Here are three tracks from my new sing-a-long album, S.S. Brooklyn. It's coming out September 24, 2013.

Produced by Dean Jones. 

S.S. Brooklyn THREE SONG SAMPLER

The opening track of my new sing-a-long album, S.S. Brooklyn. 

I composed the original version of this while in Haiti distributing solar lights with my friend's non-profit, Soleil Global. It's about literal light but also the light that we can share with the world through our kindness, our generosity, and our talent.

I wrote it as a simple song kids could sing -- even kids who don't speak English. I also have a version in Haitian Kreyol I'll put out somewhere.  

words and music by Lloyd H. Miller (c)(p) 2013

I'm Gonna Light Up The World

words and music by Lloyd H. Miller (c)(p) 2013

originally written for use in nature education classes for young children, this song has remained a favorite with my sing-a-long crowds. i finally decided to make a proper student recording. those quacking boys are my son and the son of the album's producer Dean Jones.

I'm A Duck!

after Hurricane Sandy, i started volunteering in a school in Red Hook, Brooklyn that had displaced by the storm. i wanted to write a song about overcoming adversity for the kids to sing. i asked my 7yo daughter what the chorus of such a song should be and she sang "working on a bridge, working on bridge..." i took her basic melody, refined it, and fleshed the song out with references to people who triumphed over difficult things before they became successful. the first line "i stuttered when i tried to speak," for example, is about winston churchill, who stuttered as a child then went on to become the booming voice of an entire country during world war II. 

complete lyrics below. abby rock sings this one with me.

I stuttered when I tried to speak
stumbled when I tried to stand
went to school they said i couldn't learn
tried to fly my planes came crashing down

tried to pilot a big steamboat
they said I had to be a man

but i can't stop now 
no i won't stop
i know that i can 

working on a bridge
and it takes so long
working on a bridge
and i'm singing this song
working on a bridge
for how long how long how long
but i can't stop now
no i won't stop 
i'm too strong

Took my shots, coach sent me home
800 paintings, only one sold
before i made that lightbulb
i made a bunch that didn't glow

I mix up letters when I read
so did Dr. Seuss & the King of Calypso

i can't stop now
no i won't stop 
I got too far to go


words and music by Lloyd H. Miller and Hazel Phipps-Miller (c)(p)2013

Working On A Bridge

inspired by the emergence of the seventeen-year cicadas this year. 

watch a video for the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS6w6XSOtQM

Seventeen Years (a Cicada Love Song)

cambabucks (Zair)

jaeshei

General Sherman marched from Atlanta to Savannah, GA, destroying much of what was in his path. This is a jaunty salute to that mission, one that many in the South called brutal but that helped bring about the end of the war. 

words and music by Henry Clay Work, arranged by Lloyd Miller

Marching Through Georgia

An old spiritual and traditional song of the Underground Railroad. "The drinking gourd" is another name for the Big Dipper. This is one of many coded instructions for escaping slaves in this song. 

Traditional, arranged by Lloyd Miller

Follow The Drinking Gourd

This track kicks off with a couple of verses of the traditional marching song, "John Brown's Body" then launches into a rock-n-roll retelling of John Brown's famous raid on Harper's Ferry.

Did you know? Julia Ward Howe used the tune of "John Brown's Body" for the hymn, "Battle Hymn of the Republic." 

Words and music by Lloyd Miller
includes a couple of verses from the traditional "John Brown's Body"

John Brown

I wrote this after seeing a piece of hate mail Henry Ward Beecher received. It depicted him and two other abolitionists hanging and said "here's the fate of all traitors."  This song is sung from the point of view of an imagined Beecher who is looking forward toward other important leaders and activists who receive hate mail in response to their work. 

words and music by Lloyd Miller

Keep The Hate Mail Comin'

One of the hit songs of the early Civil War. Union and Confederate soldiers would sing this in their camps at night and families at home would play it in their parlors. 

Words and music by Walter Kittredge, arranged by Lloyd Miller

Tenting On The Old Campground

Inspired by Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs. In this autobiography, Jacobs tells of escaping from her master only to have to hide in an attic for seven years before finally being able to head North. 

Trapped In The Attic

Sing-a-long History - The Podcast, Episode I, Solider Songs Of The Civil War - 4-20-2015

14 Stephen Hawking, Can You Fact - Check This

01 Houdini

words and music by Lloyd Miller(BMI)
(c) 2018 Flying Newspaper Music 
performed by the Deedle Deedle Dees

from our upcoming 2018 release

Voting with My Mom

When We Sing Together

Littles' Dance

Moment Of Untrust

Snowbell the Cat

It's Not Easy Bein' Little

More Than Me

Stuart Found Margalo

Fly, Little Bird

Stuart's Theme

Annoying Nosy Neighbor

Where Is Margalo?

Lloyd H. Miller is a songwriter and performer best known for his work in family music as leader of the Deedle Deedle Dees and the sing-a-longs he does all over New York City. He also has a number of grown-up projects, most notably Trashed Out, a multi-media musical for the stage he wrote with saxophonist / composer Roy Nathanson. 

In 2015, Lloyd is releasing the first two volumes of Sing-a-history, a series of albums that use music to teach kids about history. Volume I is called an intro to the Civil War, abolitionism, and the Underground Railroad called Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! It's coming out April 14, 2015. Volume II is the first album by the Deedle Deedle Dees since 2011 and celebrates extraordinary feats. It's set to be released in the fall of 2015. 

LloydHMiller

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