Songs
DAVE ALVIN "The Man In The Bed" 2004
DAVE ALVIN "The Man In The Bed" 2004 Grammy-winning Dave Alvin, a solo artist and former member of The Blasters and The Knitters, wrote "The Man In The Bed" about the strength of his father, who suffered from Parkinson's Disease. “Now the nurse over there doesn't know that I ain't some helpless old so-and-so,” he sings. “I could have broken her heart not that long ago.” The heartfelt…
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/the-man-in-the-bed/id14943882?i=14943876
Sandy Hook "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" (feat. Ingrid Michaelson) 2013
Sandy Hook "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" (feat. Ingrid Michaelson) 2013 The horror unleashed on Sandy Hook Elementary School Dec. 14 when a gunman killed 20 children and six adult staff will never fade for the parents and Newtown, CT community. While the grown-ups lobby Washington for new gun legislation, 21 kids from the school are singing out in a different way. Spearheaded by concert…
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/sandy-hook-somewhere-over/id593201392
DEAR ROUGE "Noah's Song" 2012
DEAR ROUGE "Noah's Song" 2012 Husband and wife Danielle and Drew McTaggart of electro-pop-rock duo Dear Rouge originally wrote and demoed “Noah’s Song” as a gift for their friends Tonia and Kevin Jacobsen, whose 5-year-old song Noah has autism and apraxia. But when Kevin died tragically in a logging accident last June, Dear Rouge recorded the song professionally and began selling…
TEN YEARS AFTER "I'd Love To Change The World" 1971
TEN YEARS AFTER "I'd Love To Change The World" 1971 Ten Years After singer-guitarist Alvin Lee wrote this classic about the state of the world. Feed the poor, world pollution, stop the war are all lines from the top 40 Billboard hit found on the 1971 album Space In Time. In a 2008 interview with French magazine Rock And Folk, the British blues-rock musician said he knew the song…
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/id-love-to-change-the-world/id13792380?i=1379…
SKINNY PUPPY "Testure" 1988
SKINNY PUPPY "Testure" 1988 Industrial pioneers Skinny Puppy were much more than mechanical music masters; the Vancouver band tackled important issues head-on. One noted topic was animal rights and the disgusting, downright cruel practice of animal experimentation in the name of science and progress. Their 1988 album entitled VIVI Sect VI (yes, it’s no coincidence that three VIs is 666…
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/testure/id306601423?i=306601439
ONE DIRECTION "One Way Or Another (Teenage Kicks)" 2013
ONE DIRECTION "One Way Or Another (Teenage Kicks)" 2013 On Feb. 17 UK pop sensations One Direction will officially release their cover of Blondie’s 1979 hit “One Way Or Another” to benefit long-running U.K. anti-poverty charity Comic Relief. You can hear a sanctioned snippet here. On Feb. 5, the group’s Louis Tomlinson tweeted, “I hear the charity single has been leaked. Very sad to…
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/one-way-or-another/id593902718?i=593903090
CHANTAL KREVIAZUK "Blue" 1999
CHANTAL KREVIAZUK "Blue" 1999 The Canadian singer-pianist wrote “Blue” about war, poverty and other atrocities. “They say we’re in a state of emergency/So how come no one is panicking,” the lyric begins. “Where were you when they wrote the news?/And how are you? Are you feeling blue?” The haunting, almost mournful song appears on her second album, Colour Moving And Still, produced by…
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/blue/id158680440?i=158680453
TAYLOR SWIFT "Ronan" 2012
TAYLOR SWIFT "Ronan" 2012 The singer-songwriter released this charity single on iTunes U.S. in September after performing it on the Stand Up To Cancer telecast. The heartfelt ballad is about 4-year-old Ronan Thompson who passed away in 2011 of neuroblastoma, an aggressive cancer of immature neuroblastic cells that commonly affects children age 5 or younger. Swift was a reader of Ronan’…
JONI MITCHELL "Big Yellow Taxi" 1970
JONI MITCHELL "Big Yellow Taxi" 1970 A statement on the destruction of the environment, Canadian folk singer Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” originally appeared on her Ladies of the Canyon album. The lyrics include "They paved paradise to put up a parking lot" and "Hey farmer, farmer, put away that DDT now.” The song did well, peaking at No. 14 in Canada, No. 6 in Australia and No.…
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/big-yellow-taxi/id217611592?i=217611671
GLEN HANSARD "High Hope" 2012
GLEN HANSARD "High Hope" 2012 Academy Award-winning singer-songwriter Glen Hansard, one half of Swell Season who starred in and wrote/performed the music for the film Once, is donating the proceeds from his stirring song “High Hope” to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which has invested $2 billion to date in ground-breaking research, community health outreach, advocacy and programs in…
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/high-hope/id535622376?i=535622514
ARTISTS AGAINST BULLYING "True Colors" 2012
ARTISTS AGAINST BULLYING "True Colors" 2012 What are your true colours? One in seven people has been bullied or is a bully, according to bullyingstatistics.org. Help lower that number. Some musicians and record labels are doing their part. To raise awareness about this disgusting epidemic, Simple Plan’s Pierre Bouvier, Hedley’s Jacob Hoggard, Lights, Kardinal Offishall, Fefe Dobson,…
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/true-colors/id577296407?i=577296529
MARVIN GAYE "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" 1971
MARVIN GAYE "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" 1971 Over 40 years ago, soul singer Marvin Gaye wrote this poignant song about the environment, in which he pondered “How much more abuse from man can you stand?” Produced by Gaye, who plays piano on the track, and backed by session musicians The Funk Brothers, “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” — from his album What’s Going On — peaked at No. 4…
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/mercy-mercy-me-the-ecology/id7307764?i=7307727
NEIL YOUNG “Ohio” 1970
NEIL YOUNG “Ohio” 1970 Weeks after the May 4 killing of four unarmed students by The Ohio National Guard at Kent State University, Neil Young wrote this poignant song. Some of the students were protesting President Richard Nixon’s new military campaign in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Nine other students not involved with the protest were wounded. The song was released as a single by Crosby,…
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/ohio/id135132797?i=135132336
EDDIE VEDDER AND NATALIE MAINES "Golden State" 2012
EDDIE VEDDER AND NATALIE MAINES "Golden State" 2012 This live version of John Doe’s “Golden State” was recorded at a 2010 rally in Arkansas to free the West Memphis Three and is now available on iTunes. Last August, Jessie Misskelley, Charles Baldwin, and Damien Echols — who were convicted in 1994 for the murder of three boys based on no evidence — were finally released. But the State…
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/golden-state-live-single/id552121004
PEACHES “Free Pussy Riot” 2012
PEACHES “Free Pussy Riot” 2012 Imagine if Dylan, Springsteen, Natalie Maines, Bill Maher, Jon Stewart and Dave Mustaine were put behind bars for speaking out against the government? In this day and age, it's outrageous that three members of Russia's all-girl punk collective Pussy Riot have been jailed for their anti-Putin "punk prayer." Just prior to their sentencing, Canadian electro-punk…