Often our culture equates caring about the planet with envisioning what could go wrong. (Think of dire visions of societal breakdown, disaster, and ruin -- Cormac McCarthy's The Road, for example.)
The Road is a powerful novel, but one can express love for our planet and our land in ways other than fear of a horrific outcome. (Imagine if the only way we could appreciate a loved one was to imagine his or her annihilation.) Music especially has this ability to express love, and perhaps the best "environmental" song I heard this year comes from a unique record called Songs of Shiloh.
Reportedly found in a cassette demo tape on the floor of a small recording studio in northern California, these songs from an unknown singer named Shiloh inspired songwriter Marty Axelrod and singer Nicole Gordon to gorgeous results. Especially memorable to those who sometimes go walking in the woods will be "Church," which matches soaring vocals to the gentlest sort of love for what we call nature -- or something else.
Take a look at the lyrics below the fold -- or better yet, listen to the song (mp3 file).
Close my eyes, start out with a hymn
Life is here right now, I have only to join in
Sun through the trees like stained glass on fire
Birds sing together in harmony like a choir
Buzzing of the bees like gossip on the morning
Breeze in the leaves like an old pump organ
Wish everyone could be here in church with me
Sittin' this close to God, it feels like church ...
Friday music blogging: Here We Go Magic
Comments
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David Roberts Posted 9:30 am
02 Jan 2008
Seems to me green the issue(s) has left behind green the cultural/aesthetic phenomenon. Way behind.
grist.org
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Ekirky Posted 11:33 am
02 Jan 2008
"We are entering a period of consequences."
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caniscandida Posted 4:06 am
03 Jan 2008
And whatever we may like about the song itself, the performance of it does it disservice: I have no problem with the "hippie around the campfire" aesthetic of the opening voice and guitar; but then, why suddenly deepen the sound 2/3rds of the way through, but also drop the voice?
By the way, in our on-going exploration of how environmentalism and Christianity intersect, Grist readers might be interested to know that the Grist hero and contributor Bill McKibben has reviewed two books on contemporary American Christianity (Protestantism mostly) in The New York Review of Books of January 17, 2008, one of them being "The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: What's So Good About the Good News?," by Peter J. Gomes, pastor of Harvard's Memorial Church, and a Christian hero of mine. Being both African-American and gay, as well as brilliant and gifted, Gomes is a most appealing figure in the world of old established but socially progressive Protestantism.
To Ekirky:
If, after all these years, the spotted owls can be said to be "uncharismatic," that is the fault of the owls' unimaginative friends in the PacNW, not of the owls themselves. There are lovable owls in "Bambi" and in "Winnie the Pooh" -- not as cuddly perhaps as Piglet or Tigger or Roo, but still good guys who it is nice to have around.
Chickens are our cousins! So are fish! So are other sentient animals! Let us learn to be kind.
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Kit Stolz Posted 5:33 am
03 Jan 2008
Well, I'm going to take David's question as just that -- a question -- and try to answer it.
It's true that when popular music takes on green themes, it tends to sound a bit like the acoustic Neil Young. There are exceptions (RealClimate, of all people, pointed out that "London Calling" by the Clash summed up the confused understanding of the threat of an ice age rather well at the time):
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2006/10/glo ...)
And last year Thom Yorke put out a rumbling growl of a record about climate change that sold well.
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/7/20/213758/350
I thought Yorke's record was good because the electronica sound matched the ominousness of on-coming climate change; similarly, I think this song is good because the music itself carries the theme, as much as the words. The beauty of the campfire sound fits the beauty of the woods; it's a natural match, like honky-tonk and juke joints.
But I certainly would like to hear more examples of environmental music...
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rljohnsufl Posted 6:25 am
03 Jan 2008
http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/anderson-john/seminole ...
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caniscandida Posted 7:19 am
03 Jan 2008
So, Kit, so far as "enviro songs" go, "Church" is fine, just a bit weak with regard to art. With regard to religion, I could not care less. But it would be terrific if "Church" could move the Methodists to scrap their SUVs, and the Episcopalians to divest from Exxon.
Chickens are our cousins! So are fish! So are other sentient animals! Let us learn to be kind.
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Karen Lee Orr Posted 8:29 am
03 Jan 2008
When You're Dead
http://www.folkalley.com/openmic/song.php?id=3372
"When You're Dead" is from Sharla June's "Flyin' without My Wings Again" CD
You can listen to more from the "Flyin' Without My Wings Again" CD and read about Sharla June here ~
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.view ...
Sharla June and the Mayhaws here ~
http://www.myspace.com/themayhaws
Grant Peeples' "New State of Florida Song" shouldn't be missed
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.view ...
All four Florida songs at Grant's MySpace site are terrific.
More from Grant Peeples and the Baker Act here ~
http://www.grantpeeples.com/music.html
Sharla June and Grant are from Tallahassee, down in F-L-A.
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Green Granny Posted 2:30 am
04 Jan 2008
"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Ghandi
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