Waste/recycling songs??

Subject: Waste/recycling songs??
From: greg stephens
Date: 10 Nov 02 - 06:06 PM

Doing a kid's project. Anybody come up with some song suggestions? Got as far as "My old Man's a Dustman"(good old Lonnie, always turns up trumps). Anything else spring to mind?

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 10 Nov 02 - 06:25 PM

"I like My Women just a Little on the Trashy Side" ?

Murray

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: rangeroger
Date: 10 Nov 02 - 06:29 PM

Shel Silverstein's "Sarah Cynthia Silvia Stout".

I used to do this song as a Park Ranger when working with 2nd and 3rd graders. A lot of fun.

rr

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: mmb
Date: 10 Nov 02 - 06:55 PM

First one that comes to my mind is "GARBAGE!" - - Bill Steele

Tom Paxton's "Whose Garden Was This?"

More later. M.

Subject: Lyr Add: SARAH CYNTHIA SYLVIA STOUT (Silverstein)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Nov 02 - 08:29 PM

Here's a transcription of "Sarah" that I found at < ahref=http://www.migrant.org/assets/literature/sarah_cynthia_sylvia_stout.cfm>this site (click).

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out
Shel Silverstein


Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Would not take the garbage out!
She'd scour the pots and scrape the pans,
Candy the yams and spice the hams,
And though her daddy would scream and shout,
She simply would not take the garbage out.
And so it piled up to the ceilings:
Coffee grounds, potato peelings,
Brown Bananas, rotten peas,
Chunks of sour cottage cheese.
It filled the can, it covered the floor,
It cracked the window and blocked the door
With bacon rinds and chicken bones,
Drippy ends of ice cream cones,
Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel,
Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal,
Pizza crusts and withered greens,
Soggy beans and tangerines,
Crusts of black burned buttered toast,
Grisly bits of beefy roasts...
The garbage rolled down the hall,
It raised the roof, it broke the wall...
Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,
Globs of gooey bubble gum,
Cellophane from green baloney,
Rubbery blubbery macaroni,
Peanut butter, caked and dry,
Curdled milk and crusts of pie,
Moldy melons, dried-up mustard,
Eggshells mixed with lemon custard,
Cold french fries and rancid meat,
Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.
At last the garbage reached so high
That finally it touched the sky.
And all the neighbors moved away,
And none of her friends would come to play.
And finally Sarah Cynthia Slylvia Stout said,
"Ok, I'll take the garbage out!"
But then, of course, it was too late...
The garbage reached across the state,
From New York to the Golden Gate.
And there, in the garbage she did hate,
Poor Sarah met an awful fate,
That I cannot right now relate
Because the hour is much too late.
But children, remember Sarah Stout
And always take the garbage out!

---

Click for alternate lyrics

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Genie
Date: 10 Nov 02 - 09:52 PM

I've heard "On Ilka Moor Bhat Hat" referred to as "the ultimate recycling song!" ;-D

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Mr Happy
Date: 10 Nov 02 - 09:57 PM

en regarde re-cycling- all my new fliers 4 'mr happys come-all-ye' r on recycled paper.

i'm using the other side of junk mails & out-dated office memos- some r on coloured paper!

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: mg
Date: 10 Nov 02 - 11:55 PM

there's one about he/she starts out with a coat make works it down to a button...can't say that I know it though.

mg

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: mg
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 12:12 AM

and there is Dolly Parton's coat of many colors. mg

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Genie
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 12:42 AM

Mary, that one is called "I Had A Little Overcoat" (in English), and ich hab vergessen the Yiddish title. It's in Rise Up Singing. (I'm not at home, or I'd look it up.) Great song.

genie

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Genie
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 12:44 AM

Joe Offer posted the English and Yiddish lyrics here:

Hob Ich Mir A Mantl / I Had A Little Overcoat

Subject: Lyr Add: THE RECYCLE SONG (Cathy Fink)
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 12:46 AM

THE RECYCLE SONG

        By Cathy Fink 1990


chorus:

Go tell your neighbor, go tell a friend
Before you toss that garbage try to use it again

verse 1:

Get some bags and boxes, now don't run short
Then gather up your garbage and sort, sort, sort
Put the cardboard in here, that's box number one
Don't get tired 'cause you're not done
Clear glass goes in box number two
Keep on sorting 'cause we're not through
Brown glass goes in box number three
Box number four is the last, you'll see
For the green glass is all that's left
And it recycles just like the rest

Verse 2:

