It’s been decades since the issue of “Greenpeace” albums, in which the likes of Peter Gabriel and Sting used to take part, seemed to usher in the era of ecology-centered charity records that, sadly, didn’t turn into a perennial tradition, as the platters of this kind were few and far between, and such releases as “Harmony For Elephants” which saw, among other artists, Anthony Phillips play with Steve Hackett remain one-off events rather than the rule they might have become. Still, December 9th is when a massive compendium of avifauna-focused music and poetry will see the light of day: a 20 LP box set titled “For The Birds: The Birdsong Project” and comprising over 200 tracks – mostly freshly composed – with proceeds from the sale of it and from supporting events aimed to protect birds and their habitats via the National Audubon Society.
For The Birds:
The Birdsong Project
The span of artistic input into it is amazing: where else pieces by Philip Glass and Terry Riley can share a space and a context with cuts from Nick Cave and old adversaries Damon Albarn and Jarvis Cocker, let alone verses recited by Tilda Swinton, Natasha Lyonne, Jeff Goldblum and Matthew McConaughey? Of course, the set’s price feels heavy yet, hopefully, there will be a CD version available soon to secure much more purchases. In any case, there’s no denying the uniqueness of this project.
Side 1:
1. Wood Dove – Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
2. Archangel – Beck
3. Seeds – Alaska Reid and A. G. Cook
4. The Morning – written by W.S. Merwin, read by Danielle Haim
5. Fly on – Karen Elson
6. Fly Away (With the Songs) – Michael Rother & Vittoria MacCabuni
Side 2:
1. On the Wing – Jim James
2. Honey, in the Wild – Josh Kaufman feat. Annie Nero
3. Unboken Wing – Mike Campbell
4. Migration of Birds – written by Gary Snyder, read by Wally Wolodarsky
5. May 18th 1929 Lost – Alex Somers
Side 3:
1. Bird Calling – Mark Ronson feat. Damon Albarn & Wale
2. One for Sorrow – Unkle
3. Once Let Free – Emily Cross
4. Kyoto: March – written by Gary Snyder, read by Jelani Cobb
5. Sanctuary – BEACH HOUSE
6. Welcome Morning – written by Anne Sexton, read by Natalie Bergman
Side 4:
1. Mine Is Not Your Beauty – Uwade
2. Birds for Phil – Spring Summer
3. Una Melodía – El Búho feat. Emilie Basez
4. Bone’s Lament – Darius Christian & Reginald Chapman
5. Nouns of Assemblage – Blake Mills
6. Elsewhere Bird – Richard Reed Parry
7. The Garden – written by Mark Strand, read by Tennessee Thomas
Side 5:
1. Counting Birds – written by Jim Harrison, read by Sean Penn
2. Kachofugetsu – Kaoru Watanabe
3. St. Francis and the Birds – Terry Riley
4. Birdsong – Tawiah
5. Crow Dialectic – Elliot Bergman
Side 6:
1. A Grandchild’s Song for Robins in Year Two of Pandemic – Ray Young Bear
2. When the Birds Were Banished from the Palace – written by Saoirse Stice, read by Jack Kornfield
3. Birds Return – Hatis Noit
4. Salt Point – Tyondai Baxton
5. Forty Songs – Lee Ranaldo, lyrics by Michael McClure
6. Wounded Bird – Kurt Vile
Side 7:
1. Cuckoo Song – Jarvis Cocker
2. Cuckoo Bird – Haden Triplets
3. Hummingbird – written by Raymond Carver, read by Donald Ray Pollock
4. Hum Hum Hum – Karen O
5. Whistling in the Dark – Molly Lewis
6. Sparrow – written by Norman MacCaig, read by Tilda Swinton
Side 8:
1. Oreals – Rudresh Mahanthappa
2. Fly Catcher – James McAlister
3. State Bird – written by Ada Limón, read by Mickey Sumner
