Did Joni Mitchell write the first environmental song?

Although it may sound a little ironic, the song is full of references to the environmental problems of the time. It uses the idea of ​​a future world in which a natural paradise has been “paved over” “to make a parking lot” to warn us about environmental destruction.

In this dystopian place, trees can only be found in a “tree museum,” and farmers using pesticides like “DDT” have threatened the existence of “birds and bees.” Mitchell gives us a stark warning before it’s too late: “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.”

These lyrics may seem particularly apt today, as global temperatures soar and weather patterns and ecosystems are subject to constant disruption. But in 1970, they were unheard of and nothing short of revolutionary. Mitchell was a year ahead of Marvin Gaye’s beautiful lament for nature, “Mercy Mercy Me,” and the Beach Boys’ ode to H2O, “Don’t Go Near the Water.”

Her foresight on environmental issues is just one of the many reasons why she has such a huge influence on music today.

But was she the first?

Mitchell was not the first singer to record an environmental song, however. A full eight years earlier, folk singer and leading activist in the Women Strike for Peace movement Malvina Reynolds wrote and recorded the song “What Have They Done to the Rain.”

Although ostensibly a protest against the possible nuclear holocaust that was looming at the time due to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the song also contains clear references to the environmental damage caused in the United States by nuclear testing.

It points out that in the affected areas, “the grass has disappeared” and only “a breeze with a little smoke in the eyes” remains. Worse than the total destruction was that the grass was contaminated with radioactive substances and, when ingested by animals, it ended up in our food.

While Reynolds’ recording of the song was not released until much later, Joan Baez regularly sang the song live at protest marches and concerts, including one recorded for her 1962 album. Joan Baez in concertAnd British Invasion band The Searchers later released a cover of it in November 1964, five and a half years before Mitchell’s own environmental activism.

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