In conjunction with Earth Day and the global Earth Hour initiative, Belmont University is holding a contest to find their official “green” song. Five songs were chosen by a panel of professional songwriters, faculty members and environmental experts to promote environmental awareness. The competition is comprised of Belmont University students. The writer of the winning composition will receive a $500 Apple gift card and the song will be featured on their website as their official “green” song.
We at Country Universe are excited to announce that Dan Milliken is one of the finalists in the Belmont Unplugged Song Challenge. Dan wrote the witty and catchy “Goin’ Green” with his friend, Jake Hartsfield. He can even be heard singing high harmony to Hartsfield’s lead vocal, along with contributing the hilarious main spoken word portion of the third verse.
Country Universe is rooting for Dan. So, we encourage you to listen to his entry (the middle song), along with all of the other submissions. The winner will be chosen by poll voting. The winning song will be announced on April 22, Earth Day. Check out the songs, cast your vote and then come back and tell us what you think.
Kudos to Belmont University for promoting such a worthwhile cause.
And, of course, good luck to Dan!
Nice song. I voted for ya.
I thought this was well done and lots of fun going into the talking section, when it just turned extremely funny.
I laughed outloud when you carpooled with Robert on your two-seater bicycle (in your recycled t-shirt). Also, if recycling t-shirts counts as being green, I admit I was very eco friendly in my college years.
Luckily, Bill’s not quite so eco-friendly now:)
Dan’s got my vote, too.
I’m going to say “Girl, I got my own bag!” at the grocery store tomorrow.
Kevin, you should totally say that. It’d be greentastic for sure!
You guys are awesome. Leeann, I think I may owe you my firstborn for writing this post.
When did Belmont become all hippie-centric anyway? When I was there, they wouldn’t even hire non-Trinitarian Christians.
I admit to being very eco-friendly recycling t-shirts when I was in college too. Thanks for making me feel like a friend of the Earth.
Dan Milliken has my vote.
I think being surrounded by a bunch of eco-friendly people at hippie college made me more militant about doing laundry. Don’t think I ever recycled a shirt.
I’m not sure, Kevin. When did Bob Fisher become President? It seems like he’s been a big part of Belmont moving toward the middle of the road; I think he really wants the University to become a well-respected mainstream institution.
We’re not affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention anymore, so things are definitely more “open” than they probably were. But the rule that forbids any homosexual activity is still on the books (though it’s not stressed at all, so I don’t think most people care), and last year they tried to implement a complete campus ban on smoking, which I thought was absurd. And I know the school is still very obsessed with maintaining a good Christian image, to the point where I’ve heard about them actually trying to suppress some rather critical bad news, which is horrifying to hear about as a student. So I dunno; it’s hard to say what’s really going on with Belmont these days.
Thanks a million to everyone who has voted!
I voted for Julianne Hough 357 times omg lol 2 4 6 8 who do we appreciate.
j/k. I listened to all five submissions (I’m not a Grammy voter, after all) and voted for Dan.
Blake,
Who says Grammy voters even listen? Or, perhaps ’tis your point?
‘Twas my point. :)
Not all Grammy voters are slackers and Julianne Hough is not a really horrible artist either, just for the record.
Great job Dan! You got my vote!
“Girl, I brought my OWN bag!”
hilarious.
That’s my favorite part!
Awesome song, Dan! “Girl, I brought my own bag” may just become my new catchphrase.
In all honesty, Dan would get my vote even if he didn’t write the best song, but he did!
Great job! Very entertaining! And of course, as mentioned by others, the talking part was very funny. I also think the crowd vocals at the end were a nice touch too.
I agree, Kevin. His is definitely the best song of the choices. It was well produced too, I might add.
Didn’t Dan give Darius a D?
Ooo, I like that alliteration.
Alliteration is almost always awesome.
What was the result? Did Dan win?
i always aim for eco friendly stuffs because i want to help mother earth.`
<a href="My very own website
http://www.melatoninfaq.com/the-benefits-of-using-melatonin-supplement-to-promote-sleep/
^Thanks to the above comment for alerting me to this post, and to the awesomeness that is “Goin’ Green.”
Man, I sure missed out on a lot of great stuff in the days prior to my discovery of Country Universe.
Since Ben reminded me of this post, I gotta point out that one of the other five finalists was Greg Bates, who was in the year above me and is currently on the charts with “Did It For the Girl”:
http://campus.belmont.edu/mp3/sc/feelin_green.mp3
We both lost. ;-)
That’s hilarious!:)
Ha! That’s awesome, Dan.
I swear to you that I still listen to this song (its in my itunes) pretty regularly.
…first of all sorry to dan and leeann that i kinda hi-jack this thread a little for some musings about country music the way i heard it in 2012. green, actually, was the the word that got me started…
environmental awareness has always been around in country music – just take the red headed strangers “farm aid” efforts or cash’s ode to lawns and grasslands. but this year was the year, the prius was parked next to the pick-up truck and it was done in a smart and lighthearted attempt by justin moore while baiting hooks. first credit to justin moore? what sort of year in country was that? but it got even greener as the year tugged along – carrie underwood’s take at gloabal warming and the resulting increase in mid-western tornados showed her concern and taylor, turning green when writing “mean”, even went slight red when penning “…never ever, ever back together…”. guess one could come to the conclusion: 2012 had its colourful moments.
thank god not every shoots fire fighters when going down in flames. alan jackson and george strait did it the way it ought to be done. with terrific albums and two songs that easily count among their best and surely among the best of the year. aj’s “so you don’t have to love me anymore” and strait’s “drinkin’ man” reminded anyone what makes country music the genre it is – the best sounding place for struggeling with all sorts of things in life – but mostly love.
sounding good too, was jana kramer. there was a time when western series influenced the genre quite a bit. today it is rather a central eastern seashore place with a tree on a hill. so far so good. tree? green? that’s were lee brice comes into the frame. driving a green nova and watching her doin’ yoga may sound a weired on first glimpse but can be done in a most charming three and a half minutes sort of way when you have a “woman like you”. alson ridin’ the environmental wave was jason aldean, though he chose to the great overview that is reserved to new almost superstars: he looked down from a plane and saw those “fly over states” drying out last summer. say what you want superstar always find the right topic and “truck yeah” was the notorious exeption to the rule. someone had to deliver it – why not tim mcgraw this time round from a trip across the country with his wife
…, faith hill, who combined the cardio-vascular with the touristic and tupperware -“american heart” is unbreakable and all over place.
in a year that also saw “sandy” coming to new jersey and surrounding areas in heartbreaking fashion, there was also one or the other more pleasant fresh breeze to be found in country:
the trishas – crap name, yet great talents – reminded me a little of the dixie chicks in a slightly more frugal, yet earthy way, which brings us right back to “greener pastures”. they released one of my favourite albums of the year – “high, wide & handsome”. texas spat out yet another highlight of the year: miss kacey musgraves’ and her clear view on the neighbourhood and its issues, of which, saving the planet so far remains one of the minor ones, however. whether “dig two” can be seen as an “ott” atempt in the backyard by the perry siblings, where ashley monroe’s diggin had seemingly some positive effect on the roses – i don’t know, but it definitely was worth the try.
so, sorry again, for messin’ with this thread a little but al gore’s been too quiet on the issue lately, so why not musing for a couple of minutes about whether “green” is perhaps the new “blue” in country music and about what’s been kinda remarkable during 2012.
being incomplete – as any personal view on larger than life issues – feel free to add what you thought might be worth mentioning about this soon to be ending year in country.