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Green Hills of Earth
When I first joined the OK Chorale, one of the pieces I was handed was "The Green Hills of Earth." My initial thought when the sheet music was yet to be handed out was, "Cool! That looked like a great song in the story!" When I first got to read the song, my spirit gagged. This?? This wasn't the song at the end of the story! This was... this was something watered down. Genteel. Not the song of an uncouth man on his last legs weaving his last strong and beautiful song. It didn't have the first verse written by RAH. It didn't have any verses afterwards that *looked* like the first verse RAH wrote. No, this was not "The Green Hills of Earth" that I really wanted to sing. But I did sing it - and it's a decent melodic piece. It's just not the piece I would have written.
So... last year I wrote it. I wrote the song blind Rhysling sang as he worked desperately to save a radioactive pile, then dumped it - on his final legs from major radioactivity. I performed it at FilkOntario, to mixed reactions. And to my mind it was a bit short there. It didn't have Mars, or Neptune, just the little lead-in lines RAH wrote at the end of the story along with the verses he wrote. So now, I present the last song of Blind Rhysling - "The Green Hills of Earth".
Green Hills of Earth
We rot in the molds of Venus,
We retch at her tainted breath.
Foul are her flooded jungles,
Crawling with unclean death.
Chorus:
We've tried each spinning space mote And reckoned its true worth:
Take us back again to the homes of men On the cool, green hills of Earth.
We bleed in the Martian sandstorm
Each grain a rusty knife
Her grand canals and ruined cities
Mere echoes of former life
Chorus
The harsh bright soil of Luna,
It shines for all to view.
Her cold and sterile craters
All lack the morning dew.
Chorus
Saturn's rainbow rings are precious,
A guide in the depths of space.
Her dust and rocks form colors bright,
Unique chromatic grace.
Chorus
In the frozen night of Titan,
We shiver in empty cold.
Her swirling shrouded cloudbanks
Hide mysteries yet untold.
Chorus
We freeze in the seas of Neptune
We drown on her poison shore
Wretched are her awful waters
Lapping at every door
Chorus
The arching sky is calling
Spacemen back to their trade.
All hands! Stand by! Free falling!
And the lights below us fade.
Out ride the sons of Terra,
Far drives the thundering jet,
Up leaps the race of Earthmen,
Out, far, and onward yet.
We pray for one last landing On the globe that gave us birth;
Let us rest our eyes on fleecy skies And the cool, green hills of Earth.
So... last year I wrote it. I wrote the song blind Rhysling sang as he worked desperately to save a radioactive pile, then dumped it - on his final legs from major radioactivity. I performed it at FilkOntario, to mixed reactions. And to my mind it was a bit short there. It didn't have Mars, or Neptune, just the little lead-in lines RAH wrote at the end of the story along with the verses he wrote. So now, I present the last song of Blind Rhysling - "The Green Hills of Earth".
Green Hills of Earth
We rot in the molds of Venus,
We retch at her tainted breath.
Foul are her flooded jungles,
Crawling with unclean death.
Chorus:
We've tried each spinning space mote And reckoned its true worth:
Take us back again to the homes of men On the cool, green hills of Earth.
We bleed in the Martian sandstorm
Each grain a rusty knife
Her grand canals and ruined cities
Mere echoes of former life
Chorus
The harsh bright soil of Luna,
It shines for all to view.
Her cold and sterile craters
All lack the morning dew.
Chorus
Saturn's rainbow rings are precious,
A guide in the depths of space.
Her dust and rocks form colors bright,
Unique chromatic grace.
Chorus
In the frozen night of Titan,
We shiver in empty cold.
Her swirling shrouded cloudbanks
Hide mysteries yet untold.
Chorus
We freeze in the seas of Neptune
We drown on her poison shore
Wretched are her awful waters
Lapping at every door
Chorus
The arching sky is calling
Spacemen back to their trade.
All hands! Stand by! Free falling!
And the lights below us fade.
Out ride the sons of Terra,
Far drives the thundering jet,
Up leaps the race of Earthmen,
Out, far, and onward yet.
We pray for one last landing On the globe that gave us birth;
Let us rest our eyes on fleecy skies And the cool, green hills of Earth.
no subject
It feels like it makes a fairly abrupt shift in tone at the Saturn verse, which I found somewhat jarring. But it's very powerful, all the same.
no subject
A.
(who LOVES this version---and mind you I have the Bernstein memorized)