An Eclipse Playlist

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock it would be hard to ignore the fact that in a couple of weeks a total solar eclipse is going to cross the United States. The hype has been amazing and huge crowds are expected to gather all along the path of totality. Here in Greenville we’re fortunate to live in the path of totality. I’m making preparations for our own eclipse event, and will be posting some of those preparations over the next several days. However, the first thing one needs for such an event is a good playlist. Here’s mine…

The first thing that pops into mind is the entire Dark Side of the Moon album by Pink Floyd. There is a track on the album entitled “Eclipse,”, so that one heads up the list.

I started with some obvious titles, mostly dealing with the sun, moon and darkness. A quick Google search showed that others had the same idea. I came across several Spotify playlists as well as other clickbait collections. There were some absolutely perfect pieces that I’d never heard, so I had to include those. Here, in no particular order, are the rest of my songs.

• Moon Shadow – Cat Stevens
• Moondance – Van Morrison
• Ain’t No Sunshine – Bill Withers
• Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In – 5th Dimension
• Walking on Sunshine – Katrina and the Waves
• Good Day Sunshine – Beatles
• Sunshine Song – Jason Mraz
• Sunshine Go Away Today – Jonathan Edwards
• Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival
• The Killing Moon – Echo and the Bunnymen
• There’s a Moon in the Sky – B52’s
• Child of the Moon – Rolling Stones
• Total Eclipse of the Heart – Bonnie Tyler
• Black Hole Sun – Soundgarden
• New Moon Monday – Duran Duran
• Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me – Elton John
• Blue Moon – Billie Holiday
• Sky Full of Stars – Coldplay
• I Can See Clearly Now – Johnny Nash
• You’re So Vain – Carly Simon
• Blinded by the Light – Manfred Mann Earth Band
• Why Does the Sun Shine? – They Might Be Giants
• Blister in the Sun – Violent Femmes
• Walking on the Sun – Smash Mouth
• Good Morning Moon – Marian Call
• A Place in the Sun – Stevie Wonder
• Here Comes the Sun – Beatles
• Solar Eclipse – Hollywood Principles featuring Dr. Awkward
• Chasing the Sun – The Wanted
• Black Sun – Death Cab for Cutie
• Brighter than the Sun – Cobie Caillat
• Moon – James McAlister
• Steal My Sunshine – LEN
• No Sunlight – Death Cab for Cutie
• Stars – Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
• Don’t Look Back into the Sun – The Libertines
• Moon over Bourbon Street – Sting
• You Are My Sunshine – Johnny Cash
• 2001 – Deodata
• Also Sprach Zarathustra – Richard Straus
• The Planets – Gustav Holst

I welcome other suggestions.

UPDATE:  John Kaup and John Wheeler have been working on a similar playlist for the big Furman event.  They had some of the same songs on their list, plus a few I’d missed.  Some of these would appeal to the younger Furman students, but are ones I just wouldn’t listen to under normal circumstances, such as the first on this list.

• Can’t Stop the Feeling – Justin Timberlake
• Moon River – Andy Williams
• The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Weat Shades – Timbuk 3
• Mean Ol’ Moon – Norah Jones
• I Wear My Sunglasses at Night – Corey Hart
• Dancing in the Moonlight – King Harvest
• Pocket Full of Sunshine – Natasha Bedingfield
• Boys of Summer – Don Henley
• Sounds of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel
• Fly Me to the Moon – Frank Sinatra
• Sunshine of Your Love – Cream
• Bringing Back the Sunshine – Blake Shelton
• Cheap Sunglasses – ZZ Top
• This Little Light of Mine – Raffi
• Shining Star – Earth, Wind and Fire
• My Girl – The Temptations
• When the Sun Goes Down – Kenny Chesney and Uncle Cracker
• Chasing the Sun – The Wanted