This page lists Ecopella's
repertoire in alphabetic order and provides a brief description of each
song. Click on a song title to display its lyrics. Some songs have
video clips or short audio excerpts available and these are marked with 'click for
audio' or 'click for video'.
Visit the CD page for information about our albums - An Organism Called Earth and Songs In The Key Of Green.
Acknowledgement
Words & Music: Deb Jones, 2015
We're
indebted to Deb, director of the Solidarity Choir for sharing this
important song with us. She writes: "Solidarity Choir often find
ourselves singing first at gigs, and I like to acknowledge the
traditional owners. I’d often off-handedly thought 'we should be
singing this'. We already share one indigenous song about land rights
with our audiences. The choir were on the lookout for a song that gave
voice to how we as non-indigenous Australians feel about what’s been
going on. So I decided it was time I gave the Acknowledgement a shot.
It’s an
acknowledgement and a promise, really. We acknowledge injustices done in our name
to the Aboriginal people of this country, and we will step up and speak
out."
Across The Hills
Words & Melody: Leon Rosselson, 1963
Arranged: Christina Mimmocchi & Miguel Heatwole, 2000
Nuclear
war: the ultimate environmental catastrophe. We hear a dialogue about
the menace posed by nuclear weapons. Some would prefer not to
acknowledge its existence. Our arrangement features strong dynamic
contrasts to illustrate the urgency of the alarm raised by the sopranos
and altos and the insanely reassuring calm offered by the tenors and
basses. These roles are switched as the song nears its end and all
voices reach an uneasy accomodation with the threat.
AGL
Melody: 'ASIO' by John Dengate
Words: Miguel Heatwole, 2015
Click for audio
Standing outside the offices of Australia's dirtiest
energy company the idea struck Miguel that his late lamented friend John's
scurrilous song ASIO could well be pressed into service against these
notorious polluters. Miguel had already arranged John's song for the
Solidarity Choir and it only needed rewording.
Air
Words: James Rado & Gerome Ragni, 1967
Melody: Galt MacDermot, 1967
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2000
From
'Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical' of the late 1960s, this
song jibes at our society's production of airborne toxins. Ecopella
does not perform nude - except at the Nariel Creek Folk Festival!
All The Wild Wonders
Words: Words: Elizabeth Honey, 2001
Music: Sue Johnson, 2001
We've long loved this song from the a cappella quintet Coco's Lunch. We were absolutely thrilled to sing it with Sue Johnson and her choir Living Out Loud during our 2019 tour to Melbourne.
Ambore Medley
Words & Melodies: Traditional Bondna (Papua Niu Gini)
Arranged: Jean-Anne Jones, 1995, & Miguel Heatwole, 1997
This medley of songs comes from the Sepik River region
of Papua Niu Gini and was brought to Australia in 1995 by Henrik Ason,
a member of the Raunisi Theatre Group in Wewak. His visit was part of a
campaign called 'Big Bush Bugarup' exposing the depredations of the
logging industry that threaten Papua Niu Gini's forest heritage. The
songs were collected from the Bondna people living in the mountains
'half an hour's walk from where the road ends', and arranged by
Raunisi. Henrik taught Ambore and Pe Pe Pe Pelesimo to the Solidarity Choir in Sydney, and Emo Ki Ki Mo
to the Combined Unions Choir in Brisbane. Solidarity Choir members Jean
Anne Jones and Miguel Heatwole wrote additional harmonies.
Ambore
is about parents who have been successful in gathering food from the
forest returning to their village and their children. The steady
increase in volume is intended to depict the growing excitement at
their approach. Pe Pe Pe Pelesimo, a song handed down through
several generations of Bondna elders, reminds us how transient our
lives are compared with those of ancient forests - 'we are not here for
a long time'. Emo Ki Ki Mo finishes the medley on a celebratory
note, expressing the joy of people who live in harmony with their
forest home. (Anyone who can help us with a literal translation or
correct our errors, is warmly invited to contact us!)
Asbestos
Words & Melody: Lyle Sayer, 1984
Arranged: Emery Schubert, 2000
Medical modelling
suggests that the number of deaths in Australia from mesothelioma will
reach a peak between 2014 and 2021. Emery Schubert's wonderfully
expressive arrangement of this song contains some very fine original
passages.
