Freegal Songs for Earth Day

Earth Day: flowering crabapple  image credit: Ellen Mackey 2012

I’ve been searching the web for the best Earth Day songs and then searching Freegal to see what was available there.

Some of these songs celebrate nature; others lament what we’ve done to it.

Kansas                         Death of Mother Nature Suite

 John Prine                   Paradise

 Yardbirds                     Shapes of Things

 Johnny Cash                Don’t Go Near the Water

James Taylor               Traffic Jam

Woody Guthrie            This Land Is Your Land

Bruce Springsteen       This Land Is Your Land            

 Michael Jackson          Earth Song

Nitty Gritty Dirt           Fishin’ in the Dark

   Band

 John Mayer                 Waiting on the World to Change

 Dave Matthews           One Sweet World

   Band

 Kenny Loggins             Conviction of the Heart

                                    This Island Earth (album)

 John Denver                Calypso

                                    The Wind

                                    Annie’s Song

                                    Sunshine on My Shoulder

                                    Rocky Mountain High

 Walk Off the Earth      Little Boxes

 Pete Seeger                 God Bless the Grass

A Song for Earth Day 2013: “This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie

Guanella Pass, Rocky Mountains, Colorado  Image credit: Ellen Mackey 2012

I saw Woody’s son Arlo in concert about 20 years ago.

He told us about how his dad had written a song about the Gulf stream waters and the redwood forests.

And he also told us about another verse,

“I saw a sign that said no trespassing

But on the other side

It didn’t say nothing.

That side was made for you and me.”

To see other “subversive” verses written by the champion of the common man, see this story by NPR.

Lots of Woody Guthrie’s work is available for free download on Freegal. So are versions of “This Land is Your Land” by Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.

Best Songs for Earth Day: “Calypso” by John Denver

Ocean wave  image credit

Calypso. What a great word. What a great for a boat. And a song.

"To sail on a dream on a crystal clear ocean..."

I'm from the desert and I have to admit that I don't really get all the books I read about people and their longing for the sea.

But what I do get is that the oceans comprise two-thirds of the earth's surface, and that all of us--even high and dry landlubbers--depend on the health of the sea for the health of our planet.

So, let's cut way back on the carbon, let's figure out a way to do with much, much less plastic, and let's do our best to keep the ocean in good shape. For Jacques and John and for all of us humans living on earth.

“Calypso” by John Denver is available for free download from Freegal.

Best Song for Earth Day: “Conviction of the Heart” by Kenny Loggins

Redwood trees in Muir Woods National Monument, just outside San Francisco, California
Image Credit

According to SongFacts, Loggins co-wrote this song with guitarist Guy Thomas who decided he had to do something as he drove past a toxic waste fill in Los Angeles. 

 

Though the lyrics are kind of general, one line near the end sticks with me: “Air that’s too angry to breathe/water our children can’t drink…”

Loggins performed the song on Earth Day 1995 at the National Mall.

It’s available from Freegal.

Best Songs for Earth Day: “The Garden Song” by John Denver

Garden and barn at Littleton Historical Museum. Ellen Mackey 2011

Try to imagine these days someone writing a simple little song about planting a garden. Then imagine it becoming a big hit.

Yeah, I can't imagine it either. I mean, I can see Mumford & Sons using garden imagery, but infusing it with something more sinister than a crow watching hungrily. The crow would probably need to peck out the eyes of memory, or something heavy like that.

I suppose in the 70's more people had a little garden they tended on their farm or in their backyard.

I have a particular affection for this song because I was able to pluck it out on my little guitar, even with my limited guitar skills.

It’s available for free download on Freegal.

Best Songs for Earth Day: “Rocky Mountain High” by John Denver

Rocky Mountains, Guanella Pass.  Ellen Mackey 2012

He seems quaint now, a "aw, gosh" folk singer with a bowl haircut and big round glasses singing songs like "Sunshine on My Shoulder," and "Thank God I'm a Country Boy."

But the guy could sing. In the early 1980's, I had the quintessential Colorado experience: listening to John Denver in concert at Red Rocks amphitheater.

We were kind of far from the stage, and when someone in jeans and a t-shirt came out a couple of hours before the show and sang a rousing "Johnny B. Goode," I wondered who this rockin' warm-up act was.

It was Denver himself, showing that he could hang in with the best of them on something besides his trademark mellow and meditative ballads.

Back in 1976, Newsweek called him the "most popular pop singer in America." 

Then disco happened. And new wave. And rap. And all the rest.

But John Denver's poetry still quietly evokes the beauty of Colorado. And his music is still the kind that us old fogies will sing along with when nobody else is watching.

“Rocky Mountain High” is available for free download on Freegal.

Best Songs for Earth Day: "Fishing in the Dark" by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Image Credit

Even though this song is not about saving the earth, the lyrics conjure up the kind of nature scene that saving the earth is all about.

