SA/Unison, piano
Published by J.W. Pepper
These four tuneful songs deal with four species that have gone extinct: Dodo, Woolly Mammoth, Galapagos Tortoise and Tecopa Pupfish. The four songs – which can be performed as a set or separately – are sometimes set from a first-person POV where the singers take the role of the animals while pointing a wagging finger at us for allowing this to happen. A great teaching and learning experience.
Duration: 8’
Libretto:
The Dodo (2’) lyrics by Hilaire Beloc
The Dodo used to walk around
And take the sun and air.
The sun yet warms his native ground-
The Dodo is not there!
The voice which used to squawk and squeak
Is now forever dumb-
Yet may you see his bones and beak
All in the museum.
Woolly (1’ 45”) lyrics by Robert S. Cohen
We’re the ghosts of woolly mammoths and we’ve come to say:
Once we roamed across Siberia
And watched our children play,
But since the latter Pleistocene
We have gone away.
‘Cause we’re Woolly.
All toasty in our warm thick fur,
Our tusks a pearly white.
They helped us fight off predators
And demonstrate our might
Befriended by Neanderthals
Who thought us quite a sight.
‘Cause we’re Woolly.
Oh, so Woolly.
Hrumph, hrumph
Be careful where you go.
Watch Out!
Our massive trunks swing to and fro.
Hrumph, hrumph
You better step aside
Or you’ll be crushed under our hide
They’ll find you flat and mummified.
We lived to sixty years of age
And grazed on grass.
While noted for our shaggy coats,
Our teeth were quite first class.
You drew us on the walls of caves,
But soon it came to pass;
You drove us to extinction
Now it’s you we will harass.
We’ll haunt and torment you
And we’ll make you our repast.
‘Cause we’re Woolly.
We’re Woolly.
Tortoise Moon (2’) lyrics by Ronald W. Cadmus
Old and worn, with scraggly neck
Your unflinching, beady eyes reflect
Soft moon beams that ride and dance upon your shell,
Lonesome George.
Through the years by grassy streams
You have dreamed a million moon glow dreams.
As the mystic islands cast on you
their magic spell
Where you dwell.
Tortoise Moon
help George believe
Till he finds his dreams.
Tortoise Moon
show him your love
and from above
send down your bright, sparkling beams.
Lonesome George he moved so slowly
for a hundred years so proud and nobly.
Creature rare though gone too soon
you left your starry light
in the Tortoise Moon
Tale of the Pupfish (2’ 15”) lyrics by Robert S. Cohen
In the Mojave Desert,
A little fish did live.
It had a rather funny name
For that we must forgive.
Its name, Tecopa Pupfish
A name of Pupfish fame
But now that it has gone extinct
It’s driving us insane.
We’re tiny desert Pupfish
About two inches long
We hate to be so upish,
But you have done us wrong.
In South Tacopa Hot Springs,
Our cousins lived and played,
But then you had to overbuild
And chased them all away.
We like our water extra hot.
We like it salty too.
For twenty thousand fun-filled years,
Our predators were few.
But then you brought the bullfrog;
A fine how do you do.
Their appetite was mighty big
And left us in a stew.
While no Tacopa Pupfish
Are left to swim and mate.
We hope that you remember them
And publicize their fate.
The U.S. court they call Supreme
Had put them on a list.
But much too late, so now they’re gone
We’re sorry to go on and on…
We wish they still were here to spawn
And sorely will be missed.