Blue And Emerald
Words & Music: Miguel Heatwole, 2013
Click for audio
A tribute to the Australian Greens expressing admiration
for the personal qualities of its activists. We fear for our planet,
but take comfort from each other and from our victories.
Bonny Portmore
Words: Anonymous Irish, c. 1750
Melody: Anonymous Scottish, c. 1745
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2007
War
has always been bad for the environment. 250 years ago people in
Ireland were singing about the loss of their forests - cut down to deny
shelter to rebels and to provide the Royal Navy with timber.
Come Away With
Me
Words & Music: Tony Eardley, 1999
Click for audio
Tony
started to write a love song but somehow it became about his feelings
for the environment as well. Ecopella members have been known to weep
on stage during this song.
Co-operation Reigns
Paul Spencer, 1997
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2000
"Almost
every day we score a small, emotional victory against the colonisation
of our life essentials and, now and then, we organise co-operatively
and effectively and achieve something momentous or structural.
Hence this song, to the
tune of a fantastically hopeful song about emigrating from Tipperary to
Sydney during the gold rush." - Paul Spencer.
Co-operation certainly reigns among choirs. This ingenious work is enthusiastically sung by both the Solidarity Choir and Ecopella.
Councillor Chambers
Words & Melody: John Flecker Ross, 1987
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2009
Chambers
is a composite character, and his nefarious activities reported in this
song are taken from actual events. First performed when John and Miguel
were in the Born Again
Pagans the song has made a fairly comfortable, but still energetic, transition from rock and roll to choral music.
Denial Tango
Words & Melody: Men with Day Jobs - Stafford Sanders, Rod Crundwell and Kim Constable, 2011
Arranged: Bernard Carney, 2011
Click for video
We
were thrilled to be offered this song by Stafford, and
have it join the other tangos and climate denial spoofs in our
setlists. A big highlight for us was singing it with the authors on
stage at the 2015 Peoples Climate March.
Divest
Words: Annie Close and Miguel Heatwole 2015
Music: Miguel Heatwole, 2015
One of the
most powerful things that we can do for the future
is to stop financing its destruction and move our money to banks or
super funds that don't invest in the fossil fuel industry. As more
and more people and institutions concerned about catastrophic climate
change divest from coal and oil, the large energy corporations begin to
feel pressure to support renewables.
Drip Drop
Words & Melody: Margaret Bradford, 1998
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 1998
Click for audio
Sydney songwriter Margaret Bradford wraps some very
practical advice about household water conservation in a lively
and humorous musical package. Miguel's jazzy choral arrangement
makes the most of the onomatopoeic possibilities.
Earth Day
Words & Music: Miguel Heatwole, 2013
Originally written to celebrate Earth Day in April 2013,
this song's popularity with the choir required us to redefine its
meaning so we could sing it all year 'round. It now looks forward to
the day when the planet may celebrate the triumph of sunlit good sense
over the poisonous shadows of coal and uranium.
Earthly Love
Words & Music: Miguel Heatwole, 2015
Click for audio
A hymn celebrating the bond shared by all people who take action for
the planet, whether they've met personally or not.
Energy March
Words: Cathy Rytmeister 2010
Music: Miguel Heatwole, 2011
An anthem Cathy designed for us to sing when marching at events like Walk Against Warming.
Eroded Hills
Words: Judith Wright, 1950
Music: Christina Mimmocchi, 2003
Judith
Wright's stark description of the New England Tablelands of Northern
NSW reminds us that clearing trees for agriculture was the precursor to
the region's problem with Eucalypt dieback.
Fear
Paul Spencer, 2000
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2014
The subject of this song is never far from us, but neither are the friendly arms we need to deal with it.
Five Hundred Years
Words & Melody: Peter Klein, 2002
Arranged: Patrick Harte, 2004
This
song was inspired by the builders of a 16th century church in England.
They had the foresight to plant an oak nearby so that the building's
huge central beam could be replaced in the distant future. Five
centuries later the church was destroyed by fire and rebuilt according
to plan.
Fragile
Words & Melody: Sting, 1987
Arranged: Christina Mimmocchi, 2001
Not
only is our environment fragile, so are the human beings who defend it
and each other. Sting wrote this moving tribute to Ben Linder an
American aid worker who, together with Sergio Hernández and Pablo
Rosales, was murdered by United States funded mercenaries - as were
many thousands of Nicaraguan civilians during the Reagan years.
