The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #172953   Message #4193975
Posted By: Robert B. Waltz
20-Dec-23 - 05:55 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Trad songs about protecting nature?
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Trad songs about protecting nature?
Steve Gardham wrote: "I very much doubt you will find any traditional songs at all that touch on this subject."

I agree. I've never encountered one -- not really. I've been watching for them! Everything people have cited here is non-traditional or is about either the glories or the terrors of nature.

There are songs about ecosystems -- Newfoundland has a high number of songs about seals and sealing, and some as well about cod. Some talk about how the ecosystem works. But their viewpoint is, almost without exception, in support of their right to seal or fish, even though first the cod fishery collapsed and the seal fishery was getting close.

For what it's worth, the best non-traditional song I can think of on this topic is Stan Rogers's "Make and Break Harbour." If you ignore the title "Make and Break," which is an engine, not a place (growl), every word of it just breathes the Newfoundland cod fishery. If you made it the name of an actual Newfoundland outport -- "Carbonear" or "Ferryland" are names that would fit the meter -- you could probably pass it off as a traditional fisherman's song.