4. The Calling – Nick Rhodes & Wendy Bevan
5. Bluebirds (2021 Acoustic Version) – Adam Green
6. Why Does the Girl Bird Sing – Suzzy Roche
Side 9:
1. Birdsong for Randy – Dan Deacon
2. When the Sun Explodes – Very Nice Person
3. Weird Bird – written by Shel Silverstein, read by Bobby Cannavale
4. And Your Bird Can Sing / The Birds Will Be Singing – Elvis Costello
5. Lucifer Hummingbird – THE FLAMING LIPS
6. Who (Don’t Look Back) – Andrew Wyatt
7. California Towhee – written and read by Jonathan Franzen
Side 10:
1. Open Window – Michael Uzowuru
2. Tori No Uta – Aska Matsumiya
3. Two Arms – Le Ren
4. Sparrow, Sparrow, What Did You Say? – written by Ada Limón, read by Molly Rosen
5. Your Birthday at the Huntington – Mary Lattimore
6. Are We – written and read by Jorie Graham
Side 11:
1. The Hawk & the Crow – Olivia Chaney
2. Bell Minor – Jeff Tweedy
3. Boom – written by Jim Harrison, read by Matthew McConaughey
4. Godswits – Mark Mulcahy
5. Red Tailed Hawk – Inara George and Van Dyke Parks
6. Great Blue Heron – CALEXICO
Side 12:
1. Trying to Get Out – Siddhartha Khosla
2. Hope Is a feather – Ganavya
3. Birdsong – Ramesh & Jason Chronis
4. Black Cherries – written by W.S. Merwin, read by Alice Waters
5. Stations Parallel – Sam Prekop
6. Kwitaro Backbone – SHEARWATER
Side 13:
1. Wild Geese – written by Mary Oliver, read by Florence Welch
2. Overview – CUP (Yuka C. Honda & Nels Cline)
3. The Gospel of Oke – Ebe Oke
4. One Eye Open – Douglas Dare feat. Eera
5. Theme for Flight – Cecile Believe
6. Hyper Happy – Eleanor Friedberger
7. Good Bones – written by Maggie Smith, read by Natasha Lyonne
Side 14:
1. V Formation – Buzzy Lee
2. The Last Love Poem I Will Ever Write – written by Gregory Orr, read by Ann Beattie
3. Tinseltown – GIRLPOOL
4. If I Were a Kookaburra – Stephin Merritt
5. Ostrich Walk – Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks
6. The Hidden Singer – written by Wendell Berry, read by Bob Balaban
7. Birds and Piano – Michael Penn
Side 15:
1. A Dark Thing Inside the Day – written by Linda Gregg, read by Robert Pattinson
2. Tomorrow – Hania Rani
3. In the Gale – Yo-Yo Ma, composed by Anna Clyne
4. Winter’s Blessing – written by John Kelly, read by Bady Corbet
5. The Maddening Hour, or Ode to Owl – Isabella Summers
6. Evening Chorus (Live in the Bluebell Woods) – Cosmo Sheldrake
7. LSD – written by Alex Dimitrov, read by Jeff Goldblum
Side 16:
1. Strong But Fail – Roddy Bottum
2. Love High Noon – Claude Fontaine
3. Good to See – Seu Jorge & Flor
4. Wefoch (Birds) – Dexter Story
5. The Sparrow – written by William Carlos Williams, read by Tim Blake Nelson
Side 17:
1. Turiya (For the Birds remix) – Alice Coltrane
2. The Bird – written and read by David Cale
3. Of Mere Being – Thomas Bartlett
4. Hanover Birds – Poppy Ackroyd
5. The Day Is Done – written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, read by Chelsie Diane
Side 18:
1. Hymn for Four Birds – Paul Cantelon
2. Dawn Chorus – SQÜRL
3. Sonic Woodland: Dawn Chorus (excerpt) – Hidden Orchestra feat. Tim Southorn
4. Wild Swans – written by Edna St. Vincent Millay, read by Lorrie Moore
5. Birdies for RP – Emile Haynie
6. To the New Year – written by W.S. Merwin, read by Regina King
Side 19:
1. The Conditional – written by Ada Limón, read by Wendell Pierce
2. Strictly for the Birds – Hawley & Lozac’h
3. The Little Bird – Natalie Bergman
