PRECIOUS WATER
We don’t want your sulfide mine
Twenty years here, then you leave it behind
We don’t want your acid brine
Seeping in the rivers, noxious wine
Short term job creation
Long term devastation
Don’t want your pollution crime
We don’t want you mine

We don’t want your company wish
Pretty plan served on a copper dish
What do we have when you finish?
Messed up rice and poison fish
You pocket profit and you’re gone first class
We get a toxic drinking glass
Bottom line’s the dollar sign
We don’t want your mine

Rain falls on the ground
Ground water flowing down
Simple lesson, science fair
Water goes back in the air
Put in the water what you may
You breathe it in some other day
Drinking well, wish and dream 
Precious water, precious water, living stream

We don’t want your careless plan
Creepin’ in this forest land
Clean water we demand
We don’t want your “helping hand”
Your economic contribution
Don’t want your noise pollution
In our ancient pine
We don’t want your mine

Rain falls on the ground
Ground water flowing down
Simple lesson, science fair
Water goes back in the air
Put in the water what you may
You breathe it in some other day
Drinking well, wish and dream 
Precious water, precious water, living stream

Words and music © Sara Thomsen (Somewhere to Begin CD)

A song addressing Minnesota's sulfide mining controversy. Visit Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness for more background at http://www.friends-bwca.org/ and WaterLegacy at http://waterlegacy.org/ and Mining Truth, http://www.miningtruth.org/, a project of Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, Conservation Minnesota, and the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy.


Precious Water

Somewhere to Begin written by T.R. Ritchie, performed by Sara Thomsen. 

Somewhere To Begin

Magenta And Grey

Words and music © Sara Thomsen. www.sarathomsen.com

Darkness Cover Me
like a blanket of night
Oh, cover me lightly

Shadows gather around me
Deepening darkness,
Whispering softly

Holy Maker of Moonlight
Singing through starlight
Keeper of all life

Hidden Seed deep in the dark soil of the earth
Fertile Ground, Womb of the Night, bring us new birth

Darkness Cover Me
like a blanket of night
Oh, cover me lightly

Shadows gather around me
Deepening darkness,
Whispering softly

Holy Maker of Moonlight
Singing through starlight
Keeper of all life

Hidden Seed deep in the dark soil of the earth
Fertile Ground, Womb of the Night, bring us new birth


Darkness Cover Me

© 2012 Sara Thomsen. www.sarathomsen.com

Lost at sea, my darling
I’ll be coming home
In the waves and water
I’ll be coming home

In the wind and sunlight
In the moon and stars
Lost at sea, my darling
I’ll be coming home

In the seagull’s crying
In the shorebird’s song
In the pine’s soft sighing
I’ll be coming home

Lost at sea, my darling
Lost, but not alone
In your heart, my darling
I’ll be coming home

In the seagull’s crying
In the shorebird’s song
In the pine’s soft sighing
I’ll be coming home

In the wind and sunlight
In the moon and stars
Lost at sea, my darling
I’ll be coming home

A song “caught” on Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada.
I later learned that in this particular area many have indeed been “lost at sea.”    s.t.


Lost At Sea

Performed by Sara Thomsen. Words and music © 1984 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs

Christmas in the Trenches is John McCutcheon's song based on the 1914 World War I Christmas truce where enemy soldiers put down their weapons and met as brothers in No Man’s Land. 

Christmas In The Trenches

© 2010 Sara Thomsen (on her Somewhere to Begin CD) www.sarathomsen.com

The Good News
Oh, the gospel, the good news
Walk a mile in somebody else’s shoes
Somebody hungry—get some food on their plate
Pray for those who put you down, love the ones you hate

Down in Knoxville, Tennessee, Sunday morning, sanctuary
A man pulls out a loaded gun from a guitar case
Bullets fly in sacred space, oh, blood on lace
A weapon of hate in a masquerade
As an instrument of song and praise
Played on a Sunday morning in a house of grace

And the children were singing, 
“The sun‘ll come out tomorrow”
Shine it’s light, clear away the sorrow
But memories, you cannot sweep away
Open fire on that day of the children’s play

Oh, the gospel, the good news
Walk a mile in somebody else’s shoes
Somebody bound in chains—set them free
Look out for the last and the least, love your enemy

