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Steven Routledge's avatar

Not specifically about mountains, but features one of my favourite lyrics ever. "Smile" by The Jayhawks. "Before you climb the mountain, first the foothills must appear".

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Matty C's avatar

Any reason to think of The Jayhawks is A-Okay with me.

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A Day For Clouds's avatar

Snowin on Raton, Townes Van Zandt

Man of the Hills, The Heavy Heavy

Talkin Bear Mountain Picnic Blues, Bob Dylan

Houses on the Hill, Whiskeytown

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NickS (WA)'s avatar

I was just thinking of "Snowing on Raton"

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A Day For Clouds's avatar

So good. I love the McMurtry-TVZ duet version

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NickS (WA)'s avatar

Gretchen Peters also has a nice cover (with Tom Russell): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWZPFaePsK0

FYI, most of Gretchen Peter's CDs (including that one) are only $5 -- https://gretchenpeters.com/product-category/cds/

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Midnight Oil- King of the Mountain

Ronnie Milsap- Smoky Mountain Rain

Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell- Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Grateful Dead- Fire on the Mountain

Jimmy Buffett- Volcano

Jane's Addiction- Mountain Song

Related: Shonen Knife's version of Top of the World

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Matty C's avatar

Nice. Extra points for the Shonen Knife pull.

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Pops's avatar

The Man On the Silver Mountain - Rainbow

Under a Mountain - Black Crowes

Mountain Song - Jane's Addiction

Misty Mountain Hop - Led Zeppelin

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Matty C's avatar

I knew I could count on you to bring the Rainbow.

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TS's avatar

On the Natural-Hoyt Axton

River Deep Mountain High-Deep Purple version

The Mountain Low-Palace

Gold Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory-Guided By Voices. It’ll jerk a tear to your eye.

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Matty C's avatar

Love all of these. The GBV tune gets me every damned time.

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Pops's avatar

You know what Will Oldham would do to a mountain... If he could.

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Matty C's avatar

The same thing he would do to anything else he puts in a song, right?

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NickS (WA)'s avatar

First song I think of is Ewan MacColl's "Manchester Rambler" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3H60NgsAzw

"My rucksack has oft been me pillow / The heather has oft been me bed / And sooner than part from the mountains / I think I would rather be dead"

That makes me think of Dave Goulder's "Sandwood Down To Kyle." The song doesn't explicitly mention mountains but the story behind the song: https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=50563

Gus Langlands says, "Dave did me the extraordinary honour of actually writing this song for me, in (if my memory serves me correctly) 1970. I should sing it more often. I was living in Whitley Bay at the time and I remember well receiving his letter which contained the words, "Your song is ready - when can you come and collect?". At that time, Dave was living in Glen Cottage, Glen Torridon, Wester Ross, where he was running a climbers' hostel. "

It tells the story of meeting someone on the road is who is walking down from the Scottish highlands towards the coast in search of food/shelter/warmer weather

"For the bird must flee the winter, sir / She cannot stay behind / To build her nest upon the snow /Nor can I look for mine."

John Renbourn plays it beautifully: https://youtu.be/lzuo40bIhLQ

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Matty C's avatar

Digging the Reborn version of this. Thanks for sharing.

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NickS (WA)'s avatar

So glad you gave it a listen. His guitar playing is just amazing (and the song is great).

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Kristin DeMarr's avatar

More metaphorical, but Mountain at My Gates by Foals

Mountain Sound by Of Monsters and Men

Blood on the Mountain by Ani DiFranco

Mountains by LSD

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Matty C's avatar

Nice. I can confirm at least one of these will make the final show.

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Jim C's avatar

John Denver - Rocky Mountain High.

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