Scenic Beauty...with a Little Help from the Beatles
Music fans, take note. Scenic America President Mark Falzone can be found speaking words of wisdom on Sirius XM’s Beatles Channel. A lifelong Beatles fan, Mark recently shared a list of his “Fab Four” favorite Beatles songs connecting the famous band’s hits with the scenic conservation cause. Here’s a look at Mark’s picks (or, listen to his segment here).
What would you add to the list? Send your playlist recommendations to us at scenic@scenic.org.
Mother Nature’s Son
“It seems appropriate that as we talk about scenic beauty, we start with nature. And what song to better represent that than ‘Mother Nature’s Son’ from the Beatles’ White album.”
Penny Lane
“It’s also important to talk about scenic beauty in the built environment. This is what we call place-making. It applies to all settings: urban, suburban, and rural. Creating a unique sense of place through planning, design, and architecture is critical for scenic beauty where we live and work. You should be able to know where you are, just by looking around. Let’s listen to a song where the Beatles painted a picture of a unique place, beneath the blue suburban skies, on Penny Lane.”
Rocking Chair in Hawaii
“So far we’ve heard about elements that create scenic beauty from both the natural and built environments, but we need to keep in mind that scenic beauty means keeping visual blight, such as billboards or overhead wires out of our neighborhoods. Four states in the U.S. have banned billboard blight completely. You won’t find a single billboard in these four states. One of those states is Hawaii. In honor of that, and to represent the calmness we gain when we eliminate visual blight from our lives, I’d like to play George Harrison’s ‘Rocking Chair in Hawaii,’ (from his Brainwashed album).”
We’re On the Road Again
“Scenic America does much of our work trying to make our roads and highways more beautiful. We work to promote scenic byways in our country. My last song is Ringo Starr’s “We’re on the Road Again,” a great song to represent scenic byways.”