You can open up the holy book, pick out a phrase
Like lifting a loaded gun from a guitar case
Pull on the trigger—the scripture flies
Somebody nods their head, somebody dies, somebody cries
Bullets fly, all dressed up in disguise
As the word of love and life from the Giver of Our Days
Another heart shot down in a house of grace

And the children are singing, “This Little Light of Mine…
Hide it under a bushel, no, I’m gonna let it shine”
And silently comes a shadow of doubt
Somebody dims their light, another lamp goes out

Oh, the gospel, the good news
Walk a mile in somebody else’s shoes 
Somebody thirsty—get ‘em water to drink
Pray for those so sure they know just what the good Lord thinks

About this song: In Knoxville, TN in 2008, a man opened fire during Sunday morning service at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church killing 2 adults and wounding 7 (about 200 congregants were present). That morning the children were performing the play “Annie Jr.”. The gunman stated his hatred of Liberals, Gays, and Blacks motivated the shooting.

Some years later a woman who grew up in that congregation (though not present the day of the shooting) approached me after a concert. She asked if I would consider writing a song about what happened. When reading and listening online to stories and reactions surrounding the church shooting, I was immediately struck by the imagery of the gun entering into the sanctuary hidden in a guitar case. A weapon of hatred in the guise of an instrument of harmony. 

Her request happened to come during the same time my partner Paula and I were in the midst of preparations for our wedding. One morning, an editorial in our local paper “greeted” my partner and me as we sat sipping our morning coffee. It stated how the Gospel can change the lives of gay people, that “any straightforward reading of Scripture is that the homosexual lifestyle is not a wholesome one.” I was struck by the parallel images of the gun disguised as a guitar, and the “clobber passages”—scripture passages selectively touted against GLBTQ people—in the guise of “the good news.” Later that morning I sat down with my guitar and wrote this song.



The Good News

© 2009 Sara Thomsen. www.sarathomsen.com
In memory of my immigrant grandpa, Johannes Thomsen (1903-1986)

My father’s father left home, a young Danish lad
To cross o’er the ocean to a distant land
Bidding family farewell, the tears fell at the door 
Leaving all that he loved, the sea and the shore

Chorus: There are things you can’t hold, 
but the heart always carries
That can only be told through the tales of fairies
To the voices of old, to the young and the merry
Lift the glass high! ‘Til we all meet again by and by

And over the years came the letters in his sister’s hand
In a language his wife and four sons did not understand
But Grandpa could read them and smile and cry, and dream
That one day his sister Mathilde again he would see  Chorus

And time passes by
Dreams are lost, or get pushed aside
Then one day they have wings to fly
Take to the sky and cross over the ocean wide

Come walk with me on the shores of the Wadden Sea
Shells there a-plenty to find and to keep
And if you’re lucky you may find amber stone
To tuck in your pocket and carry home

But I found a rare thing no pocket or hand can hold
More precious than amber, more shining than gold
You were the fiddlers and we were the violins
We were the waves, you were the winds 
Chorus

About this song: In 2009 my father (John’s son), my mother, and sister Erika traveled for the first time to Denmark 
and met the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of my Grandpa’s sister, Mathilde. We were strangers treated like royalty, like long lost family returning home. What a joy! Amber stone is the ancient resin of millions of year old trees that wash up on the Danish shore where my Grandpa spent many days of his youth. Oh, that we could recognize the ancient resin of humanity’s family tree, and pull out all the stops for the strangers we meet, seeing them as long lost family. If we are lucky, we may find  that “amber stone.”


Amber Stone

© 2011 Sara Thomsen. www.sarathomsen.com
A song for all children, everywhere!

The Heartbeat Drum

While you sleep, may love keep you safe and warm
When you wake, I will take you in my arms
Love you deep as the ocean and high
As the twinkling stars up in the sky

Oh, chick-chickadee, bumble-bum-bee
Bum bitty bum, listen to the drum
It’s the rhythm of the heart, we all have a part
Playin’ the heartbeat drum

When you cry, I will sing you lullabies
Tickle toes and wipe your eyes
Drift on over into sweet dreams
The dark night is full of moonbeams

All around the world, every boy and girl
Bum bitty bum, listen to the drum
Little lights all a-flame, no two the same
Playin’ the heartbeat drum

Soon the sun will come and bring the day
And my dimple darling, we will play
Open the window, welcome in
All the myst’ry whisp’ring in the wind