Green Like Me
Words & Melody: Paul Spencer, 1996
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 1999
Click for audio
Don't we all know someone who paints themselves a very pale shade
of green? This song is hilarious!
He's Gotta Go
Paul Spencer, 2014
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2014
Click for audio
Thanks to
musician Lindsay Pollack's songwriting competition on
Facebook, and the encouragement it gave to Paul, we had an amusing
tool that we hoped would come in handy at the next Federal election. We
still occasionally sing it in the past tense so that we might still
savour Paul's wit.
I Feel Like Going On
Words: Eleanor Bellstokes
Music: Andrea Sonny Woods
Click for audio
Some of us first learned this beautiful statement of resolve by performing it in our sister organisation the Solidarity Choir. Its simple message is applicable to many struggles, and Ecopella has had plenty of opportunity to sing it in our communities.
Ice Tears
Words: Cath Laudine, 2005-2006
Music: Miguel Heatwole, 2005
Click for audio
As
the tundra thaws it releases methane, a very powerful greenhouse gas,
which further contributes to climate change by exponentially increasing
the rate of global warming. We should be 'listening and taking heed.'
Land Of Light
Words & Melody: Roy Gullane, 1986
Arranged: Terry Clinton, 1999
A song of hope from Scotland's Tannahil Weavers arranged by our own Terry Clinton
Last Leviathan
Words & Melody: Andy Barnes, 1983
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2009
Since the 1980s when this song was written some whale species have
increased their numbers under the protection of an international ban on
hunting them. We consider it worthwhile to keep singing it for a number
of reasons - the ban is routinely defied by Japanese whalers, the
killing of whales is an unnecessary cruelty, and the song is so
beautiful it makes our altos cry.
Let There Be Peace
Words & Music: Christina Mimmocchi, 2015
"Writing this song was my small personal way of dealing with what i see
in the news every day. War and its glorification, abuse of
refugees, the death penalty, climate change … you know the deal
(Terrorists! Ebola! What they put in Coca Cola!)"
Let's Pretend
Words: Geoff Francis, 2011
Music: Peter Hicks, 2011
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2013
Sometimes it feels like it would be nice to do as this
song cheekily suggests. One would have plenty (of the wrong sort) of
company if one did!
Click for youtube
Listen Deep To The Land
Words & Melody: Dallas De Brabander, 2016
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2016
Listen Deep to the Land was inspired by the words of
Aboriginal writer Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann who describes deep
listening, "dadirri", as "quiet, still awareness ... and the waiting."
The song came to Dallas as she walked in the magnificent Morton
National Park near her home in Bundanoon.
Living In One World
Words & Music: Jules Gibb & Faith Watson, 2001
Some of us learned this song from Jules and the Manchester Community
Choir while touring England with the Solidarity Choir in 2001. It's one
we're fond of teaching at festivals and encouraging our audiences to
join in with.
Machines Are Closing In
Words & Melody: Paul Spencer, 1997
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2006
Click for audio
This song commemorates a battle for old growth forest in which its
author took part. An interesting feature of the arrangement is that in
Paul's original song what are now the flute and cello parts were
simultaneously picked on guitar and used as accompaniment to the
verses. Rather a feat of polyrhythmic coordination!
Make Some Music
Words: Paul Spencer, 1996.
Melody: Traditional Irish, Maggie May
A celebration of direct action for anyone tired of writing letters "that a junior clerk can place upon a shelf."
Message From Mother Earth
Words & Melody: Frankie Armstrong, 1990
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 1998
Beautiful music lamenting the harm done to our planet. "Remember,
I give you birth, remember Mother Earth"
Murray Darling
Words & Melody: Clark Gormley, 2005
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2010
When Clark was asked by Cath Laudine (See Ice Tears) to write a song
about the troubled Murray Darling river, he responded with his
trademark nerdy off-beat sense of humour. We love it!
Murrumbidgee Water
Words & Melody: John Warner, 1998
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2006
This comes from John Warner's prodigious song-cycle Yarri Of Wiradjuri
recreating the history of Gundagai's catastrophic flood in 1854. The
indigenous Wiradjuri first warned the settlers and, after their advice
was ignored, then rescued many of them. This song however deals with
the river itself, viewed from the Wiradjuri's perspective.