The first verse paints a picture of a warm summer night with a lazy yellow moon, trees, and lightning bugs floating on the breeze.

In addition, it has a nice catchy tune. It's available for free download from Freegal.

Some of the members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band live in Colorado, and we've had a chance to see them fairly often, especially strings player John McCuen.

During one concert he told us about an argument he had with his brother about whether or not the banjo was a cool instrument. His brother finally ended the argument by saying, "If the banjo was a cool instrument, the Beatles would have used it."

Beatles or not, I think the banjo is a cool instrument. And it sounds especially cool when Nitty Gritty plays it.

Dancing and Singing on the Titanic

The Dancing Girl (painting and silk cloth) in Lululaund mansion.  Image Credit

I typed the word “Titanic” into the album field of Freegal and found lots of collections of Titanic music.

One called Back to Titanic includes tracks from the motion picture that they didn’t get on the first album. You can get “An Irish Party in Third Class,” “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” and “Nearer My God to Thee,” among others.

One called Music Aboard the Titanic has several pieces of music that were popular in 1912 - ragtime, light classical, and waltzes.

Another is Titanic Tunes: A Sing-Along in Steerage which includes rousing songs like “The Man on the Flying Trapeze” and “Glorious Beer.”

And the last is Titanic: Music As Heard on the Fateful Voyage. This album includes many of the songs mentioned by passengers who survived the shipwreck. Tracks include "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Shine on Harvest Moon," and "Songe d'Automne," which many credible survivor accounts indicate was the last song played by the band.

Titanic Tunes, Flicks, Portents, and Everything Else You Could Want

The Titanic sank 101 years ago.  See the site Remembering the Titanic for music, books, films, recipes.

Today is the 101^st anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. It’s a story that fascinates with the convergence of wealth, nature, arrogance and coincidence.

I should know. I spent a year and a half reading, researching, watching, and listening to all things Titanic.

Here’s my master site with all the best books, movies, and music: Remembering the Titanic.

Incidentally, the 2 CD’s  I highlight Music Aboard the Titanic  and Titanic; Music As Heard on the Fateful Voyage are available for free download from Freegal. I wish I had known that before I downloaded some of the songs from Amazon.

Here’s a bunch of other stuff I put together:

Titanic Recipes  This book has recipes that were used for all the different classes on the Titanic. It also tells you how to re-create that last meal—all you need is three free days and an extra sous chef or two.

Portents of Doom  No kidding. Several years before the Titanic sank, a man wrote a novel about a huge ocean liner full of rich and complacent people that sank. I gathered quite a few those kinds of portents for this article

Things You Never Knew About the Titanic  They were never trying to set a speed record. And they wouldn’t have been able to deploy all the lifeboats even if they’d had them.

Molly Brown  Other than being “unsinkable” on the Titanic, she was quite a remarkable person in her own right.

Get Your Titanic Music on Freegal: Songs for the 101st Anniversary

Jazz musician Carl Wolff chose representative songs from the Titanic's playlist for this collection.

Musician and jazz composer Carl Wolf chooses several pieces of music that were popular in 1912 - ragtime, light classical, and waltzes - and groups them by the venue in which they were most likely played from a First-Class Dinner Dance to Tea in the Palm Court.

The Memphis Jazz Band, a strings-and-piano chamber group, performs such tunes as "The Maple Leaf Rag," "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," "The Merry Widow Waltz," and "Blue Danube." The last selection is "Nearer My God to Thee," which was reported by some survivors to be the last piece played.

The whole album is available for free download on Freegal.

Mix Together Some Andy Griffith and LL Cool J: Wheelhouse by Brad Paisley

Country music star Brad Paisley performs to more than 11,000 members of the Naval Station Mayport community.
Image Credit

It’s here! It’s here! And it’s here for free download on Freegal. Brad Paisley’s highly-anticipated album Wheelhouse showed up this very day on Freegal. Entertainment Weekly says the album “includes some of his boldest—and funniest—work so far.”

This is the first time I’ve known the release date of an album and been able to check when it appears. Which means Freegal folks aren’t second-class citizens. We get to start as soon as everyone else. (We do have to be a little patient, of course, since most of us can only get 3 songs a week.)

Paisley has always been one of my favorite country artists. The fellow who wrote “American Saturday Night” isn’t afraid to broaden his horizons and talk about how all kinds of immigrants have helped this country.

He can play his humor broad—as when he proclaims “I’d like to check you for ticks” but he can also show a wry sense of humor with a song like “Alcohol.

I’m listening to 30-second samples of his album right now— did I just hear a riff from Roger Miller and Andy Griffith talking about Aunt Bea’s pie? And some whistling? And Eric Idle? And LL Cool J? And old-time radio? And Jeff Foxworthy?

