Playlist: In Honor of Artemis II’s Splash Down & Earth Day… Songs About The World/Earth

*Image of Artemis II’s photo of the Earth taken from the internet & likely copyrighted

We are living in, arguably, some pretty dark times. Every day the news brings more – for lack of a better word – crappy news. But in the midst of all the darkness being caused by evil, greedy, corrupt men, we had the coolest thing happen. NASA sent up a spaceship that went all the way around the moon for the first time.

I don’t care what your worldview is, that’s arguably super cool. These four astronauts traveled further into space than any other humans had in our history. They were the first people to actually see the dark side of the moon.

And yes, I saw all the memes of the moon with a prism with light shooting through it on the surface, recreating the album cover of Pink Floyd’s 1973 album Dark Side Of The Moon. The internet is undefeated.

There were so many heroes involved in this. All the scientists at NASA should be applauded. Hopefully they’re making math cool again. In a time where science is stupidly being assailed this is certainly an argument that it’s vital.

Although I’ll admit, I’m familiar with the 1970 piece by Gil-Scott Heron, “Whitey On The Moon,” where he points out all of our issues: poverty, medical debt, and high taxes which sadly continue to plague us today. Well, high taxes only for the middle and the working classes. Even Skynyrd once sang “Too much money been spent upon the moon…”

Certainly, there are other things we can/should spend the money on, but still this is an exciting case of mankind doing something that moves us beyond what we think we’re capable of.

The main stars in this show were obviously those four heroes, the astronauts: Commander Reid Wiseman (NASA), Pilot Victor Glover (NASA), Mission Specialist Christina Koch (NASA) and finally Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen (Canadian Space Agency). I hope history records those names with the same gusto as Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong.

The other star of the show was of course, the Moon. But one of the “best supporting actors/actresses” in this thing was the Earth itself. I’ve already posted my Playlist: Songs About The Moon years ago. I try not to repeat myself (too often) so I’ve turned my focus to Earth.

I can’t get over all these great pictures of Earth aka The World from outer space. Hopefully that’ll help edify the “flat earth” guys and clear up that conspiracy theory. Notice I didn’t call the flat-earthers morons. I think if you believe the Earth is flat, well it’s sort of implied that you’re a moron. Calling a flat-earth guy a moron would be redundant.

Ever since a few weeks ago, when Artemis II splashed down, as I sat riveted to the television watching history happen, I’ve been obsessed with this thing. Watching a group of people leave the planet and return  to Earth unscathed tends to do that to me.

Last night I saw Bill Nye, the Science Guy, and he had a great picture of the Earth peeking around the Moon. I don’t know if it was setting or rising, but it was damn cool. And surprise, both planets are round!

There’s something humbling about seeing our little blue marble floating in a sea of black space. You realize borders are just fictional lines we drew. We’re all just one people on the same rock and we better start taking care of the planet and the people on it before it’s too late.

Frankly, I couldn’t think of a better day to celebrate the world than on Earth Day! I know Earth Day is about the ecology but I could only think of a handful of tracks touching on that subject. Earth Day was founded in 1971 by some professors/scientists in the Northeast.

I heard a petroleum guy in Florida a few years back, when I mentioned it was Earth Day, grumble something about Al Gore…who was still in Vietnam serving his country in ’71. We’re truly surrounded by morons.

As I sat there looking at these pictures of the Earth/the World and especially pics of Artemis II’s splashdown, songs began to pop into my head. “World Turning” by Fleetwood Mac was the first one – because the Earth is fucking round – and then “Earth Blues” by Hendrix. There are a bunch of songs about sitting on the top of the world and if you think about it these astronauts figuratively did that.

Pretty soon I had a playlist of songs about the world and/or the Earth. Some of these might be a bit of a reach, but hey, my goal is just to introduce you to something you haven’t heard or to reintroduce you to something you haven’t heard “in a while.” And no, “We Are The World” didn’t make the cut. This list isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list, these are just the songs I could remember off the “top of the dome,” as the saying goes.

If there’s a song you think would fit, leave it in the comments and I’ll add it to the Spotify playlist. I didn’t go with an “outer space” theme because outside of Bowie I could only come up with a few tracks… and yes, I know my playlists are loooong. Listen in order or random, season to taste. Here’s my take on The World/Earth songs, with my pithy comments about each track below:

