The Plastic Bag Song
Well, that is at least what my kids have affectionately called it. I wrote this song recently and finally found some time to try and have a go at recording it - probably badly. The song is based pretty solidly on Psalm 8, one of my favourite Psalms. Not least because we did it to the nth degree in our Old Testament Hebrew class at college. The Psalm has a lot to say about how we might respond to current issues about caring for the planet and its resources.
Listen to it here or read on for the lyrics.
Psalm 8 seems to me to be all about how creation is simply amazing and yet the God whose fingers put it all in place actually chose human beings to take responsibility for it, making us a little lower than angels (or a little lower than God, if you are prepared to leave your conservative translations to one side).
If people find it helpful I’ll gladly put up the chords or music at some point if I get chance.
The lyrics:
All that you made just makes me sing
The sun and moon and stars and everything
Your thumb and fingerprints on all I see
The grass and plants and flowers, a million treesThe land, it chokes on all our filthy rags
Our gas and cathode rays and plastic bags
And now the sky is broke it rains in June
It’s hard to see how we were made like youWhy do you bother?
Why do you care?
You put this earth beneath our feet
and gave it all to shareWhy do you bother?
Why do you care?
Its not like we are angels
We’ve not been very fair.All that you made just makes me sing
The sun and moon and stars and everything
Your thumb and fingerprints on all I see
The grass and plants and flowers, a million treesYour handiwork makes me feel one foot small
Like a picture in a frame on a gallery wall
And yet we chose to smash and grab and take
A canvas lying torn about to breakWhy do you bother?
Why do you care?
You put this earth beneath our feet
and gave it all to shareWhy do you bother?
Why do you care?
Its not like we are angels
We’ve not been very fair.All that you made just makes me sing
The sun and moon and stars and everything
Your thumb and fingerprints on all I see
The grass and plants and flowers, a million trees
Words & Music - Copyright 2008 Tim Hyde
Downloading the mp3 file
This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence for non commercial use.
Good job!
I like it [the music reminds me of Clifford T Ward's stuff]