A Pop Music Playlist to Catalyze a Landscape Revolution
Gardening is the slowest of the performing arts. As gardeners, we choreograph performances that span minutes and decades through the decisions we make about what we plant and how we grow.
Like any great performance, our landscapes are informed by and respond to culture. As such, they can help us navigate difficult conversations and open our minds to new possibilities by providing a common filter for us to process the world.
There’s a lot to process these days. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and feel a need to retreat for our own mental and emotional health. Many gardeners turn to gardening to meet this need and these gardens are embodied with an exceptional purpose.
Gardens can also be a form of protest: slow, purposeful, beautiful, and peaceful. Our landscapes make strong and clear statements about what we believe and what we hope for our future. They can invite outsiders into our community and help everyone feel safe and welcome. They’re so much more than simple decoration and it is high time we acknowledge it.
We moved into a new home in an urban neighborhood a few months ago. With winter now firmly in the rear view mirror the sights, smells, and sounds of spring are everywhere. As I’ve been thinking about this patch of soil we’ll be managing in this moment, and as I’m working to process the news of the day, I’ve gone to a place I often go when I need to process (besides the garden): music.
In this spirit, I’ve mapped out a potential and hopeful trajectory for the future of our new landscape, backed by music I find empowering, emotional, and moving. The plantings that will emerge will be my protest: against climate injustice, against environmental degradation, against food insecurity, against homogeneity, against isolation.
Great performances have moments of conflict, tension, calm, relief, joy, and celebration. Compelling characters are brought to life through talented actors (in this case, plants) and often the music of a performance is as much a character as any individual.
One of the many joys of gardening is that gardens never end: they simply change form based upon the influence of the gardener. This narrative reflects our specific moment and intention, and I can’t wait for the sequel.
You can follow along with the playlist on Spotify, here.
Act I: Seeing with New Eyes
Picture it. A sunny Saturday afternoon in June. You step out your front door and you look up your street to the sea of tightly clipped turf grass and misshapen foundation shrubs, a sterile landscape extending in both directions. You hear the grinding drone of lawn mowers and leaf blowers and your nose burns with the tinge of freshly applied lawn chemicals drifting through the air. The TrueGreen trucks are zipping up and down the street with “lawn technicians” in gas masks and hazmat suits. The birds are silent because there are none.
You’ve been uncomfortable about this reality for awhile and every time you walk outdoors you’ve found yourself asking “why” more often. You’ve started hearing a rumble about an “alt lawn” movement where people are replacing their turf with native plants or choosing to grow food (or both). You start researching and come across the work of Doug Tallamy and his “Homegrown National Park” idea, or Charlie Beren’s Breaking Lawn video. You start to feel angry, disgusted, and disappointed by our collective obsession with lawns.
1) Gaslighter, The Chicks
Gaslighter, denier
Doin’ anything to get your ass farther
Gaslighter, big timer
Repeating all of the mistakes of your father
I believed in the promises you made to me
Swore that night ‘till death do us part
But you lie-lie-lie-lie-lied
You thought I wouldn’t see it if you put it in my face
Give you all my money, you’ll gladly walk away
You think it’s justifiable, I think it’s pretty cruel
You just had to start a fire, had to start a fire
Couldn’t take yourself on a road a little higher
Had to burn it up, had to tear it down
Tried to say I’m crazy
Babe, we know I’m not crazy, that’s you
Now you’re just angry. You keep digging and realize our addiction to lawns is grounded in our culture. We equate a “manicured” lawn with success, affluence, and status. Lawns are the embodiment of an outdated version of the American Dream and it’s time to shift the narrative.
2) Toxic, Britney Spears
Baby, can’t you see I’m calling?
A guy like you should wear a warning
It’s dangerous, I’m falling
Too high, can’t come down
Losing my head, spinnin’ ‘round and ‘round
Do you feel me now?
With a taste of your lips, I’m on a ride
You’re toxic, I’m slippin’ under
With a taste of a poison paradise
I’m addicted to you
Don’t you know that you’re toxic?
It’s getting late to give you up
I took a sip from my devil’s cup
Slowly, it’s taking over me
Alright, enough is enough. You’re ready to make a change. Your attitudes and values toward traditional lawns are shattered.
3) We Are Done, The Madden Brothers
I want you to know
It’s time to go
Yeah we are done
I want you to see
That I need (oh) to be free
We are done
(Done done done done done done)
We are…
Done with being a silent many
Every voice rings out and carries
No we won’t just go back
Home without you hearing
The sound when the many say
We are done
Act II: Digging In
You’re excited. You’re pumped. You’re empowered. You’re ready to change the world by changing your lawn. Maybe you’re growing food and need to get rid of grass fast. Maybe you’re ready to garden for more than just yourself and you’re creating space for wildlife, your own contribution to a new Homegrown National Park. You grab the shovel, pop in your ear buds, and head outside.
