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

“Over the hills, and everywhere”: “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” Robert Shaw Chorale

Photo: Eirian Evans

One year, after a hectic holiday season, I decided to drive the 4 hours to my parents' house on Christmas day. It was a perfect time.

The roads were deserted, and I found a great FM station that played the kind of Christmas music I like (traditional, not too much of the pop stuff.) As I drove over the pass in the Sangre de Cristo mountains, an energetic rendition of "Go Tell It on the Mountain" came on. I felt like singing "hallelujah."

It was the Robert Shaw Chorale’s versions, and it’s available on Freegal. James Taylor and Simon & Garfunkel have nice renditions, too.

That evening, I arrived at my parents refreshed from having an afternoon of alone time. And my mom had homemade chicken soup waiting for me.

Moms are like that.

Predictions for Obama’s Election Night Playlist: “Your Smiling Face” by James Taylor

A boy sits on shoulders to see Barack Obama.

Okay, he’ll for sure play this one if he wins. It will be a bit incongruous if he loses.

I know I don’t have any smiling faces in the picture, but I thought it was cool to see kids literally sitting on their parents’ shoulders.

A chance to see history. Their lives made possible by history.

James Taylor's songs are available for free download on Freegal.

“That old north wind should begin to blow”: James Taylor is a Friend at Obama Rallies

Photo: Obama Rally 2012, Aurora, CO Nov. 5, 2012 (photo by Ellen Mackey)

Somewhere around 20,000 people turned out for the Obama Rally in Aurora, Colorado.

What you have to realize is that people walked for blocks and blocks to get there. Then it took them one or two hours to get through the line and into the quad.

And what you really have to realize is that this is November. In Colorado. A night nice, granted seeing as it’s November. But, still, it gets a bit nippy. And most of us were there at least 4 hours.

Politics aside, it’s amazing that people will do so much for a glimpse (we were in the back—so that’s what I got—just a glimpse) of a candidate and a 20-minute speech.

I know many people are uninvolved, but there are a heck of a lot that are committed and involved.

I thought it was fitting that the Obama team played “You’ve Got a Friend” by James Taylor.

Bunches and bunches of James Taylor available on Freegal.