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"Singin' for the Earth is one of the finest collections of environmental
tunes I have ever heard. Hats off to J.P. Taylor for a job well done."
---Ed Begley, Jr.

All the songs on "Singin’ for the Earth" have an environmental focus of some kind. Whether it’s destruction of habitat, pollution and recycling, or a call to action to help heal our planet, each song is really a tribute to the only home we have, the home we all must share…Earth.

J.P. Taylor talks about his songs:

"Save ‘em" is a very powerful song about the destruction of the world’s rain forests. It’s one of those songs that practically writes itself, and probably took me a total of two hours or less to finish. Mike Tomaselli’s beautiful guitar work really adds to the poignancy of this song.

"Sing About the Manatee" is a Caribbean/calypso tune about Florida’s endangered sea cow. This unique and extremely passive marine mammal deserves all the protection we can give it. Trinidadian steel drummer Nicholas James is featured on this tune along with the "Academettes."

"The Lady in the Tree" is a tribute to Julia Butterfly Hill. Julia has lived atop an ancient redwood tree in northern California for well more than a year now, protecting the tree she calls Luna, and the others in the old growth forest, from certain destruction. (You can visit Julia’s website at http://www.lunatree.org.)

Sometimes you can’t help but get "The Landfill Blues" when you see all the trash people drop on the ground or fling out their car window. It’s like, "Haven’t they gotten the word on recycling yet?" I think today’s kids are really the leaders on this issue and more adults need to listen to what they are saying (and singing!).

I think "Extinction" is a powerful song as well, because it kind of puts a new face on the animals we think of when we hear the word "extinction." Rather than imagining dinosaurs when we hear the word, we may soon be seeing images of tigers, rhinos, whales, and other creatures that once were commonplace.

As long as it is, "Every Living Thing" probably won’t get much "Top 40" airplay, but I hope its messages, both the direct and implied ones, come through. The lyrics of this song are really the heart of this album, (and by the way, mention all four oceans and all seven continents). The counting to three (in seven languages) represents the need for all cultures to pull together to repair what has been done to our planet. We all need to be Singin’ for the Earth."

"On Goes the Water Cycle" is a fun song that describes how clouds form and why rain falls to a Caribbean beat. Don’t be afraid to sing along with us on this one, come on, "E-vaporation, Con-densation, Pre-cipitation, and on goes the water cycle!" P.J. Jennings joins me on vocals on this

"Slash and Burn" describes the cutting and burning of the world’s rain forests from the animals’ point of view and asks the question, "When are we gonna learn?" Many thanks to my friend Paul Rozmus for some really awesome flute work on this one!

"The Rain Forest Song" is perhaps more motivational than instructional. It’s a song about why we need to do all we can to save the rain forests, rather than what they are and how they work. The chorus emphasizes the fact that many of today's medicines come from rain forest sources, that rain forests are an important source of oxygen, and are home to countless species of animals and plants.

I wrote "Do Something About It" in 1997 while in Switzerland teaching at the International Primary School of Zurich. I had given my students the assignment of researching and preparing a report on an endangered animal and devising a plan to save it from extinction. Seeing the lists of threatened and endangered species made me realize that we’ve got to "Do something About It."

I wrote "Antarctica" shortly after returning from a trip there. It’s a song that begins by describing this unique and beautiful continent, but it is really a description of the Antarctic food chain. The tiny shrimp-like animals known as krill feed on still smaller types of plankton. The krill are food for many animals in Antarctica, including the penguins, seals, and whales mentioned in the song.

If there is an optimistic song on this album, it’s "I Can Make A Difference." This song was also written in Switzerland while I was staying at the home of a friend. I knew when I wrote it that it was something special. I chose to end the album with this song because I believe that despite all that needs fixing on Earth, even one person---every person can "make a difference."

Meet the man behind the music, J.P. Taylor