10 Songs with Green in the Title You’ll Love
Songs that deal with colors can be incredibly fun because of the unique subtext the song can play around with. When it comes to songs with green in the title, that is especially true, as these songs can touch topics like green eyes or green lights, but also delve into topics such as money, jealousy, or nature. So without further ado, here are some of our favorite songs that featured the word green in the title.
Songs with Green in the Title You Will Enjoy
Let’s begin with the song “Green Light” by John Legend.
Green Light by John Legend featuring André 3000
“Green Light” was the lead single from Legend’s third studio album, 2008’s Evolver, and marked a change of pace in his musical stylings. Often known for his soulful singing and lyrics along with extensive vocal range, Legend traded the ballads for club bangers on this track.
Legend’s typical piano-playing takes a backseat to club-style synths, dance beats, and horn parts that add an element of funk to an otherwise electro-pop dance track. It’s vastly different from the style he’s often known for doing, but overall it works great between the lighthearted musical arrangement, lyrical content, and an expertly delivered rap verse from André 3000.
The song reached a top position of 24 on the charts, tying with “Ordinary People” as his most popular tune at that time. It also became his best-selling single until 2014’s “All of Me” would completely blow it out of the water.
Lyrically, the song is about Legend courting a hopeful lover while out on the town. She’s caught his eye and he’s “dying to meet” her so they can go “mess around.” He’s picking up her cues– the smiles, the dancing– and he’s ready to take it to the next level. But first he needs the “green light”; he needs her consent so the two can split the scene and “see what [her] bed’s like.”
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Green Light by Beyoncé
Beyoncé was in the early stages of what was going to become a wildly successful career when she released her second studio album, B’Day, in 2006. The album debuted at number one on the charts and sold over a half-million copies in the first week. B’Day also gave us Beyoncé’s classic hit “Irreplaceable.”
B’Day also gave us “Green Light,” the sixth and final single from the album. Compared to her now extensive body of work, “Green Light” is not often remembered well or at all by fans. Nonetheless, it’s a catchy tune, featuring an eccentric drum beat throughout the verse to drive the song forward into a brass heavy chorus filled with smart vocal harmonies, backup vocals, and other tiny touches that keep it dancey despite it being about a tumultuous breakup.
Overall, “Green Light” is a good song, but it would still be a few years before Beyoncé’s legacy and true talent would become fully realized.
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Collard Greens by ScHoolboy Q featuring Kendrick Lamar
If you like your music cool and dripping with swag, look no further than ScHoolyboy Q’s “Collard Greens,” which features one of the most celebrated rap artists of our time, Kendrick Lamar. From the jump, we get a bass heavy backing beat and a real laid-back groove behind the in-the-pocket and expertly-deliver rhymes courtesy of these two lyrical assassins.
The song is undisputedly cool and the beat makes it impossible not to bob your head or dance. Upon release, “Collard Greens” enjoyed modest success on the charts, breaking into the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, but only barely. In 2021, the song was used in a TikTok dance challenge trend and inspired a new generation to enjoy the 2013 classic.
Lyrically, “Collard Greens” employs heavy use of slang to paint a picture of ScHoolyboy himself spending money on fat stacks of weed to party and live it up. Although Lamar does not smoke weed, he was included on the song anyway and focused his verse on sexual activity and some multilingual content including Spanish and some French, a maneuver that ScHoolboy had no idea Lamar was going to do.
Either way, both of them deliver fantastic, expertly crafted verses that illustrate lyrical prowess and vocal proficiency. “Collard Greens” is an underrated classic. If you’re looking for one of the most unique songs with green in the lyrics, you’ve definitely it with “Collard Greens.”
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Seeing Green by Nicki Minaj featuring Drake and Lil Wayne
Nicki Minaj was flirting with fame at the time her third mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty was released in 2009 and the roster was absolutely stacked featuring guest spots by rap greats Drake, Lil Wayne, Gucci Mane, Mack Maine, and Busta Rhymes. It would be another year before the release of Minaj’s debut studio album Pink Friday, but the third and final mixtape showed her rap-pop hybrid stylings developing and hinted at the great success that was coming her way soon.
