Much of the country will be mesmerized by Monday’s solar eclipse, so we’ve created a sun-splashed soundtrack for the occasion. Plus, check out the celestial picks from Local Spins readers.
There’s No Eclipsing Local Spins’ Solar Playlist: The ultimate soundtrack for Monday.
SCROLL DOWN FOR SPOTIFY PLAYLIST, READERS’ SONG PICKS
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There’s no hoopla, buzz, fuss or hubbub quite like that surrounding a solar eclipse.
Monday’s eclipse hysteria has captivated the country — and raised hotel rates to astronomical levels in cities along the so-called “path of totality.”
Granted, it will be another 20 years or so before folks in the United States will be able to catch another glimpse of an eclipse, so there are good reasons to gaze skyward on Monday afternoon (provided you’re wearing special solar eclipse sunglasses).
To enhance that experience, the Grand Rapids Public Museum will host “Solar Eclipse Day” with live-streams from partner locations along the path of totality in its Meijer Theatre, special planetarium shows and a public viewing on the Blue Bridge downtown with solar telescopes. Details here.
In Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Valley Museum also will have a live feed of “the solar eclipse in totality” in its Mary Jane Stryker Theater with viewing outdoors using free eclipse viewing sunglasses. Info here.
To further heighten this stellar adventure, Local Spins has compiled the ultimate sun- and eclipse-inspired soundtrack for your ears while your eyes ogle the sun getting blocked by the moon. Check out our picks and listen to the songs below, along with tracks selected by Local Spins readers as part of our “Question of the Week.”
THE ULTIMATE SOLAR ECLIPSE SOUNDTRACK
1. “Eclipse,” Pink Floyd (1973) – What else but this could rank No. 1 on our playlist: The final glorious blast from Pink Floyd’s epic, enduring and masterful “The Dark Side of the Moon” with the classic lines, “All that is now and all that is gone, and all that’s to come, and everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.” Oh, and there is no dark side of the moon; it’s all dark.
2. “Black Hole Sun,” Soundgarden (1994) – Not only does it accurately describe a total eclipse, but let’s face it: It’s Chris Cornell and Soundgarden’s signature tune.
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mbBbFH9fAg
3. “Here Comes the Sun,” The Beatles (1969) – Unlike the two songs above, George Harrison’s tribute to that magical orb on “Abbey Road” is as optimistic and upbeat as it gets, not to mention being insanely catchy. OK, The Beatles’ “Good Day Sunshine” comes close …
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKdl-GCsNJ0
4. “Invisible Sun,” The Police (1981) – Duh. Eclipse. Invisible Sun. Classic Police.
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VuDjJ9KIxM
5. “Total Eclipse of the Heart (Turn Around),” Bonnie Tyler (1983) – This overly obvious choice is also obviously getting lots of airplay these days. Granted, overly melodramatic pop is probably apropos for a once-in-a-generation astronomical event.
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcOxhH8N3Bo
6. “Chasing the Sun,” The Wanted (2012) – Millions will be doing just that come Monday, paying exorbitant rates for lodging along “the path of totality,” you know, like in Toledo. (Not to keep bringing up The Beatles, but “I’ll Follow the Sun” would fit nicely here, too.)
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFS5N_yAGTo
7. “Waiting for the Sun,” The Doors (1970) – Yes, those same people will be wearing funny sunglasses and peering skyward on Monday afternoon. “Now that spring has come … waiting for the sun …”
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1WnrjciO8c
8. “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” Elton John (1974) – Eventually, they say, the sun will be completely extinguished, not just obscured by the moon. But probably not before Elton, The Rolling Stones, KISS and Motley Crue mount more, never-ending farewell tours.
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxipVM_0CBA
9. “Ain’t No Sunshine,” Bill Withers (1971) – There ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone and ain’t no sunshine at about 3:14 p.m. Monday.
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuKfiH0Scao
10. “Walking on Sunshine,” Katrina & The Waves (1985) – Just couldn’t leave this off as the upbeat closer because it’s a slice of cheery pop that oozes the sort of sunniness that will be worth embracing again once the mid-day blackness of the total eclipse ebbs.
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPUmE-tne5U
HONORABLE MENTION: “Distant Sun,” Crowded House (1993) – Not only is this song gorgeous, but there’s something cosmically appropriate about it what with all the craziness surrounding the upcoming eclipse: “When your seven worlds collide, dust from a distant sun will shower over everyone …”
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkd5OQ8b0hQ
LOCAL SPINS’ ULTIMATE SOLAR ECLIPSE PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY
THE READERS’ PICKS
Kathy Nichols – “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Cryin,” by Gerry and The Pacemakers
Don Clapham – “Waiting for the Sun” by the Doors. “Can you feel it, now that spring has come and it’s time to live in the scattered sun …”
Kelly Latimer – Besides “Here Comes the Sun” and “Sunshine on My Shoulders,” Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun”
Jere Sorger – Besides the obvious, Family’s “My Friend the Sun” and The Kinks’ “Sunny Afternoon.”