Now separate your paper into three different piles
You know you're recycling it's the latest style
Rainbow colors have their own box
You can mix 'em up like you do your socks
All the white paper that you find
Has its own place in the recycle line
Newspapers go in their very own stack
Tie 'em in a bundle or a neat little pack
When you recycle paper you're saving trees
So try that chant along with me

Verse 3:

Aluminum foil costs a lot to make
And it takes forever to biodegrade
So use it over and over each day
And when it's spent don't throw it away
Make an aluminum foil ball
And your recycle basket can catch it all
Top it off with aluminum cans
Not much goes in your garbage can
And speaking of cans that food comes in
Save that soup or tuna fish tin
Take it to the recycle yard
Recycling is fun and not very hard

This song is done as a "rap" chant accompanied only by finger snapping. We learned it from Sally Rogers' tape "Piggyback Planet".
When we do it we use bones - real ones like from a cow. Nothing like a recycled instrument

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: greg stephens
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 01:54 AM

Thanks everyone...this is great. keep'em coming.

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: mg
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 01:57 AM

I think there was one about that river in Delaware catching fire because of all the pollution. Oh, black water, blackwater...I

mg

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Jock Morris
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 03:31 PM

Have you heard the song "Cows with guns"? The man who wrote it also wrote a recycyling song called (I think) 'The Recycle Rap'.

Scott

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Genie
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 05:13 PM

"Love is wonderful, The Second Time Around..."

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 05:50 PM

Is a song about pollution any good?

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: artbrooks
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 06:30 PM

Better than "On Ilkly Moor Bat Hat" as the ultimate recycling song is "Worms Crawl In"...it's in the DT.

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Homeless
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 08:47 PM

Tom Chapin has one called "Good Garbage", tho I don't have the lyrics.

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Genie
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 08:53 PM

But, Art, the "Worms Crawl In" song only takes recycling as far as the worms. "Ilky Moor" goes full circle.

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Genie
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 08:54 PM

How about "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?"

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: open mike
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 09:43 PM

Don't put your trash in my dustbin,
My dustbin, my dustbin,
Don't put your trash in my dustbin, my dustbin's full

Fish and chips and vinegar, vinegar, vinegar,
Fish and chips and vinegar
Deedle deedle deedle dum (I forget this line)

This is a round...

Or you can say “my back yard” on the first verse
But you might get accused of being a NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard)

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: mmb
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 10:38 PM

Just because I don't see it doesn't mean no one has posted it - - something to the effect that "It really isn't garbage til you throw it away!"

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 12:35 AM

MMB beat me to it: The chorus runs:

It isn't really garbage till you mix it all together;
It isn't really garbage till you throw it away.
So separate you paper, plastic, compost, glass and metal--
And then you get to use it all ano o ther day. [That syllabification, not misspelling.]

I will put in a call to Dan Einbender and ask him to post the rest of the song.

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 08:14 AM

John Kirkpatrick wrote a song about a dustman, but I can't remember it's title or the words.

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Charley Noble
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 02:46 PM

Another vote for Bill Steel's "Garbage".

During the Reagon years our caulking gun drill team chanted:

Radiation on the breeze,
Blame it on the killer trees!

Maybe you had to be there.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Hollowfox
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 02:50 PM

I seem to vaguely remember a song from World War II based on the catchphrase "Use up, wear out, make do, or do without." Sung by a group like the Andrews Sisters. I have no idea if I'll have time to track this down here at work; I'm just hoping to jog somebody's memory. Or maybe somebody can write a song now...

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Genie
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 03:02 PM

Check out Rise Up Singing's "Ecology" section. I think there's a "Use It Up" song there, plus others that may deal with recycling.

Genie

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: outfidel
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 03:26 PM

Not really about recycling per se, but...Pete Seeger's version of "Sailin' Up/Sailin' Down" goes something like:

Sailin' up -(sailin' up)
Sailin' down -(sailin' down)
up -( down )
down -( up )
Up and down the river sailin' on
Stoppin' all along the way
The river may be dirty now, but its gettin cleaner everyday

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 04:02 PM

How about Utah Phillips' All Used Up ?

Murray

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Charley Noble
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 04:47 PM

Ah, Murray, you beat me to it!

Charley Noble

Subject: Lyr Add: YOU CAN'T PUT YOUR MUCK IN OUR DUSTBIN
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 04:07 AM

Open Mike: got started with;
DON'T PUT YOUR TRASH IN MY DUST BIN,
But this one (in the version I recall) is great for kids.
____________________________________________

YOU CAN'T PUT YOUR MUCK IN OUR DUSTBIN
(author unknown)

Oh you can't put you muck in our dustbin our dustbin, our dustbin.
You can't put your muck in our dustbin, our dustbin's full.
There's square ones and round ones,
And round ones and square ones,
Oh, You can't put your muck in our dustbin, our dustbin's full.

