Still more songs

[bnewman]

There are still a few songs to post from Contata. The next two songs, I wrote before Contata but held in reserve so that they would be a surprise:

The theme of the Contata song contest was לחיים (l'chayyim), which means "to life", so I wrote a Jewish song about genetic engineering. You may not know this, but Israel's thriving biotech sector goes way back. This song is about the very first Israeli biotech company — in fact, about the first Israeli biotech hostile takeover. It's a quirky tale of love, betrayal, genetic engineering, cattle rustling, and betrayal that's been handed down in my family for oh, about 3,500 years. I've taken the liberty of setting it to an appropriate-seeming tune, and here it is: "Sheep with Stripes" (mp3). And, by the way, Eyal reminds me that a ketunet passim really is just striped, and that "coat of many colors" is a 16th-century English innovation.

So, my concert at Contata followed the Tom Smith benefit concert, which finished up with Christine Lavin leading us all in a rousing rendition of Tom Paxton's "Peace Will Come", with both Toms listening in by cellphone. Yes, Tom Paxton was (virtually speaking) right there... fortunately or unfortunately, however, neither Tom was on the phone to hear the debut of "Stars on Our Heads", a filk of a similarly inspiring song that Tom Paxton co-wrote with Mark Elliott. I think both Toms would have been amused.

Now, it seems that every time there's a filk convention in New Jersey, someone has to sing "The Rolling Mills of New Jersey", which is a sort of ode to the mess that we've made of the place, as if that were New Jersey's fault. It's funny, sure, but some of my best friends are environmentalists who also happen to be proud to be from New Jersey, and they're kinda sick of it. So, in the wee hours of Sunday morning when I should have been asleep, I wrote an antidote: "The Living Earth of New Jersey". It's not all serious, though — the best antidote to a bad joke is a good one. See if you can catch the references.

Comments

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Cattle rustling yes, Israeli- well, that's a bit of an arachronism... But it's a fabulous story.

And on the kutonet passim- passim might alternatively mean decorated, or with-sleeves, from comparative Semitics, although striped is a pretty likely option. Or, to quote Professor Brettler, on the musical on that topic, according to JPS-style translation: "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Meaning of Hebrew Uncertain"... (Sorry, it's just too good not to keep on sharing.)

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

That's awesome.