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It's Not Too Late - songs for Earth Day

22 Apr 08 - 11:55 AM (#2322608)
Subject: It's Not Too Late
From: topical tom

It's Earth Day today (April 22, 2008) and I think it would be nice if we could list some of the many songs that speak of a need to protect our environment. Songs such as this may not change the world but I believe they can ( and have) changed ideas and provide inspiration for us to act to protect this beautiful planet.Two songs that come to mind are Pete Seeger's One Blue Sky(dated but totally pertinent today}and Joni Mitchell's
Big Yellow Taxi


22 Apr 08 - 01:04 PM (#2322676)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE EARTH IS OUR MOTHER (Hopi)
From: katlaughing

One of my favourites I first heard on a Libana CD. It is a Hopi chant. After a "rockin'" intro, this kid does a decent job of it: click on youtube.

THE EARTH IS OUR MOTHER
(Hopi Chant)

The Earth is our Mother
We must take care of her
The Earth is our Mother
We must take care of her

Hey yanna ho yanna hey yon yon
Hey yanna ho yanna hey yon yon

Her sacred ground we walk upon
With every step we take
Her sacred ground we walk upon
With every step we take

Hey yanna ho yanna hey yon yon
Hey yanna ho yanna hey yon yon

The Earth is our Mother
She will take care of us
The Earth is out Mother
She will take care of us

Hey yanna ho yanna hey yon yon
Hey yanna ho yanna hey yon yon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About 8 minutes in to THIS ONE there is a very nice chant.


22 Apr 08 - 03:19 PM (#2322832)
Subject: RE: It's Not Too Late
From: topical tom

Very good videos, katlaughing. Thanx!


22 Apr 08 - 04:44 PM (#2322927)
Subject: Lyr Add: HAVE YOU SEEN (Buddy Wasisname)
From: Beer

I kind of applies. I'll think of another one.
Beer (adrien)

HAVE YOU SEEN

Have you ever seen a sunrise on a flat calm reach
Have you ever seen the magic of a humpback breach
Have you ever pondered the mystery of a jellyfish school
Or waded through the water in a spanietickle pool
Have you ever seen morning with twenty shades of grey
Have you peeped at an eagles nest from twenty feet away
Have you sung with your friends around a big old driftwood fire
Or floated down across the cove of tube from a tire.

Chorus:
All these are out there you don't have to pay
Just open your eyes and you'll be surprised
What you see out the bay

Have you ever seen an iceberg carved by an unseen hand
Have you watched a northeast gale when it first strikes the land
Have you taken a boat ride on a moonlit bay
Have you followed its rippling ribbon that made it look like day
Have you followed the shoreline hoppin' from rock to rock
Smellin' sea and feeling free never knowing where to stop
Have you ever coppied ice pans on an April day
Or have you gone beyond those things and forgotten how to play.

Chorus


22 Apr 08 - 04:54 PM (#2322944)
Subject: RE: It's Not Too Late
From: topical tom

Good song, Adrien! You have played and sung it, I presume?


22 Apr 08 - 05:45 PM (#2323024)
Subject: RE: It's Not Too Late
From: Beer

No I haven't but it's by, Get this!! "Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers" Heck of a band name eh!


22 Apr 08 - 05:56 PM (#2323042)
Subject: RE: It's Not Too Late
From: oldhippie

You Say The Battle Is Over - David Mallett
Passing Through - Catie Curtis


22 Apr 08 - 09:24 PM (#2323218)
Subject: RE: It's Not Too Late - songs for Earth Day
From: Beer

The Garden Song
(written by David Mallett)


22 Apr 08 - 09:45 PM (#2323229)
Subject: RE: It's Not Too Late - songs for Earth Day
From: pdq

The song title "Passing Through" is one of the great choices in musical history. Right there with "Changes".

However, there are dozens of different song with that (or similar) titles , such as:

          Passing Through
         
          Just Passing Through        
         
          Only Passing Through        

          Passin' Through        

Almost as many as "Changes".

The "Passing Through" on an Earl Scruggs tribute record, with Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Loudon Wainwright III, Charlie Daniels, and others is a gem. Don't think that record made it to CD.


22 Apr 08 - 09:57 PM (#2323231)
Subject: RE: It's Not Too Late - songs for Earth Day
From: Beer

John Denver surely must have some but no title comes to mind.


