Songs From The Wood | 10 Songs about the English Countryside | RANKED

English tea by Paul McCartney is not in it??! And he's wearing a Beatles T-shirt !

Glad for the For Absent Friends mention. A forgotten gem.

Hi Andy
I've just listened to the playlist sitting in the garden while I'm recovering from an operation: perfect soundtrack for a summer afternoon.
Cheers👍😎

Good to see Andy out and about. Good list too. Don't know about the suit jacket though - add a string vest and a head band and he could be Kidderminster's answer to Rab C.

Spencer The Rover and Tir Na Nog’s Two White Horses do it for me.

pretty cheeky that

Timeless Skies and Merlin’s Time > Al Stewart

Golf Girl by Caravan. Roundabout was inspired by driving around the Scottish countryside.

The entire Heavy Horses album!

One of those Days in England and When an Old Cricketer leaves the Crease - both by Roy Harper.

No Tull's "Jack in the Green"? You left the forests and the beings that inhabit them unprotected... 😢

You should do this at night and go full Blair Witch.

Thanks for that Andy. Thanks for giving the Delius, Vaughn Williams and Elgar a shout.. they thoroughly deserve it.. As A die hard Tully I any of the songs from SFTW or even Heavy Horses( maybe that's more agricultural than Rural)....Great choices Big thumbs up

Some good picks. Good to hear a mention for John Martyn, Small Hours is the definition of ethereal. I think Nick Drake was quintessentially English, his songs could be so light and airy, contrary to his struggles with mental health. You can't get more English than At the chime of a city clock and Hazey Jane. Some I would have found room for- Traffic, Jonn Barleycorn must die, Roy Harper, One of those days in England, and the beautiful New Grass from Talk Talk. Bowie's Blackstar had many poignant moments on it as he knew he didn't have long. The line in Dollar Days 'If I never see the English evergreens I'm running to' gets me everytime, very poignant.

Lovely video Andy, my favourite song to evoke the English countryside must be The Poacher by Ronnie Lane, so simple, so beautiful. Also just to say River Man always brings tears to my eyes, so it's not just you. All the best.

How about ' Dancing at Whitsun' by Maddy Prior and Tim Hart...?

Farmer Bill's Ploughman - Wurzels.

Oooh. Small Hours! Now yer talking!

Being non-British, the UK countryside, its folklore and, obviously its music are some of the spiritual magnets that draw me deeper. It's the same magnet that gets my soul in other countries such as Italy, Norway, etc. Funnily enough, I don't get it in America. For me, it is not translated in American music somehow. It is probably connected with the age of the nation. For me, American music is personified by the machine. My favourite Rush (Canadian, almost American) are the machine messiahs, Kansas went back to American Indian folklore. The final frontier for me's got to be the musics of nations outside Europe and North America.

Well done !Beautiful walk.
Starship Troopers was a bit left field- Close To The Edge? BTW Siddhartha was Nick Drake’s river man inspiration just as it was Jon Anderson’s. Hesse was in vogue at the time.

Is it an English thing to wear a suit jacket out in the woods? If so, where's the bowler hat?

'Forever Autumn' by Jeff Wayne, Gary Osborne and Paul Vigrass, and sung by Justin Hayward.

'Grandchester Meadows' by Pink Floyd.

songs from the wood-easily in my top 3 albums of all time. it's so dense.

Grass XTC

Time to get out a nice thick pair of hiking socks

"Every Man is a Creature of the Age in which he lives, and few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the time-Voltaire. You've done that haven't you Andy! "Thick British accent here". Now off you go...Go get a bit of fritters. Right! Now give us some proper King Crimson-Mel Collins Era Live listens. Why don't you! Review Plymouth May '71-The greatest performance of "A Sailors Tale" ever recorded! For Christs sake have a cuppa' tea!!!!

I'll give a shout out for PJ Harveys title song from her White Chalk album. Also, have you heard Polly Jean Harveys last album I Inside the Old Year Dying. Folky and English as f*ck it is (and brilliant). In fact PJ's albums are all brilliant with different musical styles varying from Indie Hard Rock, Grunge, Blues, Pop, Goth through to folk. Her album Let England shake is a very English sounding masterpiece as well with its main theme being England and WW1 . Check her out if you haven't already. My other favourite English sounding album and track is Genesis's Selling England By The Pound. Firth Of Fifth being an absolute masterpiece, in my 'umble of course.