My Kyoto
Words & Music: Miguel Heatwole, 2006
Click for audio
Miguel realises that his environmentally motivated concern with
the minutiae of daily life sets him apart from billions of his fellow
beings, but passionately wishes this were not so. Will such behaviours
one day become mainstream?
Newell Highway
Words & Music: John Warner, 1985
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2013
This
song celebrates the Warrumbungle Ranges in inland NSW. John first
heard the tune, C.H.H. Parry's melody for the hymn 'Repton,' in his earliest childhood as a theme to a BBC radio
programme, and adapted it from that memory.
Ode To Soil
Words & Melody: Paul Spencer, 2000
Arranged: Terry Clinton, 2002
This
is the one dirty song in our repertoire. One has to admire the
ecological understanding that leads a poet to exalt the dirt beneath
our feet!
Of Trees and Humankind
Words & Melody: Wendy Joseph, 1982
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 1997
Click for audio
A passionate view of the impact on forests and indigenous people
made by brutal invaders in Europe and Australia, rendered in a sophisticated
choral format. Our sister organisation, the Solidarity
Choir made a beautiful recording of it also.
Oil On Snow
Words & Music: Brian Jonathon, 2015
Inspired by oil
drilling in the Arctic. Miguel was struck by the strong poetry and
melody of this song while he was recording Brian's solo album. An intricate
choral arrangment soon followed.
Organism Called Earth
Words & Music: Paul Spencer, 1999
Paul's manifesto is a sonic tapestry, each rhythmic thread dedicated
to the earth and its millions of creatures.
The
People Are Scratching
Words: Ernie Marrs, Harold Martin, 1963
Melody: Pete Seeger, 1963
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2002
What happens when pesticides are introduced into a finely balanced ecology? Remember that the rabbits in this song are American!
Pollution
Words & Melody: Tom Lehrer, 1965
Arranged: Wayne Joiner & Miguel Heatwole, 2002
A 1960s classic from one of the USA's most gifted satirists. Laugh 'til you cough! Then see below for his other song We Will All Go Together When We Go.
Restless
Words & Music: Miguel Heatwole, 2003
Click for audio
In the weeks preceding the US invasion of Iraq a mood of restless
tension prevailed among those who could see the evil being
precipitated.
Roads, Traffic And Authority
Words & Music: Paul Spencer, 1997
A humorous and clever dig at those authorities who've decided that
more roads are what we crave.
Shannon Rise (The)
Words & Melody: Phyl Lobl, 1987
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2002
Click for audio
Since the early 1920s, whenever the Snowflake Caddis Fly completed
its larval stage and the new adults would rise from Tasmania's Shannon
River they produced the internationally popular trout-fishing
phenomenon from which this song gets its title. In 1967, water from the
Great Lake which had fed the Shannon was diverted to a hydroelectric
project and the Shannon Rise ended. Five years later, and without
public consultation, Lake Pedder
was flooded by the Tasmanian government in an act of unparalleled
environmental vandalism. A more positive outcome underlies verse three,
which concerns the Cataract Gorge near Launceston, successfully rescued
by wilderness activists.
Sleep Well
Words: Nigel Gray, 1981
Melody: Leon Rosselson, 1981
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 1998
A chilling anti-uranium lullaby.
Stand Fast
Words & Music: Miguel Heatwole, 1998
Click for audio
Countering an individual's despair at confronting "a putrid world's decay". Comfort comes with collective action.
Take Me There
Words & Melody: Paul Spencer, 2010
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2010
Our most vehement opponents seem to live on a different planet to us,
and apparently aren't entirely comfortable there. Perhaps we could
organise a swap?
Two Wheel Tango
Words & Melody: Marie-Lynn Hammond, 1994
Arranged: Greg Furlong, 1999
Choral adaptation & additional lyrics: Miguel Heatwole, 2009
Just when we were worrying that our repertoire had too many heavy songs
in it, Miguel brought this one back from a trip to Canada! They have
slightly different slang over there, but we trust that Australians will
realise what we don't mean.
