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 short audio excerpts available and these are marked with 'click for audio'.
Visit the CD page for information about our albums - An Organism Called Earth and Songs In The Key Of Green.Across The Hills
Words & Melody: Leon Rosselson, 1968
Arranged: Christina Mimmocchi & Miguel Heatwole, 2000
Click for audio
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.
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.
All The Wild Wonders
Words: Words: Elizabeth Honey, 2001
Music: Sue Johnson, 2001
Click for audio
We so loved this song from the a cappella quintet Coco's Lunch that we made no changes to their arrangement, other than singing it without percussion.
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
The number of deaths caused by asbestos related diseases is due to reach its dreadful peak by 2010. Emery Schubert's wonderfully expressive arrangement of this song contains some very fine original passages.
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 audioTony 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.
The Corporate Director's Guide To Handling Environmental Criticism
Originally The Ross Perot Guide To Answering Embarrassing Questions
Words: Calvin Trillin, 1992
Music: Pete Seeger, 1993
Arranged: Tom Bridges, 2002
New verses and modified chorus: Miguel Heatwole & Rosemary Lathouris, 2008
We first heard this excellent song from the Trade Union Choirs of Sydney and the Blue Mountains who had rededicated it to a slimy Federal Minister for Industrial Relations. We zipped in some new verses so as to bring this gem of satiric writing within our environmental ambit.
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 transition from rock and roll to choral music.
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.
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.
Everything Goes
Parody of Anything Goes by Cole Porter, 1934
Arranged with new lyrics: Miguel Heatwole, 2000
Cole Porter's song writing genius is reverentially enlisted in the struggle. We didn't hear back from his estate so we didn't record this one. Hope you like the words.
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
Click for audio
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!
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.
Living In One World
Words & Music: Jules Gibb & Faith Watson, 2001Some 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."
Maxims
Words: Various anonymous
Music: Miguel Heatwole, 2011
Written for a workshop at the Songs For Social Justice festival of political music, this piece strings together some of the best-known sayings of the environment movement in an easily learned three-part harmony.
Message From Mother Earth
Words & Melody: Frankie Armstrong, 1990
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 1998
Click for audio
Beautiful music lamenting the harm done to our planet. "Remember, I give you birth, remember Mother Earth"
Murrumbidgee Water
Words & Melody: John Warner, 1998
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2006This 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
The author 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?
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
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 so we didn't bother. Here's an excerpt .
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!
Put It On The Ground
Original words (chorus): Ray Glaser, 1947
Music: Bill Wolff, 1947
Verses & arrangement: Miguel Heatwole, 2005
This is an example of a 'zipper' song - one where new verses may be added to give the song more contemporary relevance. Miguel has written a total of three versions for his different choirs. This one criticises the Australian Labor Party's undermining of community participation in local planning throughout New South Wales.
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.
The Shannon Rise
Words & Melody: Phyl Lobl, 1987
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
Click for audioA chilling anti-uranium lullaby.
Stand Fast
Words & Music: Miguel Heatwole, 1998
Click for audioCountering 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!.
Universe's Daughter
Words & Melody: Fay White, 1989
Arranged: Tom Bridges, 1998
A solemn tribute to our world's ancient and fragile beauty.
Vegetables From Hell
Words: Geoff Francis, 2002
Melody: Peter Hicks, 2002
Arranged: Miguel Heatwole, 2003
Click for audioWe used to think this song was funny until one of us read an article and discovered that human genes really are being put into food!
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.
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.
Who Cares About The Human Race?
Parody of Hernando's Hideaway by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, 1954
Words: Dennis Aubrey, Rick Wright et al., 1970s, & Christina Mimmocchi, 1999
Arranged: Christina Mimmocchi, 1999
If there ever could be a lighter side of the nuclear industry, this might be it. Most of the words were written by members of Friends Of The Earth during a long bus trip during the 1970s. We've not recorded it because, being a parody, there are legal complications.
Wings Of A Seabird
Words & Melody: Nicholas Carlile, 2001
Music: Emery Schubert, 2003
Click for audioBeing 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!
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