Songs with an ecological message

Cafe Society
1

I’m listening to the magnificent classic album “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye, an album about all the societal ills of 1971 which are still so true and important today. Of course that album went against everything Motown was known for, and Berry Gordy hated it, but its success and now legendary status tells its own tale. My favorite song is probably “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” which bears its theme already in the title.

An earlier example I can think of is Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi”. Then there’s Neil Young’s “Mother Earth” from 1990, though he had expressed ecological concerns already in 1970 in “After The Goldrush” with the line “Look at Mother Nature on the run in the nineteen seventies.”

Which are are other examples, especially early ones?

2

This isn’t that early (1989) but otherwise qualifies: “Channel Z”- The B-52’s

3

I’m a Stranger Here by Five Man Electrical Band is one I jam on with some friends. From the early seventies if that counts as early.

4

Forgot Paradise by John Prine. about strip mining.

5

Blue Sky Mine by Aussie band Midnight Oil.

“And some have sailed from a distant shore
And the company takes what the company wants
And nothing’s as precious, as a hole in the ground.”

6

Cat Stevens - Where Do the Children Play?

Talking Heads - Nothing but Flowers

Ian Dury - Poo Poo in the Prawn

mmm

7

“Whose Garden Was This?” by Tom Paxton

8

Another not-that-early example: Jeff Lynne’s “Save Me Now,” from 1990.

9

Eagles, “The Last Resort” (1976)

Some rich men came and raped the land
Nobody caught them
Put up a bunch of ugly boxes
And Jesus people bought 'em
[…]
They call it paradise
I don’t know why
Call someplace paradise,
Kiss it goodbye

10

“Paradise” by John Prine
“Save the Whales” by Country Joe McDonald

11

Kansas - “Song for America”

12

I’m surprised I’m the first to mention it: Tom Lehrer’s “Pollution” (1965).

13

About chemical pollution/Superfund type events.

Dead Kennedys - Moon Over Marin
Dead Kennedys - Cesspools in Eden
Dead Kennedys - Kepone Factory
Dead Kennedys - Chicken Farm
Dead Milkmen - Watching Scotty Die

14

Miracle by OceanLab. This is not an early example, it’s from the 2008 Sirens of the Sea album, which I think is a magnificent work.

It’s too easy to turn a blind eye to the light
It’s too easy to bow your head and pray
There are some times when you should try to find your voice
This is one voice that you must find today
Are you hoping for a miracle,
As the ice caps melt away?
No use hoping for a miracle
There’s a price we’ll have to pay

15

Johnny Appleseed–Joe Strummer

16

Merle Haggard’s Rainbow Stew:

*When they find out how to burn the water
And the gasoline car is gone.
When the airplanes fly without any fuel
And the sunlight heats our homes.
One of these days when the air clears up
And the sun comes shining through,
We’ll all be drinkin’ that free Bubble Up,
And eatin’ that Rainbow Stew… *

Is Bubble Up still being sold today?

17

Garbage by Bill Steele (though this is a Pete Seeger version) from 1969.

18

“Fall on Me” - R.E.M.

19

Questions by Bobby Darin.

20

End of the Page by Bulbous Creation