• Van Halen, “Top Of The World” – I love the soaring nature of this track, perfect for those astronauts. From the Van Hagar LP For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. 
• The Rolling Stones, “Whole Wide World” – The whole wide world was certainly watching Artemis II! From the Stones last, Hackney Diamonds. 
• Fleetwood Mac, “World Turning” – Yes it is… because it’s round.
• Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Around The World” – One of my favorite Chili Peppers deeper tracks. And our heroes certainly went “around the world.”
• Paul McCartney, “The World Tonight” – I love the lyric, “I can see the world tonight…” Can’t wait for Paul’s new LP and love the new single “Days We Left Behind.”
• Neil Young, “Rockin’ In The Free World” – One of Neil’s greatest anthems. Let’s hope the free world stays free.
• The Police, “One World (Not Three)” – Great point – we’re all together on this planet – help lift everybody up.
• Marvin Gaye, “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” – The only track about the environment I could think of for Earth Day.
• Jimi Hendrix, “Earth Blues” – One of the first tracks I thought of… Hendrix is always top of mind on my playlists. A very trippy tune.
• Depeche Mode, “The World In My Eyes” – Think how it would feel to see the world from space… man, it blows the mind.
• Louis Armstrong, “What A Wonderful World” – I had to have this track from the legend Satchmo here.
• Frank Sinatra, “I’ve Got The World On A String” – Frank certainly did have the world on a string.
• Sam Cooke, “(What A) Wonderful World” – One of the world’s greatest vocalists.
• U2, “When I Look At The World” – When I look at the world I see a lot of problems. Hopefully the tide will change.
• David Bowie, “The Man Who Sold The World” – Also covered ably by Nirvana on their Unplugged LP… I used to love those Unplugged albums. Still do.
• Dire Straits, “One World” – Great track from Brothers In Arms. 
• Van Halen, “Best Of Both Worlds” – My favorite track from 5150. Hard to believe that LP is 40 years old this year.
• R.E.M., “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” – Let’s hope this isn’t true…
• Soundgarden, “Blow Up The Outside World” – Man we miss Chris Cornell & Soundgarden.
• Electric Light Orchestra, “All Over The World” – Despite ELO’s being derivative of the Beatles, my buddy Doug likes these guys so it’s here.
• John Mellencamp, “Peaceful World” – It appears we’ll always be left hoping for a peaceful world…
• Rage Against The Machine, “Beautiful World” – It was a Devo track, but I like Rage more.
• George Harrison, “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)” – Call it a hippy sentiment but I’m with George. From Living In The Material World. 
• Tears For Fears, “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” – Yes, it appears everybody does…
• Fleetwood Mac, “What’s The World Coming To” – A question I find myself asking a lot these days.
• Bob Marley & The Wailers, “So Much Trouble In The World” – This track is still highly relevant today.
• Bruce Springsteen, “Worlds Apart” – From the brilliant The Rising. 
• B.B. King, “The World Is Gone Wrong” – I think we all know who is to blame for this.
• The Police, “When The World Is Running Down” – One of those first Police tracks I dug.
• Jackson Browne, “Alive In The World” – A brilliant deep track from Jackson.
• Smashing Pumpkins, “Let Me Give The World To You” – Deep track that I just couldn’t resist.
• The Byrds, “The World Turns Around Her” – This might just be how I feel about the Rock Chick.
• Graham Nash, “We Can Change The World” – We can but it’s going to take all of us.
• Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, “If I Could Build My Whole World Around You” – Oh man, Marvin and Tammi duetting…sublime.
• Hole, “Miss World” – I’ve been looking for a spot to work Hole onto a playlist.
• Cheap Trick, “On Top Of The World” – These guys have always been solid.
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, “Between Two Worlds” – From the amazing Long After Dark.
• Scorpions, “Crazy World” – The Scorpions are one of my all time favorite 80s hard rock/metal bands.
• Pearl Jam, “World Wide Suicide” – This seems to be what we’re watching on the news these days.
• Paul Simon, “All Around The World Or The Myth Of Fingerprints” – I’m not sure this was a fit, but it’s brilliant so why not?
• Mudcrutch, “Beautiful World” – From the album Mudcrutch 2… I still wish Petty had done the vocal but I still dig the tune.
• Neil Young, “World On A String” – Same title as the earlier Sinatra track, but a whole different vibe. From the superb Tonight’s The Night. 
• Joe Walsh, “I’ll Tell The World About You” – I saw Joe in Wichita at a benefit for Veterans last November. I think we all love Joe Walsh.
• Howlin Wolf, “Sitting On Top Of The World” – Also done by Cream but I had to go with the original.
• U2, “Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World” – Who amongst us hasn’t had a tequila fueled evening where we tried to do this?
• Grateful Dead, “Eyes Of The World” – I’m really digging the Dead lately.
• Garbage, “Big Bright World” – The Rock Chick turned me onto these guys. Good band.
• James Brown, “It’s A Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World” – KC blues singer/legend Mama Ray used to cover this but before it she always said, “Ladies, don’t believe a word of this song.”
