Uke-Song: Homage to Ed Burtynsky: "The VIEW OF EARTH"

POST #54
PARODY-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "The Book of Love", 1999 by Monotones; best known cover by Peter Gabriel 

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, October 2013.
PHOTOS: Edward Burtynsky website

KEYWORDS: environment, goldenoldy

With the recent  book “Water” and film “Watermark”, Edward Burtynsky (“Manufactured Landscapes”) has used aerial photography to further document extensive degradation of our planet’s water-resource. As Burtynsky brings a Canadian sensitivity to the issue, I have used a few French words in these lyrics. eaux, water (pl) and haut, high, are pronounced as ‘oh’. autrui, others, and  ouïe, ouch!  rhyme with ‘see’.

VIEW OF EARTH  

(to the tune of "The Book of Love")

To view our Earth is disconcerting;

Dammed place may land up dry as bones;

With overuse and expo- nential

Expansion of industrial zones.

But,  eyes high I spy ......
Icefloes’ demise from polar seas;

And eaux-----oh those emotive

Haut-photos of Burty-ynsky’s!

Ice-caps dislodging, likely toasted;

Will flood the coastlines, raise the seas;

Less rain on heights, our food-stores threatened; 

Our stewardship’s a travesty.

Water-woes….. we owe to no one

Only ourselves, not autrui;
Ouïe! unwilling eyes we open

Edward’s lament-landscapes we see.

Parched Colorado River delta

Flow diverted – raise some herds –

Fish and amphibians find no shelter; 

Plundered profits, pain deferred.

Manufactured western suburbs,

Life floats on dwindling aquifers;

Next door the ancient ghostly remnants

Of cultures faltered, disappeared.

And drought------ no doubt about it

We’re drifting to that turn of things.

What clout .....   to save our offspring ?

 - Cherish each drop that wetting wrings.

Our leaders opt for obfuscation
A short-term outlook is obscene-

A final geologic  e - ra;

Warm welcome to Anthropocene !

And whoa! ….... those emotive

Views captured by Burty-ynsky!
Decry .…..... and why not try

Avoid our man-made destiny ?

(Rit.)
 The news from Earth is disconcerting………….




To play the original song- The Book of Love,by Peter Gabriel, check out Corktunes, the songbook of the Corktown Ukulele Jam here. Enjoy chord-charts and lyrics for this parody with the 
Corktown Ukulele Jam songbook: Corktunes: View of Earth




PERFORMING NOTES:

Alternate verses use the isolated hit and continuous strumming formats.
Cs4 = 0013; G7s4 = 0213; 

Intro: |C  Cs4|G   C:| x2

[C]!  To view our [Cs4]! Earth is [G7s4]! discon[C]!certing;

[C]  Dammed place may [Cs4]! land up [G]! dry as [C]! bones;

[C]!  With over[Cs4]!use and [G7s4]! expo[Am]!nential

[C]!  Expansion [Cs4] of in[G]!dustrial [C]! zones.

But, [C] eyes [Cs4] high I [G7s4] spy---[C] ----
[C] Icefloes’ de[Cs4]mise from [G] polar [C] seas;

And [C] eaux-- [Cs4]---oh [G7s4] those e[Am]motive

[C] Haut-photos [Cs4] of Bur[G7s4] ty-yn[C]sky’s!

........

[C]! The news from [Cs4]! Earth is [G7s4]! 
           Rit. discon[Am]!certing………….