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Song Info
Genre
Charts
Peak #67
Peak in subgenre #12
Author
J. Wrabek dba Outside Services Ltd.
Rights
2008
Uploaded
April 23, 2014
Track Files
MP3
MP3 3.1 MB • 128 kbps • 3:20
Story behind the song
A child's view of pollution. I grew up in Syracuse, N.Y., which was a very polluted place, and my grandfather was a farmer. put those two together and you've got this song. With Jane Dunkin on fiddle, Russ Hosley on mandolin. Recorded by Jane.
Lyrics
[4/4, brightly]
DEAD FISHES (2008)
--J. Wrabek
1.
D A
In early spring, the fields were ripe with barley, oats and hay;
D
That’s what my grandpa told me, before he passed away;
G D
Now, I ain’t never seen a barley, they sell oatmeal at the store,
A D
And we don’t need any hay ‘cause there’s no horses any more.
CHORUS:
G D
Hey, nonny, hey, nonny, where did you go?
A
”Went down to the river, where the pretty waters flow;
G D
Red, green and yellow, passing out with the tide,
A D
And I stood among the fishes and I watched ‘em while they died.”
2.
Grandpa called ‘em “signs of hope”--veggies in the dirt;
He said y’ had to weed ‘em, and it sounds like lots of work;
Now, the garden don’t grow anything--it comes from somewhere else,
But the dirt’s a pretty color--too bad about the smell.
CHORUS:
Hey, nonny, hey, nonny, where did you go?
”Went down to the river, where the pretty waters flow;
Red, green and yellow, passing out with the tide,
And I stood among the fishes and I watched ‘em while they died.”
INSTRUMENTAL BREAK (IF ANYONE CAN PLAY LEAD)
3.
Grandpa talked of breezes that didn’t hurt your eyes,
And rain that didn’t burn the skin and make you stay inside;
He had pictures of some birds and bees, and other things that flied--
They sure were pretty ugly--ain’t surprised they up and died.
CHORUS:
Hey, nonny, hey, nonny, where did you go?
”Went down to the river, where the pretty waters flow;
Red, green and yellow, passing out with the tide,
And I stood among the fishes and I watched ‘em while they died.”
4.
At night I think of Grandpa, talkin’ vegetables with God,
Peering down to see us through the ashes and the smog;
Saying, “Meet me up in Heaven, we’ve got barley, oats and hay”--
No one’s grown them things on earth since Grandpa passed away.
CHORUS:
Hey, nonny, hey, nonny, where did you go?
”Went down to the river, where the pretty waters flow;
Red, green and yellow, passing out with the tide,
And I stood among the fishes and I watched ‘em while they died.”
REPEAT CHORUS TO END
© 2008 J. Wrabek dba Outside Services Ltd. All the usual rights reserved just in case. No vegetables were harmed in the writing of this song.
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