The Beach Boys. John Denver. Celine Dion. Jack Johnson. Miley Cyrus. Stacey Anderson compiled a list of the fifteen silliest odes to Mother Nature. "Faced with the deteriorating condition of our planet, people react in various ways. Some donate to charity, some sift trash along the highway," writers Anderson. "A select few pen well-meaning but cheesy songs."

 

She picks one of my favorite targets, the legendary David Matthews:

As barbed as "Don't Drink the Water" is with its snarling stanzas on manifest destiny, "Proudest Monkey" (on 1996's Crash) is the cheesy inverse: a Pixar-ready tale of a little primate that makes his way to the big city, only to miss the quiet, simple ecosystem he left behind. Heavy lies the song that attempts to bring solemnity to the phrase "monkey see, monkey do," as this repeatedly does. Most egregiously, Matthews misses an opportunity to describe the hilarious people-clothes the monkey must've worn while in the cosmopolitan jungle.

But what are the best? I would go with "We'll Inherit The Earth" by The Replacements that is an unsual song for the Minneapolis rockers who were trapped in alt-rock hell during the twilight of their career. Another favorite: "Nothing But Flowers" by Talking Heads.




Why not "Blackbird" by The Beatles? "Green River" by Creedence? Or even "Tread Water" by De La Soul?

 

Curious about readers picks- good or bad for the environment.

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