Lyr Req: Rock Rap (H Bursen) 'Suck that continent'

Subject: Lyr Req: Suck Those Continents Down
From: RTim
Date: 24 May 10 - 10:18 AM

Hi All,

Does anyone have the words of this song - that I have heard Howie Bursen sing?
I have a Geologist friend who has not heard of it.

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suck Those Continents Down
From: RTim
Date: 24 May 10 - 03:56 PM

Refresh - Anyone?

Tim

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suck Those Continents Down
From: ClaireBear
Date: 24 May 10 - 08:37 PM

Tim, there's a mailing address for him at this site -- you could write and ask him. I've had no luck finding it any other way, but there may be others who have better access. Good luck -- I love his songwriting, and a Bursen song about geology sounds intriguing.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suck Those Continents Down
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 25 May 10 - 12:46 PM

I can't help with the song, but I just gotta mention that nothing sucks continents down.   It's the sea floor, heavier than the continents, which descends into the mantle.

I did try looking for a song called "Suck that Sea Floor Down," but no soap.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suck Those Continents Down
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 May 10 - 09:27 AM

Is this sung to the tune of BOIL THEM CABBAGE DOWN? I tried searching for SUCK THEM CONTINENTS DOWN, and failed at that, too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suck Those Continents Down
From: Jack Campin
Date: 27 May 10 - 08:02 PM

More likely "Tie Me Kangaroo Down" I'd guess.

Subject: Lyr Add: ROCK RAP (Howie Bursen)
From: RTim
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 04:32 PM

I have been in contact with Howie Bursen, and he has kindly sent me the words to the song I have been looking for. It's a great one, but better when sung with an audience!!

Tim Radford
--------------------------

ROCK RAP
©1989 by Howie Bursen

Basalt flow, granite below, suck that continent down! (grunt)
Basalt flow, granite below, suck that continent down! (grunt)

Now you take a little shale, and you take a little weight
  Suck that continent down! (grunt)
You put the weight on the shale, it's turnin' into slate!
  Suck that continent down! (grunt)

Then you take that slate and you give a little twist
  Suck that continent down! (grunt)
What happens to the slate? - It's turnin' into schist!
  Suck that continent down! (grunt)

Batholith a pluton, better stock up your larder
  Suck that continent down! (grunt)
Phyllite makes gneiss if you push a little harder
  Suck that continent down! (grunt)

Basalt flow, granite below, suck that continent down! (grunt)
Basalt flow, granite below, suck that continent down! (grunt)

Never put the family jewels in a carbonate bank!
  Suck that continent down! (grunt)
'Cause when the seamount dock, give your suture quite a yank!
  Suck that continent down! (grunt)

Squeezin' on your lime make your sediments feel horrible
  Suck that continent down! (grunt)
There go the family assets, turnin' into marble!
  Suck that continent down! (grunt)

Basalt flow, granite below, suck that continent down! (grunt)
Basalt flow, granite below, suck that continent down! (grunt)

Now you take an active margin and a subduction zone
  Suck that continent down! (grunt)
You're gonna melt yourself some magma, get an andesitic cone
  Suck that continent down! (grunt)
You get a zeolite vug, a rhyolite plug,
  Ocean floor right at your feet - an ophiolite suite

Basalt flow, granite below, suck that continent down! (grunt)
Basalt flow, granite below, suck that continent down! (grunt)

Basalt flow, granite below, suck that continent down! (grunt)
Basalt flow, granite below, suck that continent down! (grunt)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suck Those Continents Down
From: ClaireBear
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 04:43 PM

Yay! So glad you got these lyrics!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suck Those Continents Down
From: Don Firth
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 05:17 PM

Uh . . . I've heard of "seduction songs," but this is the first time I've ever heard of a "subduction song!"

Will wonders never cease!??

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suck Those Continents Down
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 06:07 PM

Thanks very much, RTim. It is simply brilliant. And I see how the continental rocks play a role as the surface layer of a subducting plate.

The title is 'Rock Rap, but I believe this would make a brilliant chantey for geologists.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suck Those Continents Down
From: ClaireBear
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 06:26 PM

By the way, IS the tune "Tie Me Kangaroo Down," "Bile Them Cabbage Down," or something else altogether?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suck Those Continents Down
From: RTim
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 07:36 PM

The tune was not my main interest - it was just the words.
Contact Howie for the tune.
By the way, I wanted it for a Geologist friend who is also a Shanty singer, so Leeneia's comment is very apt!

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rock Rap (H Bursen) 'Suck that continent'
From: GUEST,Karen Mueller-Harder
Date: 16 Sep 14 - 08:39 PM

There IS no tune--it's just a spoken rap, so you're good to go!