♫ Earth Song ♫

Posted on by under animals, Environmental Issues, music, Social commentary

Much of my writing of late has been about the environment — climate change, the IPCC and NCA reports, the utter failure of the U.S. government to address the obvious and imminent threat.  When our friend David mentioned this song a few days ago, I went back to listen to it for the first time in years, watched the video, and knew the time was right to remember this song.

Michael Jackson, known for his socially-conscious music, released this song, dealing with the environment and animal welfare, on November 27, 1995.  The music video you are about to see was shot in four separate geographical locations, including the Americas, Europe and Africa.  According to Michael Jackson …

“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. And this is ‘Earth Song.’ And that’s what inspired it. And it just suddenly dropped into my lap when I was on tour in Austria.”

The song has won numerous awards, perhaps none more important than the Genesis Award: 1995 Doris Day Music Award, given each year for animal sensitivity.

In 2008, a writer for the Nigeria Exchange noted, “Earth Song drew the world’s attention to the degradation and bastardization of the earth as a fall out of various human activities”.  Ten years later and we still haven’t gotten the wake-up call.

The video, directed by fine art photographer Nick Brandt had an environmental theme, showing images of animal cruelty, deforestation, pollution, poaching, poverty and war. Jackson and the world’s people unite in a spiritual chant—”Earth Song”—which summons a force that heals the world. Using special effects, time is reversed so that life returns, war ends and the forests regrow.

Earth Song
Michael Jackson

What about sunrise
What about rain
What about all the things that you said
We were to gain
What about killing fields
Is there a time
What about all the things
That you said were yours and mine

Did you ever stop to notice
All the blood we’ve shed before
Did you ever stop to notice
This crying Earth, these weeping shores

Aah, ooh

What have we done to the world
Look what we’ve done
What about all the peace
That you pledge your only son

What about flowering fields
Is there a time
What about all the dreams
That you said was yours and mine

Did you ever stop to notice
All the children dead from war
Did you ever stop to notice
This crying earth, these weeping shores

Aah, ooh
Aah, ooh

I used to dream
I used to glance beyond the stars
Now I don’t know where we are
Although I know we’ve drifted far

Aah, ooh
Aah, ooh

Aah, ooh
Aah, ooh

Hey, what about yesterday
(What about us)
What about the seas
(What about us)
The heavens are falling down
(What about us)
I can’t even breathe
(What about us)
What about apathy
(What about us)
Drowning in the seas
(What about us)
What about the promised land
Preachin’ what I believe
(What about us)
What about the holy land
(What about it)
What about the greed
(What about us)
Where did we go wrong
Someone tell me why
(What about us)
What about baby boy
(What about him)
What about the days
(What about us)
What about all their joy
Do we give a damn

Aah, ooh
Aah, ooh

Songwriters: Michael Jackson
Earth Song lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

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17 thoughts on “♫ Earth Song ♫”

  1. I have never seen (nor heard) this song prior to today. It is as powerful now as it was then. And yes, perhaps we need a retrospective look at ‘what we have done.’

    I am once again, in Thailand, and something new is apparent immediately to me. The geckos that were so ubiquitous, are so few now. Bird song is missing, insects are missing.
    People are so busy with their lives, so busy buying new product, so busy doing things on computers or looking at TV’s, that they have not noticed the silence all around them, nor the missing animals that they once cursed for being everywhere. 😔

    Liked by 1 person

    • Incidentally, new signs of a corruption infiltrating everywhere are so evident. I see signs for Shark Fin soup on loads of restaurants here. What was once kept secret, is openly advertised. They do not care about shark finning, they do not care that the animals are disappearing. It is truly shocking!

      Liked by 1 person

    • Really? I’m surprised, for I heard it was a big hit in the UK. It is, indeed, still very powerful, the message strong, but those who should hear the message, won’t. Back in Thailand? Pet sitting again? It sounds like much has changed from last year. Awww … the geckos are gone? 😥 I’ve noticed the same here … not geckos of course, but birds, squirrels and most of all, bees. I barely saw any bees this summer, despite a profusion of clover and dandelions in the back. And I’ve seen very few birds. And … it is the same here … everybody so wrapped up in their gadgets, playing games on their phones, oblivious to what is or isn’t going on around them. Sigh. 😞

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      • No, not pet sitting this time around. I have withdrawn from that activity (nothing to do with the pets).

        The bees disappearing are a big concern.

        Colony collapse is occurring due to the use of Glyphosates (Roundup), Neonicotinoids (https://wasba.org/it-is-pesticide-season-neonicotinoid-list/)
        and Dicamba, also made by Monsanto and in 1100 different products (subject to major class action suits) have the potential to obliterate all bees.

        There was a paper published in the journal of Nature last October, Co authored by Dr Paul Stamets on research using a specific Fungi (that bees search ou naturally) that could be fed to commercial bees to repair their cognitive function and immune systems to combat the toxic effect of these fatal herbicides and pesticides. However, I think that is a band aid. We all need to stop using these toxic substances, because if it is accumulating in the small creatures, it will move up the food chain and we will die from it too. Some already have.

        The problem lies in that when people see product on a store shelf, they automatically think it is ‘safe.’ Since most companies like Monsanto-Bayer, do their own in-house safety studies (many flawed and with far too small a sample rate), the safety data actually means very little.

        I think people could help save all of us by looking for natural ways to control pests, save themselves a lot of unnecessary expense and preserve their own life without exposing themselves unwittingly to highly toxic chemicals that give them cancer or neurological disorders.

        Liked by 1 person

    • You can thank our mutual friend David for reminding me of this one. It is a timely reminder that we are not taking care of the only home we have or will ever have. Let us hope people wake up very soon.

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      • I’m glad I won’t be around to see. It may be okay but many people refuse to pay attention. Then there’s Trump and his gang of greedy destroyers. I’m fairly sure he’s now showing signs of dementia. With the fast food he eats you can almost hear his arteries hardening. Heck, Reagan had Alzheimer’s and they hid it from us at the time. I know the Earth will survive many more years, but we’re destroying ourselves along with most of the wild animals. It’s sheer idiocy. 😦 — Suzanne

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        • Multiple times every week I find myself saying the same … “At least I won’t live to see that”. And that’s a sad statement, y’know? And … our kids and grandkids will be around to see, which makes me even sadder. Perhaps they will be the ones to halt the madness … if it isn’t too late by then.

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  4. Fantabulous choice! I’ve always thought that this is one of the most powerful songs that Michael Jackson ever released. I still play the 1995 album, HIStory : Past, Present and Future. It contains two discs, HIStory begins and HIStory continues; Earth Song is on the second disc. Somewhere, I still have the two separate HIStory videos that followed the album…unless they were absconded by my Son. Earth Song was on the second, I think that was released much later than the first video. I had not seen the video in a long time, it does add so much to the song. Thank-you!

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    • I agree with you … this is one of his most powerful songs and has as much meaning today as it did when he first released it. The video touches the heart … makes me a bit ashamed to be a human, y’know?

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  6. Michael wrote about what he knew from what he’d seen. He had a real environmental awareness and wrote this song to give us a conscience. So far some are still trying to ignore this message about both animals and environment but we need to wake up before there’s no beauty left t see.

    Cwtch

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    • I’m not sure that most people realized at the time how much of an environmentalist he was. Yes, far too many are trying to ignore the message and they are going to bring about the destruction of every breathing thing on the planet if they don’t wake up soon. Sigh.
      Cwtch

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