Singing is a big part of Ecojustice Camp. Below are lyrics to some of the songs we’ll be singing at camp. Lyrics are copyright their respective authors, and are included here for educational purposes. (Note that we have changed some of the song lyrics.)
We’ve provided some links to videos if you want to learn some of the songs ahead of time. We’ve included a few of our own Ecojustice Camp songs. There are songs and videos representing a diversity of voices.
1. THE ADAPTATION SONG
Dan Harper
1. I’m a fox, I’m a fox, I am a Gray Fox,
Make my den in caves or trees or in among rocks,
I am good at climbing trees, and balancing on logs,
I’m a fox, I’m a fox, I am a Gray Fox.
Chorus:
Animals adapt to their environments
So they can meet all of life’s requirements.
What they eat, and where they live, and when they take a nap:
There are many ways that animals adapt.
2. I’m a falcon, I’m a falcon, I’m a Peregrine Falcon,
I’m the fastest animal, I hunt with my sharp talons,
I’m the one maintaining pigeon population balance,
I’m a falcon, I’m a falcon, I’m a Peregrine Falcon.
2. ALL GOD’S CRITTERS
Bill Staines
1. Listen to the bass, it’s the one in the bottom
Where the bullfrog croaks and the hippopotamus
Moans and groans with a big to-do,
And the old cow just goes, Moo.
Dogs and cats, they take up the middle,
Where the honeybee hums and the crickets fiddle,
The donkey brays and the pony neighs,
The old coyote howls.
Chorus:
All God’s critters got a place in the choir,
Some sing low, and some sing higher,
Some sing out loud on the telephone wire,
And some just clap their hands or paws, or anything they got, now.
2. Listen to the top where the little birds sing,
On the melody with their high notes ringing,
The hoot owl hollers over everything,
The jay bird disagrees.
Singing in the night time, singing in the day,
The little duck quacks and is on his way,
The possum ain’t got much to say,
The porcupine talks to himself.
Chorus
3. It’s a simple song of living and it’s sung everywhere,
By the ox and the fox and the grizzly bear,
The grumpy alligator and the hawk above,
The sly raccoon, and the turtle dove.
Chorus
Annie Patterson and Peter Blood singing this song.
3. ARAGON MILL
Si Kahn
1. At the east end of town, at the foot of the hill,
Stands a chimney so tall that says Aragon Mill.
But there’s no smoke at all coming out of the stack,
The mill has shut down, and it ain’t coming back.
Chorus: And the only tune I hear
Is the sound of the wind
As it blows through the town,
Weave and spin, weave and spin.
2. Now I’m too old to change, and I’m too young to die,
And there’s no place to go for my old man and I.
There’s no children at all in the narrow empty streets
Now the looms have all gone, it’s so quiet I can’t sleep.
3. Now the mill has shut down, it’s the only life I know,
Tell me where will I go, tell me where will I go.
Si Kahn singing this song. “Aragon Mill” has been adopted by people around the world, any place where mills closed and people lost their jobs.
4. BIG YELLOW TAXI
Joni Mitchell
1. They paved paradise, put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique and a swinging hot spot
Chorus:
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone
They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.
2. They took all the trees, put ’em in a tree museum,
And they charged all the people a dollar and a half just to see ’em.
Chorus
3. Hey farmer, farmer, put away that DDT, now.
Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees (please!).
Chorus
4. Late last night I heard the screen door slam,
And a big yellow taxi came and took away my old man.
Chorus
Rita Ora singing Big Yellow Taxi.
5. BLUE BOAT HOME
Peter Mayer
1. Though below me I feel no motion,
Standing on these mountains and plains.
Far away from the rolling ocean,
Still my dry land heart can say:
I’ve been sailing all my life now,
Never harbor or port have I known,
The wide universe is the ocean I travel,
And the earth is my blue boat home.
2. Sun my sail and moon my rudder,
As I ply the starry sea,
Leaning over the edge in wonder,
Casting questions into the deep.
Drifting here with my life’s companions,
All we kindred pilgrim souls
Making our way by the light of the heavens,
In our beautiful blue boat home.