22 Apr 08 - 10:14 PM (#2323240)
Subject: RE: It's Not Too Late - songs for Earth Day
From: pdq

John Denver wrote "Calypso" for Jacques Cousteau and his boat. Denver also wrote "The Eagle and the Hawk" and "Let Us Begin (What Are We Making Weapons for?)", the latter as a member of The Mitchell Trio.


22 Apr 08 - 10:44 PM (#2323254)
Subject: RE: It's Not Too Late - songs for Earth Day
From: topical tom

Thanks, everyone! Those are some great songs.
    Another one that I like a lot is John Prine's Paradise


22 Apr 08 - 11:11 PM (#2323267)
Subject: RE: It's Not Too Late - songs for Earth Day
From: pdq

John "Marmaduke" Dawson of the NRPS wrote "Last Lonely Eagle" and "Garden of Eden",
both date to about Earth Day #1 in 1970.

So does "Armstrong" by John Stewart.


23 Apr 08 - 12:11 AM (#2323299)
Subject: RE: It's Not Too Late - songs for Earth Day
From: topical tom

Adrian: believe it or not, I have heard of Buddy whasisname and The Other Fellers but in what context, when, or where I have no idea! Could they, by chance, be a Newfoundland group?


23 Apr 08 - 03:39 AM (#2323358)
Subject: Lyr Add: CHANGES
From: nutty

CHANGES

An old man took a walk with me along the road the other day
And as he viewed the county round these words I heard him say
For years this place has been my home but now my heart is sore
It hurts so much to see the change - it is my home no more

Chorus
What on earth are they doing to the earth
What on earth are they doing to the earth
I look and don't like what I see
I hanker back to history
I don't like what they're doing to the earth

As a young man I knew fields of green as far as the eye could see
But now its roads and houses where those fields of green should be
No animals are grazing there - no birds up in the air
They tell me that its progress - that its happening everywhere

No field , no flower, no bird, no beast - just an empty barren land
No future for your children unless you make a stand
Remember the importance of the freedoms that I knew
Make childhood be a joy for all - not just the lucky few


23 Apr 08 - 10:07 PM (#2323811)
Subject: Lyr Add: PASSING THROUGH (Catie Curtis)
From: oldhippie

This is the Catie Curtis song, "Passing Through":


PASSING THROUGH
(Catie Curtis and Mark Erelli)

We are passing this world on to our kids
From the day when they climb from their cribs
We'll try and teach them well, show them that they're loved
But in the end all we can do is hope our best was good enough
They'll witness how this life can be so beautiful and cruel
We can't shelter them forever but if we show them all the tools
They might leave this world in a little better shape than me and you
We are only passing through

Passing through, passing through
We are only passing through
Passing through, passing through
We are only passing through

We are watching this world from our living rooms
Near forty years since we walked on the moon
This big blue ball is shrinking and I don't know if that's good
But for better or for worse now this whole world's our neighborhood
And there's no place left to run to, to stay above the fray
We better learn to get along not just to get our way
Not only for each other but our children's children too
We are only passing through

Passing through, passing through
We are only passing through
Passing through, passing through
We are only passing through

And I wonder sometimes what will I pass on
How much can one voice do with just a song
Sometimes injustice and indifference are all that I see
But I refuse to let my hope become the latest casualty
So I'll sing of love and truth and try to practice what I preach
If I can't change the world, I'll change the world within my reach
What better place to start than here and now with me and you
We are only passing through

Passing through, passing through
We are only passing through
Passing through, passing through
We are only passing through
We are only passing through

words and music by Mark Erelli and Catie Curtis c2006


23 Apr 08 - 10:41 PM (#2323833)
Subject: RE: It's Not Too Late - songs for Earth Day
From: katlaughing

nutty and oldhippie, thanks for posting the lyrics. Beautiful songs!


23 Apr 08 - 11:39 PM (#2323863)
Subject: RE: It's Not Too Late - songs for Earth Day
From: topical tom

Amen to that! Great stuff!


02 May 08 - 03:14 PM (#2331409)
Subject: RE: It's Not Too Late - songs for Earth Day
From: topical tom

"There Goes The Mountain" by Tom Paxton and sung by Tom and Anne Hills on their cd "Under American Skies".