Earth Day 50 years later

One of the songs in a story on NPR on Sunday morning about the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, was Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi.

Big Yellow Taxi — Joni Mitchell

Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
https://youtu.be/ZgMEPk6fvpg

That got me thinking about other environmental protest songs. And that brought to mind an environmental film from the 70s called Suzanne’s Lament, which used the Leonard Cohen song as part of the soundtrack.

I couldn’t find the film itself initially—more about that in another post—only a reference in WorldCat.

 

https://www.worldcat.org/title/suzannes-lament/oclc/16364648

“…this film shows the wild, unbelievable beauty of Alaska contrasted with the inhabited areas where man has despoiled land and water.”

So I’m creating my own environmental playlist.

Suzanne — Leonard Cohen

Now, Suzanne takes your hand and she leads you to the river
She’s wearing rags and feathers from Salvation Army counters
And the sun pours down like honey on our lady of the harbor
And she shows you where to look among the garbage and the flowers
There are heroes in the seaweed, there are children in the morning
They are leaning out for love and they will lean that way forever
While Suzanne holds her mirror
And you want to travel with her, and you want to travel blind
And you know that you can trust her
For she’s touched your perfect body with her mind
https://youtu.be/RF3SJerPG7g

Paradise — John Prine

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
https://youtu.be/DEy6EuZp9IY

Pollution — Tom Lehrer

..if you visit American city you will find it very pretty
just two things of which you must beware
don’t drink the water and don’t breathe the air
pollution, pollution
we got smog and sewage and mud
turn on your tap and get hot and cold running crud

Burn On — Randy Newman

There’s an oil barge winding
Down the Cuyahoga River
Rolling into Cleveland to the lake…
Burn On Big River, Burn On
https://youtu.be/6oUZzI0-a9I

Mercy Mercy Me (the Ecology) — Marvin Gaye

Oh mercy, mercy me
Oh things ain’t what they used to be
What about this overcrowded land
How much more abuse from man can she stand?
https://youtu.be/CShUISLYLGY

And a bit of hope…

Of Time And Rivers Flowing — Pete Seeger

Of time and rivers flowing
The seasons make a song
And we who live beside her
Still try to sing along
Of rivers, fish, and men
And the season still a-coming
When she’ll run clear again.
The circles of the planets
The circles of the moon
The circles of the atoms
All play a marching tune
And we who would join in
Can stand aside no longer
Now let us all begin.
https://youtu.be/zUrBHyWAxgE

Sailin’ Up, Sailin’ Down — Pete Seeger

Garbage here (garbage here), garbage there (garbage there)
Here (there), there (here) – up and down the river
Sailing on—stopping all along the way
The river may be dirty now but it’s getting cleaner every day
https://youtu.be/da8kcFEaoAI

Happy Earth Day!