3. I give thanks to the waves upholding me,
Hail the great winds urging me on.
Greet the infinite sea before me,
Sing the sky my sailor’s song:
I was born upon the fathoms,
Never harbor or port have I known.
The wide universe is the ocean I travel,
And the earth is my blue boat home.
Peter Mayer singing Blue Boat Home.
6. BRANCHING OUT
John Gorka (adapted)
1. When I grow up, I want to be a tree,
Want to make my home with the birds and the bees
And the squirrels — they can count on me,
When I grow up, I’m going to be a tree.
2. I’ll let my joints get stiff, root my feet in the ground,
Take the winters off, and settle down,
I’ll keep my clothes till they turn brown,
When I grow up, I’m going to settle down.
Chorus: I’m going to reach [3 times] reach for the sky.
I’m going to reach [3 times] till I know why.
3. When the spring comes by, I’m going to get real green,
When my flowers come out, I’ll be a bumble-bee’s dream,
On windy days, I’ll bend and lean,
When I grow up, I’m going to get real green.
4. And if I die from disease or thunder,
Please don’t turn me into lumber,
I’d rather be a hollow nest
Where birds and mammals can take their rest.
Chorus
7. CIRCLE GAME
Joni Mitchell
1. Yesterday, a child came out to wonder,
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar,
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder,
And tearful at the falling of a star.
Chorus:
And the seasons, they go round and round,
And the painted ponies go up and down,
We’re captive on a carousel of time.
We can’t return, we can only look
Behind from where we came,
And go round and round and round in the circle game.
2. Then the child moved ten times round the seasons,
Skated over ten clear frozen streams,
Words like “when you’re older” must appease him,
And promises of someday make his dreams.
Chorus
3. Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now,
Cartwhells turn to carwheels through the town,
And they tell him, “Take your time, it won’t be long now
Before you drag your feet to slow the circles down.”
Chorus
4. So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty,
His dreams have lost some grandeur coming true,
There’ll be new dreams, maybe better dreams, and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through.
Chorus
Sweet Honey in the Rock singing Circle Game. We don’t sing it quite like this, but we try!
8. COUNTRY ROADS OF MASSACHUSETTS
John Denver (adapted)
1. Almost heaven, Massachusetts,
Berkshire Mountains, wide Atlantic Ocean,
Life is old there, older than the trees,
Younger than the hillsides, growing like a breeze.
Chorus:
Country roads, take me home, to the place I belong:
Massachusetts, in the woodlands, take me home, country roads.
2. All my memories gather round her,
Pine-tree lover, sailor on blue waters,
Summer rainstorms, clearing to blue skies,
Misty shapes of hemlocks, teardrops in my eyes.
Chorus
3. I hear a voice, in the morning hours it calls me,
Radio reminds me of my home far away,
Driving down the road I get a feeling that
I should have been home yesterday, yesterday.
Chorus
This song is sung around the world. Here’s Nishida Hikaaru singing Country Roads. And lots of people have adapted this song to where they live, just as we’ve done. Here’s the great Israel Kamakawiwoʻole singing about country roads in Hawai’i.
9. DE COLORES
Traditional
1. De colores, de colores se visten los campos en la primavera
De colores, de colores son los pajaritos que vienen de afuera
De colores, de colores es el arco iris que vemos lucir
Chorus: Y por eso los grandes amores de muchos colores
Me gustan a mi y por eso los grandes amores
De muchos colores me gustan a mi
2. Canta el gallo con el quiri quiri quiri quiri quiri
La gallina, la gallina con el cara cara cara cara cara
Los polluelos/pollitos con el pio pio pio pio pi
Here’s José-Luis Orozo singing this song.
This is a children’s song, but was also an important song for Cesar Chavez, one of our Ecojustice Elders, and the movement to create safe and ecologically friendly conditions for farm workers. Listen to José-Luis Orozco’s explanation of this song as well. Abby Rivera’s translation of the lyrics into English:
In colors, the fields drape themselves in profusion of colors in springtime
In colors, in colors the young birds arriving from afar
In colors, in colors the brilliant rainbow we spy
And that’s why the great love of infinite colors is pleasing to me.
