10 Songs For 100 Days Of Oil Spill

Tomorrow marks 100 days since the BP oil spill in the gulf. I know they “successfully” capped it, but as long as that sucker is still leaking, I’m saying there is still an oil spill. But this disaster got me thinking a lot about the good old days of folk – when popular music regularly included anthems for a better world. So here you go, ten songs in the spirit of activism. They are warnings of what might become of our world,  encouragements to better our environment, and frustrations upon frustrations in lyric form.

Mother Earth (Natural Anthem) – Neil Young and Crazy Horse
If you can get past the first minute of dissonance, there are some really beautiful harmonies in here.
Key lyric: Oh, Mother Earth, With your fields of green / Once more laid down by the hungry hand / How long can you give and not receive / and feed this world ruled by greed

Don’t Go Near The Water – Johnny Cash
Really, this whole song could be put into the key lyric section. I love when he stops a tells a story.
Key lyric: Don’t go near the water children / See the fish all dead upon the shore / Don’t go near the water / Cause the water isn’t water anymore

Excuse Me Mr. – Ben Harper
I loved this song when I was in college, but never really thought about the lyrics until recently. Ben Harper has a lot of great songs in the folk tradition (How Many Miles Must We March, Like a King, I’ll Rise to name a few) and though I actually love the others more, this one stands out for its finger-pointing tone.
Key lyric: Excuse me mister but isn’t that your oil in the sea / And the pollution in the air mister / Whose could that be?

Earth Song – Michael Jackson
Sure, Heal The World is the obvious choice, but I like to roll against type.
Key lyric: Did you ever stop to notice all the blood we’ve shed before / Did you ever stop to notice the crying Earth the weeping shores?

Death of Mother Nature – Kansas
Mother Nature personified. I think this song is unnecessarily scary/loud at times, but I guess that’s what they were going for.
Key lyric: We’ve strangled all her trees and starved her creatures / There’s poison in the sea and in the air / But worst of all we’ve learned to live without her

Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) – Marvin Gaye
Couldn’t really have a mix about fixing up the world and not have this song, right?
Key lyric: Whoa mercy, mercy me, / Things ain’t what they used to be / Oil wasted on the ocean and upon our seas, fish full of mercury

Don’t Go Near The Water – Beach Boys
Another one where the whole song could be a key lyric. This is one of my favorites on this mix.
Key lyric: Oceans, rivers, lakes and streams / Have all been touched by man / The poison floating out to sea / Now threatens life on land

My Dirty Stream (The Hudson River Song) – Pete Seeger
This is about pollution in our beautiful waterways, but oil is pollution too, right?
Key lyric: At Glens Falls, five thousand honest hands / Work at the consolidated paper plant / Five million gallons of waste a day / Why should we do it any other way?

Paradise – John Prine
Okay, this is about coal mining. But coal is a fuel, and oil is a fuel. Just go with it, okay?
Key lyric: And daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County / Down by the Green River where Paradise lay / Well, I’m sorry my son, but you’re too late in asking / Mister Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away

In Our Talons – Bowerbirds
This is the most recent song here. It’s also has the most general lyrics, but I love the key one as a way to end this mix.
Key lyric: It takes a lot of nerve to destroy this wondrous earth / We’re only human; this at least we’ve learned.