Unity (Raise Your Banners)
Words & Melody: John Tams, 2000
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2015
This rousing anthem was recorded, appropriately, by uniting
Ecopella and the Solidarity Choir. Both choirs get a good feeling from
singing it. Another powerful version of it can be found on Miguel's website.
Universe's
Daughter
Words & Melody: Fay White, 1989
Arranged: Tom Bridges, 1998
A solemn tribute to our world's ancient and fragile beauty.
Unnecessary Things
Words & Melody: Annie Kennedy, 2004
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2014
Melbourne
songwriter Annie Kennedy once sang this moving piece to Miguel at the
Nariel Creek Folk Festival and, although it took a few years to get to
it, he was very pleased to arrange it for the choir and sing it back to
her, again at Nariel Creek, in 2015
Vegetables From Hell
Words: Geoff Francis, 2002
Melody: Peter Hicks, 2002
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2003
Click for audio
We used to think this song was funny until one of us read an article
and discovered that human genes really were being put into food!
We Will All Go Together When We Go
Words & Melody: Tom Lehrer, 1959
Arranged: Deb Jones, 2018
It's hard to think
of a worse environmental catastrophe than a nuclear war. For sixty
years this song has invited folk to laugh in the face of danger.
Weary
Words & Music: Miguel Heatwole, 2006
Composed at 3am for added authenticity, Miguel's argument is that
many of us (himself included) could do a little more to help the
environment movement and relieve some of the pressure felt by fully
committed activists.
When Coal Seam Gas Was New
Words: John Spencer & Paul Spencer, 2012
Tune: Traditional English, When Jones's Ale Was New, c. 1594
A succinct, come-all-ye musical description of the impact of coal seam
gas mining on the land and people it degrades. The original song is
over 400 years old. We sincerely hope that the new words Paul has given
it will have no such longevity, but soon be out of date!
Whisper On The Waves
Words & Melody: Kaye Osborn, 2007
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2008
Kaye, from our alto section, describes her very first song as being
'about one of my saddest sadnesses.' In it she displays not only a fine
musical and poetic sensibility, but also a deep understanding of the
crisis that scientific research is revealing. This song will be on our
third album, some years from now.
Wings Of A Seabird
Words & Melody: Nicholas Carlile, 2001
Music: Emery Schubert, 2003
Click for audio
Being a marine biologist whose passion is the preservation of
seabirds, it was little surprise that Nicholas brought us a song on
that subject. Emery accepted the job of arranging it and little more
was heard for two years. Nicholas would occasionally leave messages on
Emery's answering machine consisting only of recorded seabird calls.
When the completed score was delivered to the choir we could see how
such an intricate and exciting piece of music had taken so long to
create. It would also take some time to learn, interrupted as we were
by the emigration of key members from our Sydney branch, and the
formation of new branches. Four years later (with the professional
assistance of the Sydney Lyric Strings who provided us with an
exquisite guide track) the work finally made it to disk, and was
premiered live at the Illawarra Folk Festival in 2008. Whew! But oh, so
worth the effort!
Wolli Creek
Words & Melody: Sue Gee, 2014
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2015
For songwriter Sue Gee joining Ecopella was an inspiration to take up
her pen and load it with green ink! This song celebrates a victory -
the conservation of some rare urban bushland - and will be useful for us in battles to come.
You Won't Be Fracking Long
Originally The Laughing Song by George W Johnson, c. 1895
Words: Marie Walsh, adapted by Catharine Percy Huskisson
Verse 2: adapted by Cathy Rytmeister, 2018
A delightful Knitting Nana - who claimed to be the only
Welsh person on the planet who can't sing - handed Miguel a copy of
this song at an anti-coal seam gas demo. Easy to learn, lively and fun
it soon became a favourite! Catharine Percy Huskisson is a pseudonym for members of the Liverpool
Socialist Singers. The choir rehearses at the junction of three streets
bearing those names.
You're Needed Now
Words & Melody: Dallas De Brabander, 2015
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2016
After the People's Climate March in November 2015, Dallas was disappointed
to hear so many people say how they really wanted to come but they had
family events or other amusements to attend: birthday parties, kids
performances, outings, shows, etc. Sometimes it is important to do what is right for
the planet rather than bend to the immediate wishes of family and
friends. This song is a call to action for all who say they really care
about family and their future.