Tuesday Top Ten: "Green" Songs

As you may have heard, Illinois recently became the 11th state to legalize marijuana for recreational use -- and the first to legalize it through the legislature, rather than a referendum.  More like a reeferendum, am I right?  This will provide some much needed revenue for the Land of Lincoln.  More like the Land of Tokin', am I right?  The countdown has begun, as the law goes into effect on January 1, 2020.  More like 42020, am I right?  Okay, can we all just agree that I'm right?

In honor of Illinois becoming green, here are my ten favorite songs with the word "green" in the title.  These are in absolutely no particular order.

1.  "Green Onion" by Booker T. & The M.G.'s
This is a classic instrumental from the Stax house band, the M.G.'s, featuring Steve Cropper on guitar, Donald "Duck" Dunn on bass, and Al Jackson on drums, and led by fellow IU alum and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Booker T. Jones on the organ.  To be clear, both he and I are alums of Indiana University.  Only he is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (along with the rest of the M.G.'s).  I am still waiting for the rock and roll intelligentsia to catch up with the subtle genius of my short-lived college punk band, Cervical Implosion. 


2.  "Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown)" by Judas Priest
On their classic 1979 album Hell Bent For Leather (side note:  with album and song titles like that, who couldn't have predicted Rob Halford was gay?), Judas Priest included a cover of this of an early Fleetwood Mac gem.  Like when Fleetwood Mac was still a blues-based rock band led by Peter -- wait for it -- Green.  Judas Priest played the song at Live Aid.  When having a Live Aid-themed New Years Eve party and Live Aid-themed cocktails at said party, a Green Manalishi -- comprised of equal parts Sour Apple Pucker and Fireball -- won't go over as well as you might think. Jesus Christ, people, it's apple cinnamon. What's the issue?


3.  "Green River" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
CCR released some fantastic music, and the title track off of their third album -- released only 13 months after their first album, mind you -- is no exception.  "Green River" isn't necessarily the song you might think of first when you think of CCR, but it was one of five songs that hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.


4.  "Little Green Bag" by George Baker Selection
Thanks to the fantastic soundtrack to Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino introduced a new generation of viewers/listeners to this 1969 minor hit for the Dutch group George Baker Selection.  It was originally entitled "Little Greenback" -- since that's the actual lyric -- but was later changed to "Little Green Bag" for reasons that are unclear to anyone except grass dealers. That's what they called it back then.


5.  "Green-Eyed Lady" by Sugarloaf
This trippy 1970 hit was Sugarloaf's biggest, hitting #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. As someone with hazel eyes, I've been waiting my entire lifetime for the female response to this song. Surely some woman out there has a "Green-Eyed Dude" she wants to write a 7-minute organ-heavy rock jam about. If not, just write it about me. "Green-Eyed Blogger" practically writes itself.


6.  "Green Hell" by The Misfits
Horror punk can have "green" songs too, even if you can't really tell that Glenn Danzig is saying "green."


7.  "Green Grass and High Tides" by Outlaws
In 1975, southern rockers Outlaws released their self-titled debut album, which featured this nearly-ten-minute jam that is an ode to fallen rock stars.


8.  "Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You" by Wilson Pickett
This is a happy-sounding little ditty from another Stax legend and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer.  I say "happy-sounding" because it's actually about some chick who's gonna leaver her man for someone else, but her current man is letting her know that the grass isn't always greener on the other side of adultery.  It hit #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971, as well as #2 on the Billboard R&B charts.


9.  "Silver and Green" by Angus Khan
Metal biker band Angus Khan only released one album, 2009's Black Leather Soul, and it was a great hard rock album.  It's too bad they appear not have released anything since then, but such is life.  "Silver and Green" is a nice little rocker, and it almost has a grunge feel to it.


10.  "Voices Green and Purple" by The Bees
This one is from the 1998 4-CD version of the legendary Nuggets compilation assembled by Lenny Kaye and originally released in 1972.  Nuggets contains, well, nuggets of garage rock and psychedelic rock from the late '60s.  1966's "Voices Green and Purple" is a fine example of said music. It sounds like a bad acid trip, were I to know what a bad acid trip sounded like.