(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Songs and Epics of the Forest [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-29 Welcome to another Saturday night of music, memories, and conversations! Gentle reminder: Please continue putting the name of your artist selection in your comment along with your song. Those of us on our phones? We really appreciate it. And people using screen readers need this in order to identify the video. You know how it works — Put your quarter in the slot and your song in the comments. This is your Saturday night jukebox and the party starts NOW! And welcome, any/all ASN newcomers. As one or two here know I’m obsessed with naturally occurring forests, especially the warmer, wetter, more complex ones. Everyone should be whatever the type, both for their physical and emotional/spiritual gifts which are countless. My own favorites are [surprise!] all along the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida coasts, but know I’d love California’s, the Amazon and many, many more around the world with equal intensity. If any nearby, you likely know their unique charms so let them be your inspirations. A lot of our favorite musicians certainly have them, and a bounty of songs out there directly or indirectly related so massive I can only think of a tiny fraction at one sitting. That of course be where y’all come in. My samples once again will be less familiar or outright obscure but cover the bases well. If a song [or musical epic] inspired directly or indirectly by forests, created within them, celebrates them directly or as human affairs analogs, however cryptically, it fits and many a well known artist has done it. Also anything just loved on the iPod while experiencing a forest. If a whole bag of such “quarters” not already in hand, let them be your guide. Here we go. While not exactly a celebration of forests, rather a lament at getting lost in one whilst following a vision of a beautiful woman, the theme is forest enough and one of my favorites by this band: The Cure — “A Forest” This one captures the feel of a forest escape as well as any I can think of although the cover photo doesn’t look very foresty let alone in spring or summer: Bon Ivor — “Woods” I know exactly what he means by slowing time down. Addressing the stupidity of mass forest and biodiversity destruction as only these two could: Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon — “Where Are We Gonna Work When the Trees Are Gone” The skins would likely be of Appalachian timber rattlers pointlessly massacred by mental ancestors of today’s hicks. “The twinkling, the strings, everything about this track from Joe Hisaishi’s My Neighbor Totoro score says “please listen to me in a forest.” Even when the drums kick in, it feels like a triumphant moment in a natural setting. Hisaishi composed the scores for all but one of Hayao Miyazaki’s films and is a legend in the film score industry. Let his notes guide you on a journey.” From a National Forest Foundation writeup of this piece: Joe Hisaishi — “The Huge Tree in the Tsukamori Forest”, instrumental From actual deep forest dwellers, in Africa. Traditional African music of any type can be as beautiful as any other on earth, this just one of a hundred or more: Yelli — Baka women “yodellers” And of course, a Yes-related work. One of many inspired by time spent in forests from the UK to Asia, Africa and the Americas, their potential of inspiring our best behavior, and of course our shit threatening them back in ‘82 or now. Also some exceptional session playing even for Yes’ bassist: Jon Anderson — “Unlearning” Indonesian forests and culture were a particularly strong inspiration here. Leaving the final word to another group of permanent forest dwellers — the myriad tree and other frog species [and an occasional alligator grunt] in a coastal South Carolina swamp forest: What that forest looks like by day, with music provided by nearly 400 bird species though here drowned out by a very loud native [and good] cicada variety ;} Looking forward to whatever everyone fills the holes I’m consciously leaving with. I’ll add a few more as the evening moves along but it could be much later, dinner time here now. Beer’s on the house tonight, btw! [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/29/2233654/-Songs-and-Epics-of-the-Forest?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/