With all this goodness packed into an unassuming mixtape, it made perfect business sense to re-release it in 2021 featuring brand new intro track “Seeing Green” alongside Lil Wayne and Drake. The track is pure fun as the artists trade metaphor laden verses about their innumerable accomplishments, undeniable swag, and complete raw presence in the rap game. Fans can weigh in on who outperformed who, but Nicki herself concedes that her guests stole the show on this track.
The song rose to a chart position of 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 despite never being released as a single. With big industry names like Nicki, Drake, and Lil Wayne on the track, we would expect no less.
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Green River by Creedence Clearwater Revival
The ‘60s and ‘70s gave us many great classic rock bands, including The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, and The Rolling Stones. If you didn’t catch the pattern there, all of these timeless acts hailed from Great Britain, leaving patriotic Americans wondering what rock band might be best indicative of our own contribution to the revolutionary music scene that was happening then.
Enter Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Maybe it’s the twang of the guitar or that twinge of drawl in John Forgerty’s vocals that give CCR songs that irrefutably American vibe. “Green River” was the second single pulled from the 1969 album of the same name. It performed well and peaked at number 2 on the charts behind The Archies “Sugar, Sugar”, but the album’s other single “Bad Moon Rising” often is remembered more fondly.
“Green River” is a classic nonetheless with a call-and-response type guitar and vocal tradeoff amidst a mid-tempo backing beat while Fogerty sings lyrics that evoke images of a country retreat alongside a picturesque river.
The message is a simple one: “You’re gonna find the world is smoldering and if you get lost, come on home to Green River.”
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Big Green Tractor by Jason Aldean
“Big Green Tractor” hailed from Jason Aldean’s third studio album and marked his third number one single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It’s got all your usual elements of a country classic from the soulful keyboards behind a slowly strummed guitar, electric guitar accents, and a downtempo beat that pushes forward Aldean’s baritone singing.
Aldean’s lyrics tell a story of a girl in a “shiny little Beamer” who seemed almost out of place in Aldean’s simple rural world, yet he invited her in to spend some time. On a literal level, he wants to “take [her] for a ride on [his] big green tractor” but many have presumed it is a euphemism for his manhood.
Aldean has not confirmed the validity of this assumption, and the metaphor of the tractor could be less perverse and more romantic. Framing the tractor as a relationship provides a new context to the lyrics of the chorus– “we can go slow or make it go faster”, “climb up in my lap and drive if you want to, girl, you know you got me to hold onto”.
Sure, it can very much be a metaphor for sex, but it also can refer to taking things slow in a relationship, the give and take and inherent power struggles that occur in early stages, being there to hold onto one another and provide stability– in this regard, the metaphor of the tractor is very smart to credit of Aldean and songwriters Jim Collins and David Lee Murphy.
Or it’s just about literally riding on a tractor.
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Green-Eyed Lady by Sugarloaf
The 1970s gave us loads of great bands and classic tunes, one of which is “Green-Eyed Lady” by Sugarloaf. Unfortunately for Sugarloaf, this single, which peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 3, would be one of only two top 10 spots they were ever able to earn.
The song was written for singer-songwriter and keyboardist Jerry Corbetta’s then girlfriend, who had green eyes. Musically, it’s an interesting piece that fuses elements of jazz, psychedelic, and rock n’ roll using a devious low-pitch bassline and a mid-tempo drum beat with your standard classic rock Keith Moon type fills. It’s a cool song for sure, but bleeds into the common sound that was prevalent in 1970 without necessarily innovating or expanding on it.
“Green-Eyed Lady” is a classic nonetheless. It’s one of those songs you hear and say “Oh! It’s this song!” but you never actually knew who it was.
Now you do. It’s Sugarloaf.