4. Pinions of a Dove – Rayna Gellert
5. Little Birdie – Loudon Wainwright III
6. Black Cherries – written by W.S. Merwin, read by Greta Gerwig
7. My Dove, to Sleep – VANBUR
Side 20:
1. Carolina Turtledove – Joachim Cooder
2. The Sandhill Cranes of Nebaska – written by Billy Collins, read by Conor Oberst
3. Thornbird – Daniel Lanois
4. Ka – Devendra Banhart
5. Highway Psithurism – Meg Baird
6. Far Rockaway – Stuart Bogie
7. Looking for Mushrooms at Sunrise – written by W.S. Merwin, read by Antonio Campos
Side 21:
1. Seven in the Woods – written by Jim Harrison, read by Jason Schwartzman
2. 136 Syllables at Rocky Mountain Dharma Center – written by Allen Ginsberg, read by Larry Ratso Sloman
3. Perth to Melbourne – Stella Donnelly
4. Flight to the Sun – Koa Kalish
5. Skylark – Wyldest
6. They Ask Me – written and read by Jorie Graham
7. For Octavia Butler – Atlas Sound & L’rain
8. Pasadena Parrots – Adrock
Side 22:
1. Morning Maggie – Carla Dal Forno
2. Noah’s Raven – written by W.S. Merwin, read by John Burnham Schwartz
3. Diamond Dove – Gyða ValtýSdóttir
4. Kookaburra Boogie – Thurston Moore & Wobbly
5. Nightbird – Marcelo Zarvos
6. In May – written by Adam Zagajewski, read by Sandor Katz
7. For the Birds – Makaya McCraven
Side 23:
1. Before the World – Laurie Anderson
2. Mr. Sparrow – John Cale
3. Dawn Revisited – written and read by Rita Dove
4. Altamira Oriole – Woodkid
5. Baepholus – Ben Lukas Boysen
6. How Many Nights – written by Galway Kinnell, read by Michelle Williams
Side 24:
1. Goldfinch Yodel – Arthur Jeffes
2. Birds – Koreless
3. feather – Masayoshi Fujita
4. Loon Song – Eluvium
5. Secret Life – written by Li-Young Lee, read by Nana Mensah
6. Arada – Meara O’Reilly
Side 25:
1. Not-Yet – written by Jane Hirshfield, read by Victoria Legrand
2. Monteverde September 08 – THE ALBUM LEAF
3. Birdsong Call – Nick Zinner
4. Rare Birds – Andrew Bird
5. Bobcats, Beetles, Owls – written by Jane Hirshfield, read by Jane Alexander
Side 26:
1. Diary – Juliette Commagere
2. Cuckoo – Sam Amidon
3. Sorrow Is Not My Name – written by Ross Gay, read by Suzan-Lori Parks
4. County Route 41 – Cassandra Jenkins
5. Birdsong – Steve Gunn
Side 27:
1. bye bye Birdy – Mark Mothersbaugh
2. The Sparrows of Butyrka – written by Irena Ratushinskaya, read by George Saunders
3. Alula – Georgia
4. Mourning Dove in Buoyancy – Haley Fohr feat. Rob Frye
5. The Ayaymama Bird – Elvis Perkins
6. Boy with a Headset – written and read by Edward Hirsch
Side 28:
1. Wild Birds in An Imagined Canoga Park with Lakes and Trees in Place of Streets and Buildings – Carlos Niño & Nate Mercereau feat. Kamasi Washington
2. Intone – Midori Hirano
3. In Wiry Winter – written by James Schuyler, read by Graydon Carter
4. Avi Sinistra – Rob
5. Central Park – Doug Wieselman
6. Birdy – Daniel Blumberg & Billy Steiger
7. Birdsland – Arturo O’Farrill
8. To This May – written by W.S. Merwin, read by Cazzie David
Side 29:
1. Aure, Deh, Per Piertà – Anthony Roth Costanzo
2. Hope Is a Thing with feathers – Angela McCluskey & the Cantelon Ensemble
3. Coming – written by Philip Larkin, read by Sam Mendes
4. Many Worlds – Robert Ames
5. I Put on My Fur Coat – written by Jane Wong, read by Sofia Subercaseaux
6. Planeaciones – Angélica Negrón
Side 30:
1. Wingspan – Biana Marela
2. Poems – written by Ruth Stone, read by Edwina Von Gal
3. Jacob Riis – Stuart Bogie and Domenica Fossati. Domenica Fossati
4. Used Beak – Craig Wedren
