_20075370.html

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Dont it always seem to go
That you dont know what youve got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
Put em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see em
Dont it always seem to go
That you dont know what youve got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Hey farmer farmer
Put away that d.d.t. now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
Dont it always seem to go
That you dont know what youve got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Dont it always seem to go
That you dont know what youve got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

********************************************

And this is an interesting one from Celtic artist Loreena McKennit from a poem by william Butler Yeats:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/lm/lorecd1a.html

3. Stolen child
Where dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water-rats
There we've hid our fairy vats
Full of berries
And of reddest stolen cherries.

Chorus:
Come away, oh human child
To the waters and the wild
With a fairy hand in hand
For the world's more full of weeping
Than you can understand.


Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim grey sands with light
By far off furthest Rosses
We foot it all the night
Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles
While the world is full of troubles
And is anxious in its sleep.


Chorus


Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glen-Car
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.


Chorus


Away with us he's going
The solemn-eyed
He'll hear no more the lowing
Of the calves on the warm hillside
Or the kettle on the hob
Sing peace into his breast
Or see the brown mice bob
Round and round the oatmeal chest.


For he comes, the human child
To the waters and the wild
With a fairy hand in hand
For the world's more full of weeping
Than you can understand.

[XelKarin]

30. Something a little different.

Here's some stuff I think will be a little different from what others have posted. It's some very noisy and scary music with very abstract, almost nonsensical lyrics. You can still, by listening, get a sense of the environmental issues that the songs are apparently about. Although, it's all very open to interpretation. The songs I'm referring to are by the band Skinny Puppy (and Doubting Thomas, a related band).

Skinny Puppy:
- Human Disease (S.K.U.M.M.)
- Testure
(this song is more of an animal rights song than a general environmental song)
- Nature's Revenge
- Shore Lined Poison
- Grave Wisdom
- Morter

Doubting Thomas
- Saved
(an instrumental, but the samples used give it an environmental/spiritual sense)

There are lyrics here:
http://home.earthlink.net/~coreygoldberg/songs/songs.htm