A tiger in a tree, fishes in the sea
Bum bitty bum, listen to the drum
Every shape and color, each different than the other
Playin’ the heartbeat drum

We are many and we are one
Playin’ the heartbeat drum


The Heartbeat Drum

Performed by Three Altos. Words & Music by Nancy Reinhold. Intro verse by Kim Baryluk/N. Reinhold. © 1992 Nancy Reinhold & Kim Baryluk

www.threealtos.com

Leave A Little Light

Performed by Three Altos.  Written by © Linda Hirschorn				
Words adapted from the poem "Song of the Open Road" by Walt Whitman.
www.threealtos.com


Camarada

Performed by Three Altos. www.threealtos.com
Words by Hana Senesh, music by David Zehavi.

Eli, Eli, shelo yigamer l'olam
Hachol v'hayam, rishrush shel hamayim
B'rak hashamayim, t'fillat ha'adam

My God, My God, I pray that these things never end
The sand and the sea, the rush of the waters,
The crash of the heavens, the prayer of the heart

About this song: Hana, a paratrooper who saved many Jews in Europe during WWII wrote these words: "When I feel like my world is falling apart, I look up at the sky and somehow feel comforted in seeing that it is still there." Hana was killed by the Nazis. May her prayer never end.

Eli, Eli

Performed by Three Altos. www.threealtos.com
Words and music by Elise Witt © 2001 Non Si Sa Mai Music
(www.elisewitt.com)

Translation of the Italian:
I am looking for a new harmony
The life which was mine
Grains of sand make a castle
A wave of the ocean like a hammer

In the water is where I want to live
When I hear the whales I want to follow them
At night I dream underwater
My feet are already leaving the earth

I am in harmony with the molecules
I no longer feel my skin
Between me, the sea, and the air, there is no longer any difference
The dance ends and begins

I heard an astronaut speaking on the radio
For five months he floated free
Returning to earth, even though he was happy
He felt a forgotten weight

I am looking for a new harmony
The life which was mine
Grains of sand make a castle
A wave of the ocean like a hammer
 


Una Nuova Armonia

Performed by Three Altos. www.threealtos.com
Words and music by Ruth Moody (Wailin' Jennys)
© 2004 Ruth Moody Music (www.ruthmoody.com)

One Voice

Traditional Hanukkah Song. From Sara Thomsen & Paula Pedersen's Winter Wanderings CD.  www.sarathomsen.com

Traditional Jewish prayer sung during Hanukkah

After the first Hanukkah light is kindled, the one who is doing the kindling recites 'Hanerot halalu anu madlikin' - 'We Kindle these candles,' as the remaining lights are kindled.

Hanerot, hanerot, hanerot halalu
Hanerot, hanerot, hanerot halalu
Anu madlikin, anu madlikin
Hanerot halalu, anu madlikin

Translation of the Hebrew: “We kindle these candles”

Hanukkah, Hanukkah, by this light remember
Hanukkah, Hanukkah, by this light remember
When we lived in peace, when we lived in peace
By this light remember, when we lived in peace



Hanerot Halalu

Words & music by Sara Thomsen. www.sarathomsen.com

Oh Grandmother

Oh, grandmother, are you listening?	
Oh, grandmother, are you listening?		
Oh, grandmother, I’m calling you		
Oh, grandmother, I’m calling you

Oh, the night is so long, the night is so dark!
Will you sing me a song, will you kindle a spark?
How did you find your way through the dark of the night
To the light of the new day?
How did you find your way through the dark of the night
To the light of the day?

Oh, granddaughter, I am listening
Oh, granddaughter, I am listening
Oh, granddaughter, I’m calling you
Oh, granddaughter, I’m calling you

When the night is so long, the night is so dark!
I will sing you a song, may it kindle a spark
And you will find your way through the dark of the night
To the light of the new day
And you will find your way through the dark of the night
To the light of the day

© 2011 Sara Thomsen
www.sarathomsen.com


Oh Grandmother

Words & music by Sara Thomsen

Little One

Hey, there, little one
Your life has just begun
You’re learning how to cry
You’re learning how to smile
You are a blessed one
You are a holy one

Oh, child, may loving arms
Surround and keep you warm
There as you learn to crawl
To catch you when you fall
And may you learn to stand
Held by a loving hand

Hey, there, little one
Your life has just begun
You’re learning how to walk
You’re learning how to talk
You are a blessed one
You are a holy one

