May songs

May is here and there are so many great songs celebrating it!



  Lusty Month of May - Julie Andrews

 Autumn to May- Peter, Paul and Mary

First of May - The Bee-Gees

One Morning in May - Charlie Byrd Trio

My Girl - Otis Redding

Fireflies on a green roof - in song

These are normally supposed to be the dog days of summer, but the season seems to barely have arrived! If you're lucky there are a few fireflies around where you are. Maybe one or two on your green roof? I serenade you, luminescent visitors with songs as beautiful as your glow!

The Temptations - Firefly
Gato Barbieri - Fireflies

Lawrence Welk - Firefly Serenade
Leo Kottke - Spanish Entomologist      

Sarah Vaughan knows spring

In honor of her death, a few of her best songs about spring!

It Might As Well Be Spring  
Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most
Spring Will Be A Little Late This YearSome Other Spring
April in Paris

Butterflies on a green roof - in song

Today is the official start of spring! And pretty soon we'll have the return of our winged friends.

Duke Ellington - Black Butterfly

Jethro Tull - Moths
Sarah Vaughan -  Poor Butterfly
Nana Mouskouri- Love Is Like A Butterfly

Moon songs

For November's songs of the month I thought it is about time that the moon were serenaded!

Harvest moon – Neil Young

Moonlight in vermont – Willie Nelson

Kiko and the Lavender Moon - Los Lobos

I wish I was the moon – Neko Case

Moon River - Louis Armstrong

September songs!

I looked back at the archives and September has gotten short shrift!

Bobby Vinton - Sealed with a Kiss
Peter Gabriel - Biko (September 1977)
Fiona Apple - Pale September
Dinah Washington - September in the Rain
Jerry Orbach - Try to Remember 

Songs of the month - Songs of Spring

June is upon us and spring is almost on its way out. First, a little tribute...


Beach Boys - Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring

Beatles - Here Comes The Sun 

Benny Goodman and His Orchestra - Santa Claus Came In Spring

Astrud Gilberto - It Might As Well Be Spring

Hubert Laws - The Rite of Spring

February songs of the month

It's a few days early, but I figure, sometimes I am a few days late...so this affords us the opportunity to get us in the mood for the shortest month!

February Moment - Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea
Two Days in February - Goo Goo Dolls
Getaway (February) - Jennifer Trynin
February Sea - George Winston

December songs of the month

Back by popular demand, here are your December songs of the month!

December African Rain - Soweto Gospel
I am a rock - Simon Garfunkel
Anos Dourados (Looks like December) - Ana Carem e Tom Jobim
If We Make it Through December - Merle Haggard

Election day songs

It's a big day in the USA. Instead of the ordinary November songs, thought  I would do a special edition!

My Dear Country - Norah Jones
Election Day - Blaze Foley
Election Day - Duran Duran

October songs!

Is it really October already? If so, bring on the tunes!

October - Broken Bells
October - Pet Shop Boys
October Winds - Margie Butler
October 17, 1988 - Keith Jarrett

Summer songs

At the beginning of the month I would usually do a list of songs for that month and hopefully about plants as well. But, I have never done a list of songs just about the seasons. Let's break that streak today.

Summer Nights - Marianna Faithfull 

That Sunday, That Summer - Nat King Cole  

Summertime Rolls - Jane’s Addiction

Summer's Cauldron/Grass - XTC

Summertime - Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong 

July songs of the month

July is here...in Canada you had Canada Day, in the USA Independence Day. Here are the songs of the month for both countries during their week of celebrations.

A-Ha - Non-stop July 

Nirvana - Lake of Fire 

Dixie Chicks - Cold Day In July  

Shel Silverstein - June 25 at the Fourth of July 


And naturally, there will be a special blog post for Mexico in September. Smart move to celebrate your big day a few months, not a few days, before or after your neighbor. 

Bees on a green roof - in song

I was up on a green roof just last week and when reflecting on my May song list couldn’t help but think that I have never done a list of songs concerning bees. How could I forget them, I have certainly been stung enough. Maybe if I dedicate a post to them, word will get around and they will cut me some slack? It’s worth a try:

Taj Mahal - Queen Bee

Cleveland Crochet - Sugar Bee

Cannonball Adderly & Nancy Wilson - A Sleepin’ Bee

Elvis Presley - I Got Stung

Knotweed is bursting + songs of the month

May is here. Leaves, flowers and knotweed are bursting. But we’ll get to that later. Here are the songs of the month:

Bee Gees- First of May 

The Caesars - May the Rain                                     

      And one for Mother’s Day: 

Jeannie C. Riley- Harper Valley P.T.A. 

-Quite often I’ll judge a dish by it’s recipe, that’s why I’ll reluctantly try Marie Viljoen’s knotweed soup. I have been a little afraid to try any recipes with Polygonum cuspidatum in it, as it supposedly has a laxative effect. But she’s right, this stuff can really grow. The picture below is the knotweed next door, hard to tell but it's already over 6 feet tall. 

Last year it hit about 10 feet. And it has stretched it’s footprint, underground, about 6 feet in one year. Sometime before my arrival it moved to this side of the fence and it has been a formidable challenge since day one. Anoter note of caution, if you do see tasty young sprouts in between mature stalks and want to indulge, be careful...splinters, scrapes and cuts are highly probable.

March songs of the month

It's been a very mild winter in the Northeastern US, Southern Ontario region. As such, a little early we have our spring songs of the month! An ode to insects!!!

Rimsky-Korsakov -Flight of the Bumblebee
James Brown - I got ants in my pants and I need to dance!
Miles Davis - Frelon Brun
Butterfly, Doodlebug and Ladybug (Digible Planets) - Cool Like That
Leadbelly - The Boll Weevil