5. ‘Sweet Spring Is Your – written by E. E. Cummings, read by John Lithgow
6. Pettirosso – Daniele Luppi. Giacomo Bianchi
Side 31:
1. Voice & Birds – Anton Pearson (Squid)
2. Lies About Sea Creatures – written by Ada Limón, read by Olivia Wilde
3. The Owl of Cranston – Julian Lage & Bill Frisell
4. Tanager Time – Mac McCaughan
5. Montezuma Oropendola – Chris Watson
6. In the World – written by Bigid Lowry, read by Toni Collette
Side 32:
1. Tweetstorm – Chilly Gonzales
2. Abide – written by Jake Adam York, read by Jarvis Cocker
3. Keep Me Warm (Crèche) – Julia Holter
4. Migration – Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
5. Kría – Jana Winderen
6. The Wild Geese – written by Wendell Berry, read by Michael Pollan
Side 33:
1. For the Robin on My Porch – written by Andrea Potos, read by Bette Midler
2. May Birds – Nico Muhly
3. Etude No. 2 (Thomas Bartlett remix) – composed by Philip Glass, performed by Maki Namekawa
4. Beginning – written by W.S. Merwin, read by Stephen Park
5. Passerine – Balmorhea
Side 34:
1. Here – written by Kim Addonizio, read by Odessa Young
2. Mourning Dove – Holland Andrews
3. One Heart – written by Li-Young Lee, read by Christiane Amanpour
4. Perched – Anna Clyne feat. Nathalie Joachim
5. Syrinx – Daniel Thorne
6. Toy Boat – written and read by Ocean Vuong
Side 35:
1. I Was Popular in Certain Circles… – written and read by Gabielle Calvocoressi
2. Strange Signals from Jerry the Wood Pigeon – Peter Boderick
3. Birdbain – David Van Tieghem
4. Ode to the Hummingbird – written by Pablo Neruda, read by Daryl Hannah
5. Bells and Birds – Alexandre Desplat
Side 36:
1. Skylarks & Magpies – Bibio
2. End-Of-Summer Haibun – written by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, read by Winslow Bight
3. Screech for Scratch – Annie Gosfield
4. Rørsanger – David Rothenberg and Benedicte Maurseth
5. Sandpiper – written by Elizabeth Bishop, read by Michael Keaton
6. Silver Horns – Sarah Davachi
Side 37:
1. An Exercise in Love – written by Diane Di Prima, read by Riley Keough
2. Bown Thrasher – ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
3. Chant for the Swinging Swallows – MY CAT IS AN ALIEN
4. Coast – written by Alice Jones, read by Grace Gummer
5. In Her Secret Garden – Julianna Barwick
6. Emu808 – Sam Gendel
Side 38:
1. Now Is the Time – Money Mark
2. Cocoa Morning – written by Bob Kaufman, read by Adrien Body
3. Calthra – Tommy Guerrero
4. Morning Rituals – Shabaka Hutchings feat. Esperanza Spalding
5. Redbird Love – written and read by Joy Harjo
6. The Ruined Spring – Zander Schloss
Side 39:
1. I Love You Earth (Thomas Bartlett remix) – Anohni & Yoko Ono
2. Murmuration – Robert M Thomas X Daisy Chute
3. St Kevin and the Blackbird – written by Seamus Heaney, read by Liam Neeson
4. Thirow Dio – Mamadou Kelly
5. Grus Grus – Evan Parker & John Coxon
6. Star and Crescent – written by Kenneth Rexroth, read by Elliot Bergman
Side 40:
1. Mockingbird Song – Saunder Jurriaans & Danny Bensi
2. Morning Calls – Carter Burwell
3. [“Always in the Distance”] – written by Wendell Berry, read by Randall Poster
4. [“The Cherries Turn Ripe, Ripe”] – written by Wendell Berry, read by Lili Taylor
5. Serenade at 2 – Anne Müller
6. Paired: Unpaired – Music by Oliver Coates. Rosa Arnold and Jeanita Vriens of THE RAGAZZE QUARTET
7. Re: Happiness, in Pursuit Thereof – written by C. D. Wright, read by Hailey Benton Gates