The rooster sings, the rooster sings with a cock-a-doodle-do (kiri, kiri)
The hen, the hen with a cluck, cluck, cluck (kara, kara)
The baby chicks, the baby chicks with a cheep, cheep, cheep (pio, pio)
(Source: UC San Diego, Songs and Stories Sung and Told by UFW Volunteers)
10. DOWN BY THE BAY
Traditional
Down by the bay, where the watermelon grow,
Back to my home, I dare not go,
For if I do, my mother would say:
Did you ever see a…..
Down by the bay!
Here’s a recording with Raffi Cavoukian, in a video with scrolling lyrics.
There are LOTS more verses, pick some you’d like to bring to camp, or make up your own!
an ant, eat an elephant?
a beagle, flying with the seagulls?
a bear, combing his hair?
a bee, with a sunburnt knee?
a beetle, threading a needle?
a bunny, eating milk and honey?
a cat, swing a baseball bat?
a chicken, do some guitar pickin’?
a chimp, flying in a blimp?
a cockatoo, playing a kazoo?
a cow, with a green eyebrow?
a crab, drive a taxicab?
a deer, throwing a spear?
a dog, dancing with a frog?
a dragonfly, eating an apple pie?
a duck, in a pickup truck?
an eagle, married to a beagle?
a fish, do a hula in a dish?
a fly, wearing a tie?
a fox, hiding in a box?
a frog, hopping on a dog?
a giraffe, who really made you laugh?
a goat, in a ferry boat?
a goose, kissing a moose?
a hawk, knitting a sock?
a hog, going out to jog?
a horse, on a golf course?
a kangaroo, tying her shoe?
a lizard, dressed for a blizzard?
a llama, wearing striped pajamas?
a lobster, shooting at a mobster?
a loon, in a hot air balloon?
a mink, at the skating rink?
a moose, drinking apple juice?
a mouse, build a great big house?
a mule, swimming in a pool?
an octopus, who liked to swear and cuss?
an owl, drying on a towel?
a pig, dancing a jig?
a platypus, drive a shuttle bus?
a rat, with a great big hat?
a seal, on a ferris wheel?
a sheep, driving a jeep?
a slug, give a bug a hug?
a snail, with a dinner pail?
a snake, baking a cake?
a spider, drinking apple cider?
a turkey, who liked to eat beef jerky?
a whale, with a polka-dotted tail?
a wombat, marching off to combat?
a yak, doing jumping jacks?
11. EVERY LIVING THING
Dan Harper
1. Red-tailed Hawks like to eat Short-tailed Shrews when they can,
Shrews hunt for earthworms, it’s on their menu plan,
Earthworms eat compost, and have since time began.
Chorus:
Every living thing needs another living thing to survive,
Every living thing needs another living thing to survive,
Living things depend on other living things to stay alive.
2. Foxes eat rabbits and other herbivores,
Rabbits eat grasses and fruits and lots of forbs,
Plants make their own food from sun and soil and chlorophyll.
Chorus
3. Fishers can safely hunt Porcupines, so they say,
But when they die, then it’s their turn to be prey,
Vultures and microbes eat dead things, and helping them decay.
12. FLAMING UKULELE IN THE SKY
Pops Bayless (adapted)
1. I was an oilman, fooled lots of folks,
Said climate change was just a hoax,
But then a vision stopped all my lies—
A flaming ukulele in the sky.
Chorus:
That flaming ukulele in the sky, lord, lord,
That flaming ukulele in the sky,
It had four sweet golden strings, and the sound of angel wings,
That flaming ukulele in the sky.
2. I ran a CAFO,* locked up my pigs,
Made a pile of feces that was way too big,
But I went organic, I’ll tell you why,
Saw a flaming ukulele in the sky.
Chorus
3. I manufactured cheap herbicides
Which killed both humans and birds besides,
But I stopped so I could testify
’Bout that flaming ukulele in the sky.