(Add verses ad nauseum)
There's long ones and short ones,
And short ones and long ones.

There's red ones and blue ones,

There's light ones and dark ones

Fish and chips and vinegar, vinegar, vinegar,
Fish and chips and vinegar,
Pepper pepper pepper pots!


Notes: heard at various campfires/ sing songs from late 1950s onwards
(Children at camp fires etc, are often split into two teams to provide alternate verses of contradictory items. until one team is unable to continue, or until the song leader tires of the silliness)
The first,second and fifth lines are usually sung by all, with one 'team' providing the two middle lines.
The final three lines have a tune all of their own, but bring the song to a definite conclusion.
NP
_____________________________________________

Nigel

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 04:13 AM

For more, suitable songs see Sewer Song this thread

Nigel

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: greg stephens
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 05:03 AM

Well the project is now up and running. I'm in three schools, preparing music from one class each to feed into a grand Waste Day in Winsford Civic Hall. Only one day's workwith each class so I.m not going for anything too elaborate. I've done the first day. The kids are singing My Old man's a Dustman while playing "pass the parcel", generating a vast pile of rubbish. Then they are picking it up and bagging it, to a Litter Shanty of their own composition. The next school is on Friday, and I'll have a fool around with "You can't put your muck in our dustbin" and see what happens.
    Keep the suggestions coming, I hope this thread will become a useful resource for similar activities. of course, one might say that all folk-songs by their nature are advertisements for recycling, but that really depends on your view of what constitutes a folk-song. perhaps people would like to discuss this. (Americans, please ignore the last bit, it was ironic and you wouldnt understand).

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 05:32 AM

There is a canal song about the BCN (Birmingham Canal Navigations) which tend to be used as waste disposal facility by the local populace. It goes to the tune of "She'll be coming round the mountain" and has a chorus of:

There's miles and miles of poly (polythene bags) round the bades (propeller),
Oh there's miles and miles of poly round the blades,
Oh there's miles and miles of poly, and a tattered yellow brolly,
And a supermarket trolley round the blades.

There's also a couple of lines:
The folk all chuck their muck in that great big linear dustbin,
It's a pity it's not emptied now and again.

Other items mentioned include "An 8 mil porno movie" and a "DD cup Bra".

If anyone does know it - I'd love the full words. The only reference on Mudcat is a previous one where I've asked for it before.

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Bullfrog Jones
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 07:58 AM

Remember You're A Womble! And Mary, was it Randy Newman's 'Burn On Big River'?

BJ

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Art Thieme
Date: 14 Nov 02 - 03:38 PM

A great old cowboy song, "Blinded By Turds".

Art Thieme

Subject: Lyr Add: (GET SOME) CASH FOR YOUR TRASH (Waller)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 Oct 15 - 04:29 PM

Here's a WW2 era song:


(GET SOME) CASH FOR YOUR TRASH
Words by Ed Kirkeby, music by Fats Waller.
As recorded by Fats Waller, 1941.

Today is the day that all us cats
Must surely do our bit,
We all must do our share
So Uncle Sam can hit.

Save up all your pots and pans.
Save up ev'ry little thing you can.
Don't give it away.
Get some cash for your trash, yeah.

Save up all that old newspaper.
Save and pile it like a high skyscraper.
Don't give it away.
Get some cash for your trash.

In between we'll do some lovin',
Wide(?) handsome turtle-dovin'.
Will you listen to me honey?
Get plenty of the foldin' money.

Save up all your iron and tin,
But when you go to turn it in,
Don't give it away.
Get some cash for your trash.

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Oct 15 - 09:38 PM

Here's one I wrote a few years back

The Black Plastic Sack

When they speak of the famous inventions
That have changed how we live till we're dead,
Of the cars and the phones and computers,
And the planes flying over our head
And they ask what's the big one that matters?
Is there one that's jumps out of the pack.
When all's said and done
I would nominate one
I give you the Black Plastic Sack.
       Is there trouble all round,
       Is the world running down
       Is this poor planet starting to crack?
       Well my thought for today is,
       Just put it away
       Put it all in that Black Plastic Sack.

Oh my house was a terrible muddle,
With the rubbish piled high all around,
All those things I had thought that I needed,
I knew very soon I'd be drowned.
It was time for a desperate decision,
I knew it was time I should act.
Out of sight out of mind
Is a watchword of mine,
So thank God for the Black Plastic Sack -   
      Is there trouble all round...

