Daily Loaf

This morning I came across an amazing article by Alex Pasternack on Treehugger that was accompanied by the Michael Jackson music video ”Earth Song”. Another extraordinary aspect to Michael’s passions.

Pasternak states in the article,

“Michael Jackson was famous for his socially-conscious music, but ‘Earth Song’, his big, bold environmental call-to-arms, is often overlooked. Still, by sheer dint of his reach, the song might have made Jackson (who bears no relation to U.S. EPA chief Lisa Jackson) a kind of super-sized Al Gore, a decade before An Inconvenient Truth.

‘Earth Song’ is indisputably the most popular green-themed tune ever. It remains Jackson’s best-selling song in the U.K. (yes, bigger than “Thriller” or “Billie Jean”), and beat out the Beatles’ first single in 25 years for the top spot on the British charts. But the song, and its lavish globe-trotting video, barely registered in the U.S.”

Record executives at Epic apparently didn’t think it had much life in the U.S. Perhaps the themes of ecological destruction weren’t suited to pop radio in the U.S. market, or the song’s musical approach — gospel, blues and opera — was considered too offbeat for American audiences.

This is Michael’s comment about “Earth Song”

I remember writing Earth Song when I was in Austria, in a hotel. And I was feeling so much pain and so much suffering of the plight of the Planet Earth. And for me, this is Earth’s Song, because I think nature is trying so hard to compensate for man’s mismanagement of the Earth. And with the ecological unbalance going on, and a lot of the problems in the environment, I think earth feels the pain, and she has wounds, and it’s about some of the joys of the planet as well. But this is my chance to pretty much let people hear the voice of the planet.

As we watch Washington debate the Climate Bill, Michael has timeless advice with these socially conscious lyrics from “Man in the Mirror”:

I’m gonna make a change…
I’m starting with the man in the mirror
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and
Then make that Change!

Just lift yourself
You know you’ve got to stop it.

Posted in Activism, Green Community, Music | Leave a comment