Chorus
4. So as you wander life’s rocky road
And start to stumble beneath the load,
Your sweat and toil will sanctify,
That flaming ukulele in the sky.
Last chorus (slow):
It had four sweet golden strings,
And the sound of angel wings
That flaming ukulele in the sky.
*A “CAFO” (CAY-foe) is a “Concentrated Animal Feedlot Operation,” where animals are confined in small spaces, have to eat where they urinate and defecate, and never see the light of day. CAFOs are known for huge concentrations of animal waste, which not only smell terrible but also pollute the surrounding groundwater — which can cause problems to nearby human communities that rely on wellwater for their drinking water.
13. GARBAGE
Bill Steele
1. Mister Thompson calls the waiter, orders steak and baked potato
Then he leaves the bone and gristle and he never eats the skins;
The busboy comes and takes it, with a cough contaminates it,
And puts it in a can with coffee grinds and sardine tins.
The truck comes by on Friday and carts it all away,
And a thousand trucks just like it are converging on the Bay, oh—
Garbage (garbage, garbage, garbage), Garbage (garbage, garbage)
We’re filling up the sea with garbage,
What will we do when there’s no place left to put all the garbage?
2. Mr. Thompson starts his Cadillac and winds it down the freeway track
Leaving friends and neighbors in a hydrocarbon haze,
He’s joined by lots of smaller cars all belching gases to the stars.
There they form a seething cloud that hangs for thirty days,
And the sun licks down into it with an ultraviolet tongue,
Till it turns to smog and settles down and ends up in our lungs, oh—
Garbage (garbage, garbage, garbage), Garbage (garbage, garbage)
We’re filling up the sky with garbage
What will we do When there’s nothing left to breathe but garbage?
3. Getting home & taking off his shoes he settles down with the evening news,
While the kids do homework with the TV in one ear;
& Superman for the thousandth time sells talking dolls and conquers crime,
Dutifully they learn the date of birth of Paul Revere,
In the paper there’s a piece about the mayor’s middle name,
And he gets it done in time to watch the Allstar Bingo Game, oh—
Garbage (garbage, garbage, garbage), Garbage (garbage, garbage)
We’re filling up our minds with garbage
What will we do when there’s nothing left to read?
And there’s nothing left to need; and there’s nothing left to watch;
And there’s nothing left to touch; and there’s nothing left to walk upon;
And there’s nothing left to talk upon; and nothing left to see;
And there’s nothing left to be — but garbage! (garbage, garbage, garbage)
14. THE GARDEN SONG
David Mallet
Chorus: Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow,
All it takes is a rake and a hoe, and a piece of fertile ground.
Inch by inch, row by row, someone bless these seeds I sow,
Someone warm them from below till the rains come tumbling down.
1. Pulling weeds and picking stones, we are made from dreams & bones,
Feel the need to grow my own, cause the time is close at hand.
Grain for grain, sun and rain, find my way in nature’s chain,
Tune my body and my brain, to the music from the land.
2. Plant your rows straight and long, temper them with prayer and song,
Mother Earth can make you strong, if you give her love and care.
Old crow watching hungrily, from his perch in yonder tree,
In my garden I’m as free as that feathered thief up there.
Here’s a video of this song with kids dancing in a garden, kinda weird but nice.
15. HEAD, SHOULDER, KNEES, AND TOES (Ecology version)
1. Peregrine Falcons verse:
Head, talons, wings, and beak, wings and beak….
And dark sideburns and head and cheek….
2. Gray Foxes verse:
Head, black-striped tail, gray paws, tail and paws….
And eyes and ears and snout and claws….
16. I LOVE THE MOUNTAINS
Anonymous
I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills,
I love the flowers, I love the daffodils,
I love the fireside when all the lights are low,
Boom-dee-ah-dah [4 times]
Joanna Turner singing this as a round. We sing the last line a little differently than she does.
17. MICHAEL, ROW YOUR BOAT ASHORE
Trad. African American
Chorus: Michael, row the boat ashore, hallelujah [2 times]
River Jordan is deep and wide, hallelujah,
Milk and honey on the other side, hallelujah.