• Robert Plant, “New World…” – From the fabulous late career Carry Fire. 
• John Mellencamp, “Perfect World” – Crusty vocal, but a beautiful song about regret, which I’m always a sucker for… from Orpheus Descending.
• David Bowie, “You Will Set (The World On Fire)” – Late career, superb rocking tune from Bowie.
• Bruce Springsteen, “Living On The Edge Of The World” – Deep track from the Boss!
• Steely Dan, “Any World (That I’m Welcome To)” – I haven’t ever posted on Steely Dan but I certainly need to. I love these guys.
• Eagles, “Hole In The World” – A 911 themed one-off single… love the harmonizing so I included it.
• Lindsey Buckingham & Christine McVie, “In My World” – Great little track from the Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie album.
• George Harrison, “Living In The Material World” – Title track from the aforementioned album above.
• Lenny Kravitz, “Sitting On Top Of The World” – From Lenny’s wonderful debut album. Let Love Rule indeed!
• Talking Heads, “Perfect World” – From the first Heads LP I ever purchased. These guys just released a box from their early, pre-debut days, Tentative Decisions. 
• U2, “Last Night On Earth” – It’s easy to feel this way these days…
• The Cars, “I’m In Touch With Your World” – The Cars put out a double-live-LP that I wasn’t able to snag on Record Store Day this year… sigh. It really was a rugby scrum in the record store.
• Rush, “New World Man” – This track really threw me when I first heard it…
• The Ramones, “Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World” – Everyone needs more Ramones in their life.
• Modern Lovers, “Modern World” – What a great, oft overlooked band.
• Green Day, “Last Night On Earth” – Green Day with a signature ballad.
• Depeche Mode, “Welcome To My World” – Great, late career Depeche. They just put out a great cover song, “Universal Soldier,” on a charity LP. Stunning version…
• Foreigner, “At War With The World” – This could very well be a description of me back in college. “I never had no need for any military aid…”
• Black Sabbath, “Falling Of The Edge Of The World” – I’ll always put Dio-era Sabbath on a playlist when I can. Who can resist the lyric, “I’ve seen some visions of Hell that are horribly strange.”
• The Cult, “Earth Mofo” – Rocking Cult! Always a welcome addition to a playlist.
• The Police, “Spirits In The Material World” – Sting’s fancy way of saying “ghosts in the machine?”
• Neil Young & Crazy Horse, “The World (Is In Trouble Now)” – From the third in a trio of great, recent albums Neil did with Crazy Horse, New World Record. Nils Lofgren rocks a…checks notes… accordion on this one. Couldn’t agree more, though.
• Jimmy Cliff, “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” – Another great track, of many great tracks from Jimmy Cliff.
• Dr. John, “Let’s Make A Better World” – A wonderful idea from the Night Tripper. One of rock’s unsung heroes.
• T-Bone Walker, “Mean Old World” – A wonderful blues interlude here. Also done by Van Morrison, Eric Clapton and others… I had to go with T-Bone’s version.
• Lucinda Williams, “World Without Tears” – We can hope for this. I’d have included Lucinda’s title track from the wonderful World’s Gone Wrong, but it’s not streaming.
• Steely Dan, “King Of The World” – I know we’ve got a guy who thinks he’s this in the U.S. Sigh. I’m so tired.
• U2, “Until The End Of The World” – The Last Supper story as told by Judas.
• Elvis Costello, “Waiting For The End Of The World” – The older I get the more Costello makes sense.
• X, “The World’s A Mess, It’s In My Kiss” – Who can resist the lyric, “No one is united, And all things are untied, Perhaps we’re boiling over inside, They’ve been telling lies…” Seems like recent events.
• Modern Lovers, “Old World” – I couldn’t disagree with Jonathan Richman more than on this song. Let the old word wither… Great song, though.
• Social Distortion, “Down On The World Again” – Mike Ness summing up exactly how I feel these days. Social D has a new LP coming, with the title track, “Born To Kill” already out.
• Duran Duran, “Ordinary World” – This really is a gorgeous song.
• Steve Miller Band, “I Want To Make The World Turn Around” – Hypnotic, erotic, all the things we like around here. And it has saxophone.
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, “Room And The Top” – One of those great Petty deep tracks.
• Steely Dan, “Here At The Western World” – More Steely Dan, yes please.
• INXS, “Old World New World” – I had to go deep in the memory banks for this track from Shabooh Shoobah. 

Let’s all take a little time on this Earth Day to celebrate the accomplishments of these great heroes, the astronauts who actually left Earth and circled the moon and the scientists who made it possible.

We really need to come together on this planet and fix things. We’re still facing illegal/immoral wars, genocide global warming, evil oligarchs and authoritarian leaders (real ones and wannabe’s) trying to take over. Get involved! Plant a tree. Go to a protest if you get the notion.

Again, if there’s a track that fits the theme, drop it in the comments section and we’ll get it added on Spotify. Spring has sprung, astronauts are home safe on Earth and rock n roll might still change the world. That’s at least a reason to stay strong!

Happy Earth Day!

Keep on rockin’ in the free world! Or at least keep working for a free world. Cheers!