Lee Chase – Bill Evans Trio – “Solar”
Diane Steed Cummings – “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” Stevie Wonder
Mark Newman – In honor of the late Aris Hampers, I have to nominate Kayak’s “See See the Sun” (one of his favorite bands, with great piano and mellotron).
Karen Dunnam – This one; “You Are My Sunshine,” state song of Louisiana.
Brian Haik – I mean, every single person reading this would agree “Dark Side of the Moon,” especially the song “Eclipse.”
Richard Krueger – Captain Obvious Department: “Total Eclipse of the Heart (Turn Around),” by Bonnie Tyler.
Michael Packer – Stackridge – “To the Sun and the Moon.” The first band produced by George Martin after he produced The Beatles (the 5th Beatle). Hey, I got both the sun and the moon in there – Cha-Ching!
Chris Deyoung – “Eclipse,” Pink Floyd
Diane Atanasoff – “Here Comes the Sun.” That song always makes me happy.
Jerry Ziomkowski – So, I’ll add Soundgarden’s song, “Black Hole Sun.” And Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.”
Kristen VanArnam – So many! “Sunshine (Go Away Today)” by Jonathan Edwards. And of course, “Ain’t No Sunshine.” And “Hard Sun.”
Monica Stegeman – “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me,” Elton John
Sarah R. Huyser – “Blister in the Sun” by the Violent Femmes
Kristen Rose – “I Was Made For Sunny Days,” The Weepies
Dooley Wilgenhof – I’ll always love “Black Hole Sun.”
Dooley Wilgenhof – And I’d like to include my song “Sunnyside.”
Kim Trugby – “Mr. Blue Sky”
Monica Stegeman – “Sunny Side of the Street,”Pogues”
Paul Brown – “Here Comes the Sun” (The Beatles)
Jack Droppers – Best song about the sun: “You are My Sunshine” (classic, sing it to my kid every night); Best album: “Ode to Sunshine” by Delta Spirit; Best band: the Soil & the Sun
Bruce Barber – “Black Hole Sun”
Tricia Boot – Feeling the urge to karaoke “Total Eclipse of the Heart” this weekend. For drama, I love John Murphy’s score from “Sunshine” (Adagio in D Minor in particular). For summery party vibes, Michael Franti and Spearhead’s “Sound of Sunshine.” For mellow, sad vibes, anything by the artist Sun Kil Moon, or the song “Sun In Your Eyes” by Grizzly Bear.
Jeff Martin – The Kinks – “Lazy Old Sun,” Velvet Underground – “Who Loves the Sun.”
Stephen Aldrich – The Kinks’ “Love Me Till The Sun Shines,” too.
Chad Michael Wedeven – Bill Withers. “Ain’t No Sunshine” when she’s gone, if “she” is the sun. It’s a stretch, I know. I know, I know, I know, I know…..
Matt Drolett – “Steal My Sunshine” – Len
Kyle Brown – “Things Behind The Sun” – Nick Drake; Honorary mention for “The Sun” – Kyle Brown & The Human Condition
Hannah Martin – “Sunshine Of Your Love” – Cream
Jere Sorger – “My Friend the Sun” by Family; The Kinks’ “Sunny Afternoon”.
Michael Van Denend – “The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas,” by They Might Be Giants, is the most instructive.
Paul Wyatt – Dylan’s version of “Lucky Old Sun” during his True Confessions Tour with the Heartbreakers.
Jerry Ford – “Lucky Old Sun,” Chesney-Nelson’ “You are the Sunshine of My Live,” Stevie Wonder; “Here Comes The Sun,” Beatles
Sarah Fairbanks Keen – “Hard Sun,” covered by Eddie Vedder for “Into the Wild” soundtrack.
Greg Orr – “Everything under the Sun is in tune…” – “Eclipse” [Pink Floyd]
Laurie Laing – “House of the Rising Sun” – The Animals
Mark Svekric – Pink Floyd, “Fat Old Sun”
Pam VandeKerkhoff – Well, of course, Soundgarden, “Black Hole Sun”
James R. Murphy Jr. – Not the best song, still worthy of mention: “I Live For the Sun” – The Sunrays.
Rich Emerson – “Moonshadow,” of course, Cat Stevens. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth, with the moon casting its shadow on its home planet. Although the sun is much larger than the moon, it is also much farther away. It is what it is, lol,
Melodee Van Bogelen Horsford – “Soak Up The Sun” by Sheryl Crow
Chad Stanton – Wait, I have a story to go with everything. In 2017, we went down to the Wildwood Springs Lodge in Steelville Missouri, right near Route 66. So this is where I photographed the total eclipse, and this photo would eventually wind up displayed at the Festival of the Arts, and Artprize. They baked eclipse cookies, and we even go to swim during the eclipse in the pool overlooking the Ozark Mountains. Meanwhile, the owner was playing the brand NEW solo album “Waiting For The Sun” by the late Rusty Young, who we got to know quite personally each time we visited as he lived nearby the lodge, and played there every year. So here is the song: Rusty Young, of Poco, “Waitin’ for the Sun.”
Brian Kelly Rampenthal – Nobody mentioned U2 – “Staring at the Sun.”
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