Oh, running, dancing child
May your heart stay free and wild
And as your days unfold
May your hopes and dreams be told
And may your voice be heard
and held as holy word

Hey there, little one
The moon, the stars, the sun
The hills and valleys low
The trees and flowers know
We are all blessed ones
We are all holy ones

© 1999 Sara Thomsen
www.sarathomsen.com

Little One

Written by Pauline Marden & Joan Baez © Polygram Music
Recorded by Sara Thomsen on her Arise CD (1995)

Tears In My Eyes

The Longest Night

Earth Moves In A Mysterious Way

© 2008 Sara Thomsen   www.sarathomsen.com   

Come gather round people, I’ve a story to tell
‘Bout a woman from Texas who could raise some hell
She said go into your kitchen grab a pot, grab a pan
And get out on the street and start a “raise a ruckus” band

Soup pot, stew pot soufflé pan
Grab a wooden spoon and start a-stirring up a plan
First rule of holes: when you’re in one stop diggin’
Stop the war! Get in the street and start jiggin’

Shake it up! Come on people would ya raise a little hell
Shake it up! You know things are not going so well
If you don’t make a noise no one’s gonna hear a sound
We are the people who will turn this place around

She’d say, “There’s somethin’ ‘bout politics I came to preach today
I’m very, very serious about what I’m gonna say
Y’all need to have more fun and celebration
And to do it you just have to exercise imagination

Lord, Lord, let your laughter ring forth!
Deep down in the south! Way up in the north!
Beloveds, be odd, outrageous freedom fighters
We are the people!  We are the deciders.

Loosen up! Have a good time and do it with style!
Loosen up! A little cre-a-tivity might make you smile
Fightin’ for freedom your work is never done
It’s a long hard road! Don’t you forget to have fun

When it’s looking dark and gloomy and you need a little cheer
Another crook or crony telling lies and spreadin’ fear
Hatch a clever joke and just be-devil the do-badders
Raise some hell! Raise some kick-ass kitchen clatter

Soup pot, stew pot soufflé pan
Grab a wooden spoon and start a-stirring up a plan
I reckon that’s all, yours truly, Molly Ivins
Stop the war! Get in the street and start jivin’

Shake it up! Come on people would ya raise a little hell
Shake it up! You know things are not going so well
If you don’t make a noise no one’s gonna hear a sound
We are the people who will turn this place around

© 2008 Sara Thomsen   
www.sarathomsen.com   



The Ballad Of Molly Ivins

By Sara Thomsen. www.threealtos.com
From the album Three Altos: One Voice.

Wherever you go, we will go
Whoever you know, we will know
The Holy Ground where we stand
Is a hand, to a hand, to a hand

Wherever we go, you will go
Whoever we know, you will know
We’ll laugh and we’ll cry, and rejoice
A voice and a voice and a voice

Lift you on wings of a song
Hold you and carry you along
Wherever you go, we will go

Wherever you go
Whoever you know
One Holy Breath we are breathing
In our arriving and leaving
One Voice that carries our song
On and on and on

Wherever you go
Whoever you know, we will know
The Holy Ground where we stand
Is a hand, to a hand, to a hand

Wherever we go, you will go
Whoever we know, you will know
We’ll laugh and we’ll cry, and rejoice
A voice and a voice and a voice

Lift you on wings of a song
Hold you and carry you along
Wherever you go, we will go

© 2010 Sara Thomsen
www.sarathomsen.com

Wherever You Go

Words and music by Sara Thomsen. This track is from the album Everything Changes.

I Remember These

All Across the Land

A Woman's Place

Words and music by Sara Thomsen. This track is from the album By Breath.

By Breath

I May Never Understand

Freedom Song

Words traditional and music anon. This track is from the album By Breath.

May the Longtime Sun

Words and music by Sara Thomsen. www.sarathomsen.com
From the album Everything Changes. Performed with the Echoes of Peace Choir.

THE BEAUTY OF THE DANCER
You see the beauty of the dancer
You hear the beauty of the song
You feel the beauty all around you
You wonder where do you belong

You are the beauty of the dancer
You are the beauty of the song
You are the beauty all around you
You're standing right where you belong

All above you, all below you, all around you, all within you.
Beauty all above you, beauty all below you, 
Beauty all around you, beauty all within you.
You are beauty, you are beauty

© 2008 Sara Thomsen (Everything Changes)


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