Green-Collar Rock: Great Nature Songs Vol. 2 (Land & Sky)

List of the Day

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With last week's inauguration of new President Barack Obama, there's been a lot of talk about green-collar jobs and making long-term investments by implementing environmentally sound policies now. It got me thinking about what we're protecting by doing this—first and foremost, the health and well-being of ourselves and future generations. But it's also about preserving this beautiful natural world we inhabit. There is no shortage of amazing songs that celebrate or draw from this beauty. Classics like John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High" and The Beatles' "Blackbird" come immediately to mind, but there are so many more.

Here are a few favorites, beginning with the forest and prairie, then moving upward to the majestic plateau and the boundless sky, before closing with my favorite tune that includes nature sounds as a backing track.

Throw these all on a mix with last week's "water" tunes and add your personal favorite nature songs, then load the mix onto your iPod for your drive to the mountains this weekend, or take it with you on a hike. And be sure to remember the old naturalist tenet—leave it better than you found it!

FOREST

"You Take the Gold" - Beachwood Sparks

Natural Elements: wood, minerals, sun (implied)

Probably my favorite Sub Pop Records band of all time, the short-lived Beachwood Sparks were incredibly tethered to the Earth for a bunch of spaced-out psychedelic country rockers. (Musta been the ‘country’ part.) Their brilliant—albeit scant—output (2 LPs, and an EP) includes this lush song about preferring the beauty of the forest to the pursuit of cold, hard cash and the acquisition of material possessions. Hearing it makes you want to just throw your computer into a river, eat a fistful of liquid-acid-doused sugar cubes, strip completely naked and frolic joyously through a grove of redwoods… right? I mean, I can’t be the only one who feels this way.

"Hickory Wind" - The Byrds

Natural Elements: wood, wind

The L.A.-based Beachwood Sparks were no doubt influenced by the sunny California country of The Byrds, who—at the time of this next tune—had just been set in a fresh direction by new member Gram Parsons. Gram wrote this gorgeous pastoral ballad about being cut off from your roots for far too long, and yearning for the simple purity of youth—embodied here by the light, peaceful country breeze, and an old oak tree the protagonist is particularly fond of. Though the song mentions South Carolina, I like to think Parsons was reminiscing about his childhood in my home state of Georgia.