Yes ref jazz and 'The Lark Ascending.' Often thought Coltrane had listened to it, because of the insistent repeated phrases. 🙃

Great video. Love the outdoor setting. Beautiful scenery and excellent choices.

Great topic, Andy. John Martyn is always a welcome addition. I agree that Nick Drake's Riverman is an incredible piece of music (Brad Mehldau improvising for 10 minutes over those chords is also something to hear). One album I might add is Beth Orton's Weather Alive. And even though he was Scottish, Bert Jansch's Rosemary Lane sounds pretty English to me.

Some people say you should only be proud of your own achievements. I don't like that sentiment. It is perfectly fine to be a part of something and feel pride about it. No matter if it's your children or your football team. And it doesn't have to be the successful, victorious, pompous things. I thing every english person should be proud of their country being home to a fragile genius like Nick Drake. I certainly envy you for it. Though it is a bit of an irony that a lot of his posthumous commercial success was due to a german car commercial. By the way, great video. One of your best yet.

Big Big Train Licky Lickey Hills is my fave song from the woods track.
Elgar was more German, musically, imho, closer to Richard Strauss and Mahler (Austrian but close enough to German lol)

You mentioned Clifford T Ward, but not his fantastic & deeply weird forest song: 'Path Through The Forest'. Available in a couple of versions & a tremendous cover by The Factory. My number 1 song in every wood; where the colours are blinding & we're all insane.

'Witchwood' by Strawbs.

Eggs in the Basket by Martin Carthy

An interesting top ten (is there any style of music you won't rank to?). Caravan's Winter Wine is unequivocally one of the finest pieces of music evoking the English countryside. What else do you require to spark your imagination - Richard Sinclair's iconic English vocal and lyric, and the bands subtle instrumentation and arrangement. Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn are essential. Stairway to Heaven also possesses a wonderful rural and gothic quality that never fails to evoke a thunderous English landscape. Virtually anything by the Strawbs (until Deadlines). Benedictus or A Glimpse of Heaven, When we were Young, and of course Autumn, the choice and brilliance is almost boundless. Cat Stevens with Morning has Broken, and Silent Sunlight. Finally, ELP's Jerusalem cannot be omitted from any discussion or list, alongside Led Zeppelin's wonderful evocation of a rural idyl, Down by the Seaside.

There's a certain irony that the vocal sample used in Little Fluffy Clouds is from an interview given by Rickie Lee Jones about her childhood in Arizona (quite different from the verdant English countryside featured in your video)! Nick Drake Riverman is spot on though.

Andy,worrried for you,out of breath,coughing,see the nurse ,get yourself checked out. I believe on little fluffy clouds the female voice is Rickie Lee Jones.

Love Pentangle.Also Bridget St John. Michael Chapman,Family my friend the Sun and No mules fool.

Andy you seem so at peace walking in the woods, definitely set more vids there! Starship Trooper seemed very unexpected choice but I'd agree whole heartedly. Some Zep would definitely fit, how about Tangerine, thats the way, and stairway...?

Lastly, I would have expected some SCUBA divers would descend into the lake to search for the downed plane, has no one attempted that?

You better get fit your not well😊

You will be on unusual things next

I was unshore at the begining on this video, but the longer it went on the more I enjoyed it. I love this. Also great choices. Thanks

Isn’t the English countryside Racist™️?

One Of The Days In England by Roy Harper

Very relaxing and thoughtful video, just what I was in the mood for this evening. What with the Beatles shirt, I thought for sure you were going to mention "Mother Nature's Son", but no matter. As an American who has spent very little time in the mother country, I don't have much qualification to vote on this topic, but "The Herald" by Comus always evokes a pastoral atmosphere with a particularly English tone to me. Also, surprised no one has said "North Meadow" by Giles, Giles, and Fripp yet.

I don't know Andy, I have never understood the use of the word pride in this context. for me it relates to achievement . maybe its because I wasn't born here, although my parents are both English. connection fits better for me.

Return of the Giant Hogweed by Genesis.