Episode 19: Mercy Mercy Me: 70s Songwriters and Mother Earth
PLAYLIST
Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) -- Marvin Gaye (1971)
Big Yellow Taxi -- Joni Mitchell (1970)
After the Gold Rush -- Neil Young (1970)
Rocky Mountain High -- John Denver (1972)
Ventura Highway -- America (1972)
The Last Resort -- The Eagles (1977)
London Calling -- The Clash (1979)
SHOW NOTES
51:00: Thanks to everyone for helping keep the show moving.
01:20: Amy discusses the Union oil spill in Santa Barbara in 1970, which inspired Senator Gaylord Nelson to create Earth Day. This required a bi-partisan action on behalf of members of Congress, back when we did that sort of thing.
02:43: Amy plays some of Walter Cronkite’s report on CBS Evening News on the night of the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. Cronkite told Americans that they might have to make some changes in their consumption and perhaps even in the number of the children they have if they want to save the planet. He was not in the mood hearing excuses. You can check out the video clip right here.
05:23 Reminder: this was still the era when it was not typical for news anchors to offer up their opinions on a regular basis.
06:30 Richard Nixon did a lot of bad things. He was also one of the “greenest” presidents that we have ever had in the U.S. Amy offers a brief history lesson on environmental legislation between 1960 and 1971. Lyndon Johnson alone signed over 300 pieces of environmental legislation. Lady Bird Johnson also helped stopped a plan to dam the Grand Canyon, which is a very bad idea.
09:30 What is the first song you think of when you think “environment” or “sustainability?” For Amy, it is “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” by Marvin Gaye. Berry Gordy wasn’t so sure about the song and didn’t even know what “ecology” meant, but it sold over a million copies, anyway.
11: 40 Geoffrey Himes wrote an article called, “It’s Hard to Write a Good Song About the Environment” in 2018 and he made some interesting observations about “Mercy Mercy Me” and “Big Yellow Taxi.” He suggests that it is hard to write about something that is so gradual and pervasive, so songwriters have better success if they use humor (which “Big Yellow Taxi does) and if they make the song more personal (which the song also does.)
13:16 Joni Mitchell wrote “Big Yellow Taxi” about Hawaii. Himes thought this was a better attempt at writing about the environment for reasons stated above.
15:35 A broader look at how Seventies songwriters approached writing about the world around them helps us see how they celebrated the places that were meaningful. The songs did not have to specifically be about the environment but it did help if they were personal in some way. There are a lot of ways to write about Earth.
16:09 Neil Young says that “After the Gold Rush” is an environmental song. He wrote it while he was living in Topanga Canyon and he looked out the window and wondered what it had been like 100 years earlier.
18:55 John Denver testified at a Senate committee hearing in September 1985 because he was opposed to labeling records that might have “offensive” lyrics. He gave a very eloquent statement about the true meaning and inspiration of “Rocky Mountain High,” which was showing the Perseids Meteor Shower to his friends.
22:30 Dewey Bunnell of the band, America, said that even though “Ventura Highway” is not a real highway, it was inspired by the Pacific Coast Highway and his thoughts of returning there while he was a kid living in Omaha. Also, alligator lizards in the air are clouds.
25:08 “The Last Resort” was Don Henley’s much darker observation about California. He hoped that the song would motivate people to take a look what was happening to the land around them and do something about it. Dave Thompson said the song is an updating of “Big Yellow Taxi.”
28:04 The incident at Three Mile Island in 1979 was discussed in Episode of this very podcast. None of the songs played at the No Nukes benefit concert in 1979 were specifically about the environment, though. The Clash did mention it, though, in “London Calling.” Amy said that the song is a warning about what is happening to the planet and played the SOS message at the end to prove it.
31:52 How do you celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day in the midst of a global pandemic? That is the reality of living in the time of COVID-19. In 2020, Earth Day will be an all digital event.
SOURCES
Denver, John. “Senate Statement on Rock Lyrics & Record Labeling.” American Rhetoric. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/johndenverrockmusiclyrics.htm
“Eagles - Hotel California - Don Henley - Joe Walsh - The Late Glenn Frey.” In the Studio with Redbeard. Online audio. https://www.inthestudio.net/online-on-demand/eagles-hotel-california-40th-anniversary-don-henley-joe-walsh-late-glenn-frey/
EarthWeek 1970, “Earth Day 1970 Part 13: Conclusion (CBS News with Walter Cronkite),” April 11, 2010, video, 2:39, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HUtM_LTyIw.
Greene, Andy. “The Clash’s London Calling: 10 Things You Didn’t Know.”
Hasted, Nick. “The Story Behind the Song: Neil Young -- After the Gold Rush.” Loudersound. November 12, 2016. https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-stories-behind-the-songs-neil-young-after-the-gold-rush
Himes, Geoffrey. “The Curmudgeon: It’s Hard to Write a Good Song about the Environment.” Paste. October 16, 2018. https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/songs-about-the-environment/the-curmudgeon-its-hard-to-write-a-good-song-about/
Liner Notes to the album Highway: 30 Years of America. America. Rhino Records. CD. 2000.
Lively, Amy. “Lyndon Johnson: Greenovator Spotlight.” America Goes Green: An Encyclopedia of Eco-Friendly Culture in the United States. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. 2013.
Muldoon, Tony. “Awaiting the Next Oil Spill Disaster.” Courier-Post (Camden, NJ). April 13, 1979.
Rinde, Meir. “Richard Nixon and the Rise of American Environmentalism.” Science History Institute. https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/richard-nixon-and-the-rise-of-american-environmentalism. June 2, 2017.
“The History of Earth Day.” Earth Day. https://www.earthday.org/history/
Thompson, Dave. 1,000 Songs That Rock Your Word. Iola, WI: Krause Publications. 2011.