You’ve got to hear this. He manages to bring it all together, to be serious and funny, but mostly he is showing that he is one heck of a musician.

ACM Award Winners on Freegal: Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Thompson Square

Miranda Lambert was the biggest Freegal artist to win at the Academy of Country Music Awards Sunday night. She picked up Female Vocalist of the Year along with Single Record and Song of the Year for her song “Over You.

Lambert’s albums Kerosene, Revolution, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Four the Record are available for free and legal downloads from Freegal.

Jason Aldean picked up Male Vocalist of the Year. Freegal includes his albums Jason Aldean, My Kinda Party, Relentless, Wide Open, and Night Train.


Thompson Square was voted Vocal Duo of the Year. Freegal has free downloads of all the songs on the albums Thompson Square and Just Feels Good. 

Alabama Shakes: Hang Loose and Hold On

According to their SXSWwriteup, Alabama Shakes began in a high school psychology class.

Brittany Howard, the lead singer, had been playing the guitar for a while and approached a classmate about starting a band. “I just knew that he played bass and that he wore shirts with cool bands on them that nobody had heard of,” says Howard.

They used to be called Shakes, but they changed their name to Alabama Shakes.

All the tracks from their album Boys & Girls is available for free download from Freegal.

One YouTube wag calls them what would happen if you crossed Creedence Clearwater Revival and Kings of Leon.

I love Howard as a vocalist. It’s nice to see a woman fronting a band with this much soul.

 “Hang Loose” and “Hold On” are my favorite tracks.

Academy of Country Music: Get the Scoop on Nominees You Can Download on Freegal

Freegal has free legal downloads of some of the ACM nominees. image credit

Entertainment Weekly calls the ACM awards the Golden Globes of country music.  It looks like it’s going to be a country music show—with a few awards thrown in here and there.

Here’s a roundup of the artists you can download free (and legally) from Freegal:

Entertainer of the Year

Jason Aldean
Miranda Lambert

Male Vocalist of the Year

Jason Aldean

Female Vocalist of the Year

Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Carrie Underwood

Vocal Duo of the Year

Love and Theft
Thompson Square

Album of the Year

Blown Away by Carrie Underwood

Single Record/Song of the Year

“Over You” by Miranda Lambert

Freegal at the Movies: Top Gun

Cockpit USA top gun G-1 flight jacket  image credit

It’s common for movie moguls to look to books, comic books, or even video games for inspiration, but Top Gun was based on an article that appeared in the California Magazine in 1983.

Better check out those magazines more often, guys. The Oscar-winning Argo was also based on an article, which was published in Wired magazine in 2007.

Top Gun has been 3D-ified and is now for sale on in Blu-Ray 3D format.

The whole soundtrack is available for free download on Freegal, with quite a few luminaries from the 80’s. Everyone remembers “You Take My Breath Away,” by Berlin.

Kenny Loggins also has a few tracks, the most notable being “Danger Zone.” Cheap Trick, Miami Sound Machine, Teena Marie and Loverboy also have tracks on the album.

Freegal at the Movies: Star Trek Themes

Klingon man at Destination Star Trek, London, England  image credit

I saw the new Star Trek: Into Darkness trailer about a week ago. You can’t really tell what it’s about, but I like it that way. I think it would spoil a Star Trek movie to know too much about it.
 
Watching the trailer, I remembered that Freegal has a free download of just about any theme music you’d want: the original Star Trek, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and the soundtracks from the movies.
 

As the fellow above would say, “Maj!”              

 

(In case you don’t speak Klingon, you can find a few useful phrases here.)

Freegal at the Movies: “Jurassic Park Theme” by John Williams

Jurassic Park sport utility vehicle  Image Credit

I’ve just been reading the book Frankenstein’s Cat by Emily Anthes, a book about how scientists are bioengineering animals. It can make a person disturbed and hopeful at the same time.

There’s creepy but noble: changing the genes in pig hearts so they can fill in for the shortage of human hearts available for transplant.

There’s creepy but cool: aquarium fish that glow bright colors because they have some jellyfish DNA.

Then there’s creepy and disturbing: a home kit that sells for $99.99 and allows any home enthusiast to take a living cockroach, thread silver wires down its antennae and make a do-it-yourself remote-control cockroach.

On a little more hopeful note, she points out that it’s still too difficult to clone dinosaur DNA because it degrades over time. So for now, at least, Jurassic Park is still science fiction.

This year is the 20^th anniversary, and Speilberg’s dinosaurs-gone-amok film is coming out in 3D IMAx, if you like your dinos that big and loud.

You can get the music from the soundtrack as a free download from Freegal. John Williams himself conducts the orchestra. There are also some nice piano renditions by Dan Redfeld.

And if you want to go the creepy-but-cool route, you can download the track of Weird Al Yankovic singing his song “Jurassic Park” to the tune of the uber-dramatic “MacArthur Park.”