The Ten Best Green Songs Ever

One record-setting day in February 2010 marked the first time that every state in the U.S. recorded some snowfall. While the white blanket was pretty to look upon, most areas received close to or even more than a foot of snow. The prettiness, needless to say, soon turned to brown slush and impending threats of flooding.

Most of us would now rather see green, the color of spring, than white. We welcome St. Patrick's Day and the green that represents it. We anticipate even more eagerly the green that follows, when spring arrives.

Having been entrenched in snow for the past several weeks, I have decided to celebrate spring's arrival by loading my mp3 player with green songs. I don't mean the R&B hits of Al Green, or the rock anthems of Green Day. The songs I have selected all have the word "green" in their titles.

10. The Village Green Preservation Society by The Kinks: The jaunty title track from the band's 1968 album shows Ray Davies as a half-satirical and half-sincere conservative.

9. Green Tambourine by The Lemon Pipers: The biggest hit from the psychedelic band has a mesmerizing echo effect along with colorful imagery.

8. Green Grass and High Tides by The Outlaws: The southern band showcases its electric capabilities in this tune, which has a catchy chorus and a memorable guitar riff.

7.Green Earrings by Steely Dan: One of the many classic tunes from the jazz-rock band's best album, The Royal Scam, features the tongue-in-cheek lyrics that have been too often overshadowed by the perfect instrumentation of Donald Fagin and Walter Becker.

6. Greenback Dollar by The Kingston Trio: In the true sense of folk singers, Dave Guard and his partners reject the unpleasantness of materialism. In the chorus they sing, "I don't give a damn about a greenback dollar, I spend it fast as I can."

5. Green Eyed Lady by Sugarloaf: The opening guitar riff is simple, but it's so catchy that it has become as eternal as the diverse words used to describe the lady: passion, ocean, lovely and windswept.

4. Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine by Simon and Garfunkel: This underrated tune from Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme shows Paul Simon at his satirical best, whether he's referring to a TV or an unidentified drug or a whatever it is that makes people escape their troubles.

3. Heaven's Green Fields by the Seldom Scene: This bluegrass tune is a beautiful song about death that will simultaneously fill you with hope and sorrow.

2. Green Green Grass of Home by Tom Jones: This is another song about hope after death, which is sung from the point of view of man sentenced to be executed. Many singers have recorded it, but no one evokes more tears than does Tom Jones.

1. Green Shirt by Elvis Costello: The futuristic pattering of the percussion makes the track almost scary to listen to, but Costello's cleverly evasive lyrics are typical of the mastery he shows on one of his best albums, Armed Forces.