So into the sack went the rubbish,
And into the sack went the rest,
Into the sack went the shoes and the socks,
And the trousers and sweaters and vests,
And into the sack went the washing,
And the powder that came in a pack
And into the sack went the washing machine
Oh that wonderful Black Plastic Sack.
       Is there trouble all round...

And into the sack went the bills still unpaid
And those threatening letters in red
Into the sack went the records and tapes
And the books that I never had read,
And into the sack went my cheque book,
And that credit card breaking my back,
It's goodbye and good riddance my flexible friend
You belong in that Black Plastic Sack.   
          Is there trouble all round...

They say money's the root of all evil,
All the hatred and greed and the vice
We'd all be far better without it,
I think you should take my advice
So I'll make you a modest proposal
When you leave I'll be there at the back.
Just you throw it away, you'll be free from this day,
Put it there in my Black Plastic Sack.   
       Is there trouble all round..

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Vashta Nerada
Date: 02 Oct 15 - 12:02 PM

Pete Seeger singing Bill Steele's song Garbage.

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 02 Oct 15 - 05:41 PM

I'm trying to be greener every day
Just a little cleaner in every way
I'll switch to hydro power
If it's going to save a flower
I'll watch the rain as it comes pouring down
And think about those turbines spinning around

I'm trying to be greener every day
Just a little cleaner in every way
I'm planting pulses row by row
Just to keep my food miles low
Don't fly your food through Heathrow any more
Let runner beans run up to your back door

I'm trying to be greener every day
Just a little cleaner in every way
The Amazon, they say
We should treasure every day
Two thousand fishes swim within your view
And seven of them like the look of you

I'm trying to be greener every day
Just a little cleaner in every way
The earth is like a sauna
It's too hot for its fauna
I'd like to save the gnu and kangaroo
The birds and bees, the chimpanzees
The lofty lark, the old aardvark
The earthly worm, the pachyderm
And - oh yes - me and you

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 02 Oct 15 - 09:03 PM

The McCalmans had a great recycling song, written by Ian McCalman, I think, not that long before the group retired, sending up the over-complex instructions issued by Midlothian Council, re what should go where! Will look it up in the morning to see if it's on YouTube.

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 03 Oct 15 - 06:26 PM

Here's "Let's Recycle" from The McCalmans with equally hilarious pre-amble! Confused?
Let's Recycle

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: BobL
Date: 04 Oct 15 - 10:01 AM

Send Me To Glory In a Glad Bag (in the DT)

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 04 Oct 15 - 07:07 PM

Tom Lehrer came up with Pollution.

If you visit American city,
You will find it very pretty.
Just two things of which you must beware:
Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air!

And that's from the early sixties.

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: Rex
Date: 05 Oct 15 - 10:33 AM

The Old Coat song that became a button was requested by mg in 2002. Seeing as no one ever posted it I'm happy to present this dandy song by Paul Kaplan. I sing it often.



I Had an Old Coat - Paul Kaplan [D]

I had an old coat and the coat got torn, what'll I do
I had an old coat and the coat got torn, what'll I do
I had an old coat and the coat got torn
So I cut it down and a jacket was born
And I sing every day of my life.

In a couple of years those threads got thin, what'll I do.
In a couple of years those threads got thin, what'll I do.
In a couple of years those threads got thin
So I called it a shirt and I tucked it in
And I sing every day of my life.

The arms wore out in the East and West, what'll I do.
The arms wore out in the East and West, what'll I do.
The arms wore out in the East and West
So I pulled them off and I had a vest
And I sing every day of my life.

The vest got stained with cherry pie, what'll I do.
The vest got stained with cherry pie, what'll I do.
The vest got stained with cherry pie
So I cut and sewed 'til I had a tie
And I sing every day of my life.

Soon that tie was looking lean, what'll I do
Soon that tie was looking lean, what'll I do
Soon that tie was looking lean
So I made a patch for my old blue jeans
And I sing every day of my life.

When that patch was next to nuttin', what'll I do
When that patch was next to nuttin', what'll I do
When that patch was next to nuttin'
I rolled it up in to a button
And I sing every day of my life.

When that button was almost gone, what'll I do
When that button was almost gone, what'll I do
When that button was almost gone
With what was left I made this song
And I sing every day of my life.

copyright: Paul Kaplan Music, 1985

Subject: RE: Waste/recycling songs??
From: GUEST,Ken Brock
Date: 05 Oct 15 - 09:35 PM

Pete Seeger recorded late in his career "It Really Isn't Garbage" by Daniel Einbender, on Tommorrow's Children
"Burn On" by Randy Newman is about effects of Pollution