Lamington (The Leech Kingdom)

Written in Australia in February 2006 to commemorate the adventures in Lamington rainforest.

Words and music by David. Harmony vocals by Kristen. The original version was recorded live on a single mic in Brisbane, Australia. Version 2 was recorded by our friend Lilly at the Knoll at Stanford, with harmony vocals added in later using GarageBand.

Version 2:


Original Version:


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Verse 1
Call me Mike Pole; I’ll be your guide to fire and trees
With a leech in my eye, I can’t pause to cry, just push on down the trail
Meet tutor Conrad, who wrestles snakes and tastes like sexy,
And Rob, plant demigod, will sing us all to sleep
Now we’re all here, let the activities begin

Commence the transects, with piles of leaves of entire margins
“What species is this?” “Let’s say they’re the same” and on the story goes
Old fire boundaries, where Eucalyptus meets the booyong
And tests to give the studious a pang of fear
But the sunset blaze reminds us why we’re here

Chorus
Lamington, Lamington,
O take me away to your leech kingdom
Lamington, O Lamington
With Mike Pole as our guide
We’ll wander far and wide
From the day’s first rays ‘til the fire of the setting sun
In Lamington

Verse 2
Up the Caldera, singing songs of pop and Broadway
“Silence please, respect the trees, they’re older than you know.”
Across the stream, waterfalls one after another,
The beauty’s too much, can’t take it in – all rush and foam and roar
But the winner is the summit’s view of cloud.

Then the leech attacks, grabbing hard to socks and ankles
And Ryan’s found a new lover to leave a hickie on his neck
The rain comes down, and the trail’s a mass of fog and mudslides
Slip and slide, keep pushing on, it’s only five miles more
If you run you’ll make it back for Happy Hour

Verse 3
What amazing fauna, from paddymelons to shining glow worms,
Blue lobster-looking things that put up quite a fight
Conrad’s the master, from possums to his leaf-tailed geckos
Emily, watch out for snakes, they care not for your shoe
Now the commodore is calling to the frogs

(Spoken: This next verse is a description of the duckbill platypus based on personal observations by our very own Courtney and Kat)

Then they awoke, but there was nothing to be seen.

Mangrove Love Song (When Your Branch Broke)

Originally written on February 26, 2006 as part of a class presentation on mangrove distribution in creeks on the Daintree River in Australia. We decided a country dirge was appropriate for the subject.

Words and music by David, Matt, and Kristen. Harmonica and Norm Duke bridge by Matt. Harmony vocals by Kristen. Soul vocals by Chris. Background vocals by the OSP Australia Singers. This version was recorded live on a single mic in Brisbane, Australia.



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Verse 1
The first time I saw your buttress flare,
The sweet music of mosquitoes hung in the air.
I breathed in your fragrant pits of mud
Felt your rough bark and smooth young bud
Tasted the salt you excrete from your pore
I knew I had to come back for some more
It all began on that warm summer day
A love that flourished in the rain’s cool spray

Chorus
When your branch broke, you broke my heart
And I landed in the mud and was back at the start
I saw my bleeding soul in your oozing red sap
How did I ever fall into your trap?

Verse 2
Thinking back on the days of estuarine delight
Those pneumatophores, they just felt so right
Your propogules were always on my mind
How could I have been so blind?
I couldn’t see through your tangled web of roots
Your slippery branches didn’t hold up my boots
Did you think of how it’d make me feel
Leaving me to be to be crocs’ next meal?

Bridge (spoken)
Well mangroves, I’ve known a few in my day. Rhizophora, she was the first, she was nice, but those prop roots wandered off way too soon. Sonneratia, well her apples turned out to be a whole lotta sour and not a lotta sweet. Bruguiera, oh sweet Brugy, those knee roots had a mind of their own. And now Xylocarpus, I thought you were the one, till I found myself face down in the mud and with one o your cannonballs laying by my side. So my advice to all you guys out there, they may seem great at first, but stay away from them mangroves, cuz you’ll only get hurt . . . big time. I been hurt before, and I’ll be hurt again, cuz I’m in too deep. But take the advice of me, Norm Duke, a hard core mangrove addict, they’ll love you, they’ll leave you, and they’ll ruin you.

Island Fever (Paradise Found?)

Written in Australia in commemoration of the time spent on Heron Island, a veritable paradise.

Words and music by David. Harmony vocals by Kristen. Background vocals by the OSP Australia Singers. This version was recorded live on a single mic in Brisbane, Australia.



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Well they say Heron Island is paradise found
White sands and clear waters of blue
But two weeks at a place fifteen minutes around
And it starts to do something to you
Well the island is nice but I’m sure you’ll agree
You begin to feel trapped by the encircling sea
And all I can think is I have to get free!
And we all have island fever!