Won’t you help to trim the sail, hallelujah,
Won’t you help to trim the sail, hallelujah.
Michael’s boat’s a music boat, hallelujah, [repeat]
Joe and Eddie singing Michael Row the Boat Ashore. They sing somewhat different words than we do.
18. ROLL THE OLD CHARIOT
Traditional sea shantey (stamp and go shanty, sung when hauling the weather braces to tack the ship)
Chorus:
We’ll roll the old chariot along (3x)
And we’ll all hang on behind.
1. A plate of Irish stew wouldn’t do us any harm….
2. A nice watch below wouldn’t do us any harm…
3. If the captain’s in the way, then we’ll roll right over him…
4. We’ll be all right if we make it round the Horn…
19. SWIMMING TO THE OTHER SIDE
Pat Humphries
1. I’m alone and I am searching,
Hungering for answers in my time,
I am balanced at the brink of wisdom,
I’m impatient to receive a sign,
I move forward with my senses open,
Imperfection will be my crime,
In humility I will listen,
We’re all Swimming to the Other Side.
Chorus: We are living ’neath the Great Big Dipper,
We are washed by the very same rain,
We are swimming in the stream together,
Some in power and some in pain,
We can worship the ground we walk on,
Cherishing the beings that we live beside,
Loving spirits will live forever,
We’re all Swimming to the Other Side.
2. On this journey through thoughts and feelings,
Binding intuition, my head, my heart,
I am gathering the tools together,
I’m preparing to do my part,
All of those who have come before me,
Band together to be my guide,
Loving lessons that I will follow,
We’re all Swimming to the Other Side.
Chorus
3. When we get there we’ll discover,
All of the gifts we’ve been given to share,
Have been with us since life’s beginning,
And we never noticed they were there,
We can balance at the brink of wisdom,
Never recognizing that we’ve arrived,
Loving spirits will live forever,
We’re all Swimming to the Other Side.
Chorus
Pat Humphries singing this song.
Harmony part words (sung with chorus), adapted from words by Lui Collins, which we learned from Laurie Loosigian:
We are living
We are dwelling
In a grand and
Awesome time,
We can worship,
We can cherish,
All the ones we
Live beside.
20. SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT
Wallace and Minerva Willis, c. 1840
Chorus: Swing low, sweet chariot, coming for to carry me home [2 times]
1. I looked over Jordan, & what did I see, a band of angels coming after me
2. I’m sometimes up & sometimes down, but still my soul is freedom bound
3. If you get there before I do, tell all my friends I’m coming too
The immortal Fisk Jubilee Singers performing this song a hundred years ago.
Wallace and Minerva Willis were enslaved by a Choctaw who lived in Oklahoma. They taught this song to someone who then taught it to the Fisk Jubilee Singers, who made it famous. This song was probably an Underground Railroad song, so “Jordan” would have been the Red River in Oklahoma (or other rivers in other parts of the South), and “angels” would have been conductors on the Underground Railroad.
21. THROW IT OUT THE WINDOW
With this one, you sing a nursery rhyme followed by, “Throw it out the window.”
22. WATER
Bob Reid
1. Water, water, everywhere and not a drop to spare
Water in the ground, water in the air
Though it may evaporate it never goes away
It snows on top the mountain, melts and flows into the bay.
Chorus: Animals need water, people need it too
Keep it clean for me and I’ll keep it clean for you [2 times]
2. Now you can take a shower in it, you can wash your hair,
You can wash your clothes or wash your teddy bear,
Really clean water is getting kinda rare,
If we want to keep it, people have to care.
3. Now water is rain, water’s a flood,
Water turns dirt into mud,
Sometime water’s blue, sometimes water’s green,
Sometimes water’s dirty and sometimes water’s clean.
4. Now they say the ocean’s filling up with stuff like DDT,
It shows up in the fish and then in you and me,
If we drink too much of it we’ll wind up in bed,
If we drink enough of it we may wind up dead.
Bob Reid & the U.N. Childen’s Choir singing “Water” at the United Nations.
Ecojustice Camp 