Music can take us places we can’t physically go and can transport us to another time. And, at the right level, music also fills a space completely, changing the feeling in a room or setting the tone for the task at hand. So, if you are like us, music has never been more important or gotten more airtime than life during COVID-19. Tanner Council, CBF’s Hampton Roads Grassroots Manager created an imaginative, family-friendly playlist for CBF events chock full of water themes and Chesapeake Bay references.
While some tracks just graze the theme, like Talking Heads’ Cities, TLC’s Waterfalls, Wish You Were Here by Roger Waters (get it?!) or Dirty Water by The Standells, who profess to “love that dirty water—Boston you’re my home!,” others get straight to the business of why we are saving the Bay.
In Out on the Chesapeake, Virginia’s own Robbin Thompson delves into the very heart of Bay restoration, singing from the perspective of a waterman who has seen “the fish go south, the oysters went away” and wondering, “If they can send a man to outer space/ They should be able to bring the Bay back again!” The Kinks’ 1984 B-side, Living On a Thin Line, bemoaned the destruction of the environment by society as a whole and world leaders in particular, pondering, “Now another century nearly gone/ What are we gonna leave for the young?/ What we couldn't do, what we wouldn't do/ It's a crime, but does it matter?...Yes, it really, really matters.”
On the breezier side, Starbuck’s yacht rock contribution reminds us of a perfect evening on a landside cruise in Moonlight Feels Right: “I’ll take ya on a trip beside the ocean/ And drop the top at Chesapeake Bay.” And while Otis Redding’s (Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay was indeed written about the San Francisco Bay, you’ll never attend a CBF work retreat without hearing this one belted out with knowing affection—it just hits all the right, familiar feelings.
And since no playlist is ever truly “complete,” please share your suggestions with us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram on what we should add (Spotify links encouraged, but not required!) to make this the ultimate Chesapeake Bay playlist! And to keep this playlist handy, just click the “heart” icon and the program will save it for you.
So, kick back or kick into gear with our “Save the Bay Playlist” for over 6-hours of quality, Bay-friendly tunes from your friends at CBF!