4) Physical, Dua Lipa
So come on, come on, come on
Let’s get physical
Lights out, follow the noise
Baby, keep on dancing like you ain’t got a choice
So come on, come on, come on
Let’s get physical
Now you’re in the zone. You’re grooving. As you peel up your turf one chunk at a time and your soil begins to reveal itself and… you feel something. Is that hope? Renewal? Remember that one boyfriend/girlfriend who really messed you up and how good it felt when you dumped them? That’s what this feels like.
5) Good as Hell, Lizzo
Woo child, tired of the bullshit
Go on dust your shoulders off, keep it moving
Yes Lord, tryna get some new shit
You know you a star, you can touch the sky
I know that it’s hard but you have to try
If you need advice, let me simplify
If he don’t love you anymore
Just walk your fine ass out the door
I do my hair toss
Check my nails
Baby how you feelin’?
Feeling good as hell
Fast forward a few weeks. Your new landscape is beginning to take shape. Baby plants are popping up in every corner. Wildlife has suddenly returned to your space and you’re recognizing new insects and birds and mammals nearly every day. You just ate your first salad, picked fresh from your former front lawn.
Then your nosy neighbor knocks on your door and berates you for twenty minutes about how “offensive” your alt lawn has become for the status of the neighborhood. A blemish, an embarrassment, and if you don’t change it back, they’ll report you. They stomp away and you go back into the house feeling deflated and defeated. Your partner/friend/family does their best to buck you up, telling you how beautiful it is, trying to focus on the good. But that inner negative voice feels like it might be winning…
6) Workin’ On It, Megan Trainor
Tryna be good to me
I should give myself way more love
I’m my worst enemy
I’m the voice who says, “I’m not good enough”
You say I’m beautiful
And I say you’re full of it
Nothing personal
I’m still not used to this
Tomorrow is a new day. You wake up and take your dog for a walk, pausing as you walk down the front path to notice a new flower that opened overnight. You’re startled as a ruby throated hummingbird who buzzes right up in front of your face and sticks its long beak into the flower, drinking deeply of the nectar within. For a moment you’re frozen, not daring to move and involuntarily holding your breath should you accidentally cause this moment to end prematurely. The hummer buzzes off to visit another flower, and you exhale. With this breath you also feel yesterday’s doubt slip away, too. You begin to remember why you did all of this in the first place. Fuck that nosy neighbor.
7) Cut to the Feeling, Carly Rae Jepson
I had a dream, or was it real?
We crossed the line and it was on
We crossed the line, it was on this time
I’ve been denying how I feel, you’ve been denying what you want
Cancel your reservations, no more hesitations this is on
I can’t make it stop, give me all you got
I want it all or nothing, no more in between, now give your
Everything to me, let’s get real baby
A chemical reaction, take me in your arms and make me “oh”
Ah, I wanna cut through the clouds, break the ceiling
I wanna dance on the roof, you and me alone
I wanna cut to the feeling, oh yeah
I wanna cut to the feeling, oh yeah
As you begin your day, you text your best friend and tell them about what happened. They reply with a “twirl on the haters” gif and you remember why they’re your best friend. That bounce is back in your step and you’re ready to take on whatever the world might toss your way. Bring it on. You’re not afraid anymore.
Act III: Twirl on the Haters
Fast forward a few months and your alt lawn has become the talk of the neighborhood. People are intentionally crossing the street and pausing in front of your house to admire your work. You begin to meet neighbors you’ve not talked to since you moved in five years ago as they ask you questions about what’s growing here and what’s flowering there. That nosy neighbor is still staring at you from behind the drapes, but they’ve ceased their efforts to disrupt your work. You’re feeling more empowered each day as you continue to learn, grow, and share what you’ve learned with new friends and long-time neighbors.
8) Raising Hell, Kesha feat. Big Freedia
Oh, if you couldn’t tell
We can always find the trouble, we don’t need no help
Singing oh, mama raised me well
But I don’t wanna go to Heaven without raising hell
Can I get an amen? (Ha)
This is for the misfits of creation (ha)
Take this as your holy validation (let’s go now, come on)
You don’t need to hide your celebratin’
This is our salvation
Fast forward again and it’s been a full year since you first pulled up that first patch of turf. Your plants are back, bigger and better than ever. You’re enthralled by your new normal and as you dig a few plants to divide and share with neighbors who are now tearing up their own turf, you’re having a difficult time remembering your old lawn.
9) Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa
You want a timeless song, I wanna change the game
Like modern architecture, John Lautner coming your way
You wanna turn it up loud, future nostalgia is the name
I know you’re dying trying to figure me out
My name’s on the tip of your tongue, keep running your mouth
You want the recipe but can’t handle my sound
My sound, my sound (future)
Hold up. The nosy neighbor is back. You thought they’d given up, but like Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense), they’re back. They may be tenacious, but you have a full year of growing (and half the neighborhood) on your side this time. I’ll say it again: bring it on.
10) You Need to Calm Down, Taylor Swift
You are somebody that I don’t know
But you’re taking shots at me like it’s Patrón
And I’m just like “Damn, it’s 7:00 a.m.”
Say it in the street, that’s a knock-out
But you say it in a Tweet, that’s a cop-out
And I’m just like, “Hey, are you okay?”
And I ain’t trying mess with your self-expression
But I’ve learned the lesson that stressin’
And obsessin’ ‘bout somebody else is no fun
And snakes and stones never broke my bones so
So, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh
You need to calm down
You’re being too loud
And I’m just like oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh
You need to just stop
Like, can you just not step on my gown?
You need to calm down
Instead of backing down and feeling defeated, you invite them into your new landscape. You point out the row of Asparagus you’re using to screen your recycling bins and the delicate blooms of Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum) dancing a few inches off the ground. It’s been a few minutes and the conversation is still civil and sustainable. Your neighbor is skeptical but they’re listening.
Act IV: Celebrate and Share
As if on cue, the ruby throated hummingbird is back, darting to the flowers of a Foxglove Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis) in bloom a few feet away. You both stop, frozen, and watch it zip from flower to flower. The hummer pulls away, and there’s a pause in the conversation. Your neighbor turns to you and with a deep sigh admits that while they might not have understood what you were doing initially, and while it still isn’t something they want to do themselves, they now understand why you did it. They’ve seen the neighborhood come together and reconnect. They’ve enjoyed watching the finches eating seeds from your coneflowers and thanked you for the zucchini you left on their doorstep last summer.
This could be the beginning of a beautiful future. Over the next few years, you continue to open up your garden and share what you’ve learned and what you’re growing with your neighbors. On a walk one summer evening you pass a house three blocks over where yet another person has begun to tear up their turf. You stop to offer plants when they’re ready for them, and the neighbor shares your work is what inspired them to change. You chat for a few more minutes and then continue on your walk.
11) Let’s Get Loud, Jennifer Lopez
If you wanna live your life
Live it all the way and don’t you waste it
Every feelin’ every beat
Can be so very sweet you gotta taste it, mm-hm!
You gotta do it (You gotta do it)
You gotta do it your way
You gotta prove it (You gotta prove it)
You gotta mean what you say (C’mon you know what we’re here for!)
You gotta do it (Do it)
You gotta do it your way
You gotta prove it (Prove it)
You gotta mean what you say
Let’s Get Loud, Let’s Get Loud
Turn the music up to hear that sound
Let’s Get Loud, Let’s Get Loud
Ain’t nobody gotta tell you
What you gotta do, oh no
Picture it. A sunny, Saturday summer morning in your not-so-distant future. You step out your front door and look up the street across a rich tapestry of plantings. You don’t hear the rumble of lawnmowers. You don’t smell chemicals or exhaust fumes. Instead, you hear bird calls and insects chirping in the brush. You pluck a raspberry growing nearby and pop it into your mouth, it’s sharp, tart, and sweet flavor bursting.
You wave to your neighbor who’s planting out their latest find from the garden center and they invite you over to take a look. You chat for a few minutes before heading out on your daily lunchtime dog walk. You grin as you walk past vibrant and diverse landscapes as you think about the stories each one embodies, all of them as unique as the people you’re excited to live with: your neighbors. What a beautiful community.
12) Best Day, Kesha
Uh, I took a walk this mornin’
The sun was shinin’ for me
It got me feelin’ like oh, oh, oh, oh-ooh
The sky is lookin’ so blue
So I do what I want to
I’m feelin’ myself like oh, oh, oh, oh-ooh
I’m feelin’ so nice
I ain’t got no negative energy
High fives and good vibes
Wrote this one for all my friends
And enemies
Hey you,
This is gonna be the best day of your life, of your life, of your life
This is gonna be the best day of your life, of your life, of your life
This is gonna be the best day of your life, of your life, of your life
This is gonna be the best day of your life, of your life, of your life
Go live it up, hey
