If you find yourself in this corner of the Internet, it is safe to assume you heard about Neil Armstrong's passing. If not, sorry you had to hear it this way. In honor of Earth's first lunar visitor, here are the six best songs about the moon. Let us know your favorites in our comments section (a place where words have very little gravity), and check out the addendum of other moon songs that did not qualify for the list.
6. Emmylou Harris - "Moon Song" Patty Griffin wrote "Moon Song" sometime in the 2000s (at least that's what the Internet wants me to think), but other than a live DVD performance, her take on the song was not officially released. However, the angelic Emmylou Harris performed the tune on her 2008 album All I Intended To Be, and she tends to own every song she touches. The way she cowers from the microphone when she says the last word of "The moon's gonna follow me home" is chilling. If she released "Happy Birthday," somebody would hear the song at a party and ask, "Is that an Emmylou Harris cover?"
5. Neil Young - "Harvest Moon" This song makes Neil Young the second most important Neil in moon history.
4. Dismemberment Plan - "8 ½ Minutes"
"8 ½ Minutes" is a sci-fi horror story hyper-funk track about what would happen if Earthlings blew up the moon with nuclear weapons. The edited answer: We're effed. Cars freeze, power plants become dormant, and people generally freak out. Some songs use the moon in a metaphorical sense to represent the vastness of space or the insignificance of life or the omnipresence of stellar beings. This is not one of those. By focusing on the catastrophe of its destruction, "8 ½ Minutes" is a realistic portrait of the moon's practical importance and the panic its absence would ensue.
