Thanks for reviving this thread, McGrath. This has been one of my all time favorite songs since I first heard it a couple years ago.

I'm now listening to Lui Collins' cover of the song (the link to which is on the same NPR site), and while I love her descant,^* I find her enunciation a little bit sloppier than Pat Humphries' -- she seems to "slide over" the ending consonants of the words, if you know what I mean. And the consonantal (was that a word before, or did I just make it up?) rhythms are one of the things that I like best about the song.

But enough nit picking! I just love the song... I have, for many years, ridden horses under the guidance of physical therapists as my primary form of PT, and often, we ride to music, sometimes as part of dressage exercises, sometimes for demonstrations, and sometimes just because the horses and riders like it (really, the horses tend to pick up on the tempo of whatever's playing, and move in time). And this song strikes me as being perfect for such a purpose -- not only do the lyrics celebrate creatures of all kinds supporting and helping each other, but I can almost feel the rhythm of a horse's walking stride within it. If/when I get the opportunity to design my own musical dressage exercise again, I'm going to pick this song...

^*We are living, we are dwelling
in a grand and awesome time
We can worship, we can cherish
All the ones we live beside