I’m coated with salt and a layer of grit
With a gift from the Noddy on top
And I can’t even sleep to escape all of it
‘Cause those Shearwaters won’t bloody stop
Don’t try to take milk, ‘cause you know that she sees
And you’ll only get seconds if you beg on your knees
Now the fury is on for the thief of the cheese
And we all have island fever!

Well the work wakes us up and goes late through the night
As we research our topics of choice
Running transects and braving the coral’s sharp bite,
When it’s over we all will rejoice
All those green algae cells soon will be my demise
Coral bleaches and dies but I can’t sympathize
If I do one more count then I’ll gouge out my eyes
And we all have island fever!

O why do we care about coral and the like
When Ove tells us they’re not going to stay?
Rising CO2 levels and temperature spikes
Mean the end of the world’s on its way
Well, the coral is fine and the water is clear
But with this global warming they’ll soon disappear
All that’s good in the world… will be gone by next year
And we all have island fever!

And the worst of it is being packed like sardines
All into a tiny bunk room
What friendship will last still remains to be seen
But this island spells impending doom
Well I’m sick of the mess and the smell and the fuss
And I need some escape from this crowd we call “us”
And right after this we’re all stuck on a bus
And we all have island fever!

Well the island is nice but I’m sure you’ll agree
You begin to feel trapped by the encircling sea
And all I can think is I have to get free!
And we all have island fever!

Yes, we all have island fever!

City Lights (Memories of Sydney)

Written in memory of the time spent in Sydney with OSP Australia 2006.

Words and music by David. Harmony by Kristen. The original version was recorded live on a single mic in Brisbane, Australia. Version 2 was recorded by Lilly at the Knoll at Stanford.

Version 2:


Original Version:


Download Version 2 or Download Original Version

Verse 1
Now our journey moves to an end
Back down the coast we travel
From our nights in the wilderness
We find ourselves dropped down
In a whole new world
Brilliant visions wash in flood through my sight
It’s the city lights

Verse 2
This town’s excitement hangs in the air
So full of life, so vibrant
Down the shining streets I walk on
Until the buildings end
At the sparkling gem
Black sky meets arching sails of bright white
O the city lights

Chorus
These city lights
Oh-oh
Swirling around, I’m awash in the sight
These city lights
Oh-oh
Beckon me into the night
These city lights

Verse 3
It’s a town that sleep never finds
The late-night crowd still wanders
On my own I set out through the night
Down to the harbor where
I can sit and stare
Dark water shines with glimmers so bright
It’s the city lights

Predator Song (The Croc Came Out of the Water)

Words and music by David. Harmony vocals by Kristen. Featuring our professor Bill Casey on the blues guitar solo. This version was recorded live on a single mic in Brisbane, Australia.



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Verse 1
We were just students bent on havin’ some fun
Off to Down Under for three months in the sun
We traveled up the coast to the forest and sea
Taking in the flora the fauna with glee
But hiding in the shadows something waited for us
And we didn’t see it coming

Chorus
And the croc came out of the water
The shark and the jelly moved in formation
The leech was jumping from the stinger tree
While the noddy made its bombing run
All the predators are coming after us

Verse 2
From shark attacks at Straddie to the Lamington leech
Stingers waiting for us when we went to the beach
Crocs are in the rivers where go for a swim
Threats from everywhere, the situation looked grim
We knew what we were up against but proudly we said
That we wouldn’t let it stop us

Bridge
We’ve been leeched, been jellied, been shat on
Fallen into the Daintree while the crocs looked on
But whatever comes we’ll keep pressing on
Singing this our predator song

Outtakes

Having fun after a long day of recording, the OSP Australia Singers (Chris, Emily, Kat, Ryan, Matt, and Courtney) show their stuff. I think this is probably my favorite recording of the day.



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Why Coral Bleaching Is Important To You (Live)

Written for the presentation of our Targeted Research Project (TRP) on the physiology of coral bleaching. (View paper) It was long day of presentations, and we figured we needed to do something to wake everyone up . . . so we wrote a song and hosted a raffle to see who could guess how many zooxanthellae cells were counted.

Words and music by David and Lindsay. Background humming part by Lindsay. This version is taken from a live video recording of the original performance of the song during our TRP presentation.



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The earth is heating up,
All the corals turn white,
And soon they fall dead
In the hot sunlight.
And you're asking yourself
Why should you care if it's true.
I'll tell you why coral bleaching is important to you.

The beauty won't be here
For your children to see,
No more nifty new cures
Or a guard from the sea.
When the reefs disappear
All the fish will go too.
And this is why coral bleaching is important to you

There will be nothing left to study
For your TRPs
Unless you want to get stuck
In those mangrove trees.
No more coral cuts
Or transects til your face turns blue.
And that's why coral bleaching is important to you

It damages the reefs
Both near and far,
But hey, it lets Ove
Be a TV star.
And when they're all gone
We'll be sad and blue.
And that's why coral bleaching is important to you.