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Leaves That Are Green by Simon & Garfunkel
A Paul Simon original that was re-recorded in 1966 to feature on Simon & Garfunkel’s classic album Sounds of Silence, “Leaves That Are Green” is about the transience of life and the things that happen in our lives. Just as the leaves turn from green to brown with each autumn, everything is fleeting. The ripples in a brook dissipate. “The love of a girl” with whom he presumably enjoyed a relationship with “faded in the night.” Even Simon’s age slips away as he gets older by the minute.
Despite the somber lyrical content and the existential questions they pose, the music is lively and cheerful. The prevalent melody is unusual and listeners are unsure if it is a guitar effect or keyboard or something different to get that unique tone. In fact, it’s an electric harpsichord. Overall, the music is very indicative of what was popular in the ‘60s from the tambourine-slapping percussion to the free-spirit type guitar and bass combo, but it’s the poetry of Paul Simon that elevates it.
The deep contemplative, almost philosophical thoughts expressed in songs like these are what sets Simon & Garfunkel apart from the pack as one of the most unique and timeless bands of that era.
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My Green Neighbour by Destrage
You have to be a little bit twisted to enjoy the musical stylings of Italian progressive metalcore band, Destrage. It’s heavy, it’s raw, yet it’s avant-garde and eclectic. The vocals of singer Paolo Colavolpe go up to an angelic mids and highs, grating shrieking singing similar to AC/DC’s Brian Johnson, low growls, and generally silly vocals.
“My Green Neighbour” hails from the band’s third studio album Are You Kidding Me? No. and features lyrics that remind the listener that, in the event of the zombie invasion, it is important to “shoot [them] in the face.” Zombies, according to lore, must be hit in the head or face to be truly eliminated.
The combination of lighthearted vocal delivery, horror themes in the lyrics, heavy percussion and distorted guitars with epic breakdowns, trilly leads, and a Pac-Man reminiscent noise fill towards the end makes for a headbanging classic from the eccentric Italian quarter.
If you’re into heavy music, metalcore, or zombies, this one’s a must listen.
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That Green Gentleman by Panic at the Disco
“Things are shaping up to be pretty odd” and they were odd indeed for the new hot commodity Panic at the Disco.
Panic had struck gold with the first album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out and became a massive commercial success thanks to their unique blend of techno dance-pop, scenester emo rock, and baroque showtune-esque style and backing by labels Decaydance, Fueled by Ramen, and Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz. Their single “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies” helped the album sell nearly 2 million copies; an incredible achievement for a budding new band.
The success of the first album set the bar impossibly high for the second album, but 2008’s Pretty. Odd. saw some polarizing changes in style and presentation that divided the fans. Not only did they drop the iconic exclamation point from their name, but the music shifted from high octane dance rock and theatrical music to a blend of new stylings.
It featured singles such as “Nine in the Afternoon” and “Northern Downpour” which combined pop sensibilities with downtempo soft rock and implemented an aesthetic similar to The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper or The Doors “People Are Strange” era.
It was odd and the changes didn’t stick. By album three, Panic! At The Disco replaced that exclamation point and returned to a style more similar to their early sound. It was just as well, because subsequent albums would cement them into top-tier pop superstar status.
“That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)” was still a great song and great single during an era where a now highly-established act was still figuring things out. Lyrically, Urie dissects what success means, if he has to leave his city, where he’s supposed to go, how he’s supposed to say goodbye to the things he came to know when he was not in the public eye.
There’s a lot to unpack in the lyrics, but the overall message is a simple and positive one– “Things have changed for me, but that’s okay. I feel the same. I’m on my way!”
And he truly was.
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Conclusion
Whether it’s the green of envy or the green of fat stacks of cash, songs with green in the title pervade all genres of music spanning a variety of topics. Many artists and bands celebrate green, and all the other colors, by writing music that commemorates the vibrant hues that give our world and its inhabitants such diversity.
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