While we are plugged
into Pandora or listening to our CDs and downloads it is easy to forget the power of
music. For millennia work songs alleviated the drudgery of hammering, milling,
and tilling the soil. Union songs increased solidarity and aided the battle for workers' rights. And those of you
who are baby boomers remember the power of the protest songs that inspired and
helped to bring an end to the Vietnam War.
Now,
tapping into the power of music, Emmylou Harris, Dave Mathews, Sheryl Crow, and
several other prominent performers are lending their talents to end mountaintop removal. The Natural Resources Defense Council is
sponsoring the effort and calling the campaign “Music Saves Mountains.” I don’t see any information on tours or recordings, but
Willie Nelson has lent his rendition of “America the Beautiful” to the video
below as part of the campaign.
For those of you who
lived through the sixties, you remember the protest songs, but
there were also the hits such as Barry Sadler’s “Ballad of the Green Berets” that glorified the war. This time around is no different. Below is “Coal Keeps the Lights On.”
This performer doesn’t
mention mountaintop removal, but the paean to coal in his song is unwavering.
Nowhere in the lyrics is there any mention of slurry impoundments, acid mine
runoff, or the lives shortened from cancers and black lung disease.
Maybe
this all just amounts to a battle of the bands. But I’m pleased that we’ve got
Willie and Emmylou on our side.
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