Songs for Battling Cancer

Subject: Songs for Battling Cancer
From: wysiwyg
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 12:19 PM

With this post I request that this music thread be a permathread, and I volunteer to edit it. (I would also welcome someone else editing it.)

It seems very strange to me that with the number of cancers that have invaded MudUniverse, we have not done a thread like this-- or if we did, I sure didn't find it.

Links to already-posted songs welcome.

Links to playable-online music videos and audios welcome-- if vid pls specify for those on slow connex.

Newly-found lyrics welcome.

Newly written songs welcome.


Let's use Mudcat for ITS BEST!

===

Here's one just posted to start us all off:

BRAID MY HAIR

~S~

---

Sorry, this is not PermaThread material. See the PermaThread Index for examples.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Songs for Battling Cancer
From: YorkshireYankee
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 01:53 PM

Manuel Garcia -- moving song by David Roth; true story of a guy undergoing cancer treatment, and the support he received from family & friends (don't want to spoil the song by revealing the end) --
listen to it for yourselves...

YY

Subject: RE: Songs for Battling Cancer
From: Tim Leaning
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 02:09 PM

http://www.myspace.com/heliankeys2006

Try this and play Take My Hand.

Its By a mudcat person.

Subject: RE: Songs for Battling Cancer
From: Rasener
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 02:32 PM

Cancer Research (Eva Cassidy - Fields Of Gold) Advert

Eva Cassidy - Fields Of Gold - full version

Subject: RE: Songs for Battling Cancer
From: wysiwyg
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 04:06 PM

Thanks, folks, keep 'em coming.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Songs for Battling Cancer
From: open mike
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 09:36 PM

David Roth's Manuel Garcia was my first pick..
a very moving piece.

I think Kate Wolf may have written some songs
while she was fighting leukemia...there was one
called Medicine Wheel that seemed as if it might
have reference to the painkillers she was on..

or there might have been some images resembling
hallucinations included in a song of hers..
do not have this in front of me at the moment..

Subject: Lyr Add: CANCER'S A FUNNY THING (J. B. S. Haldane)
From: Young Buchan
Date: 17 Feb 10 - 05:57 AM

Many years ago I was asked to sing at a singaround to raise money for Cancer charities. I thought I'd better have something appropriate to the occasion so I dug out an old poem by the scientist JBS Haldane, which he wrote when he was diagnosed with cancer to try to make it all sound less terrifying. I set it to a vaguely folk tune and cut it a fair bit. I can no longer remember the cuts or the tune (I think it was shanty-related!), but here is the original material if anyone wants to try doing anything with it themself.

I wish I had the voice of Homer
To sing of rectal carcinoma,
Which kills a lot more folks, in fact
Than were bumped off when Troy was sacked.

Yet, thanks to modern surgeon's skills,
It can be killed before it kills
Upon a scientific basis
In nineteen out of twenty cases.

I noticed I was passing blood
(Only a few drops, not a flood).
So pausing on my homeward way
From Tallahassee to Bombay

I asked a doctor, now my friend,
To peer into my hinder end,
To prove or to disprove the rumour
That I had a malignant tumour.

They pumped in BaS04.
Till I could really stand no more,
And, when sufficient had been pressed in,
They photographed my large intestine,

In order to decide the issue
They next scraped out some bits of tissue.
(Before they did so, some good pal
Had knocked me out with pentothal,

Whose action is extremely quick,
And does not leave me feeling sick.)
The microscope returned the answer
That I had certainly got cancer,

So I was wheeled into the theatre
Where holes were made to make me better.
One set is in my perineum
Where I can feel, but can't yet see 'em.

Another made me like a kipper
Or female prey of Jack the Ripper,
Through this incision, I don't doubt,
The neoplasm was taken out,

Along with colon, and lymph nodes
Where cancer cells might find abodes.
A third much smaller hole is meant
To function as a ventral vent.

So now I am like two-faced Janus
The only god who sees his anus.
I'll swear, without the risk of perjury,
It was a snappy bit of surgery.

My rectum is a serious loss to me,
But I've a very neat colostomy,
And hope, as soon as I am able,
To make it keep a fixed time-table.

So do not wait for aches and pains
To have a surgeon mend your drains;
If he says "cancer" you're a dunce
Unless you have it out at once.

For if you wait it's sure to swell,
And may have progeny as well.
My final word, before I'm done,
Is "Cancer can be rather fun".

Thanks to the nurses and Nye Bevan
The NHS is quite like heaven
Provided one confronts the tumour
With a sufficient sense of humour.

I know that cancer often kills,
But so do cars and sleeping pills;
And it can hurt one till one sweats -
So can bad teeth and unpaid debts.

A spot of laughter, I am sure,
Often accelerates one's cure;
So let us patients do our bit
To help the surgeons make us fit.

Subject: RE: Songs for Battling Cancer
From: open mike
Date: 17 Feb 10 - 02:23 PM

I just remembered an "album" by http://www.cindybullens.com/ which is a benefit for a children's cancer center...in memory of her daughter Jessie http://www.jessiefoundation.org/help/

and here is one posted on another thread...Randy Owen, Braid My Hair
http://www.cmt.com/videos/unplugged/randy-owen/255279/braid-my-hair.jhtml

Subject: RE: Songs for Battling Cancer
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Feb 10 - 09:35 PM

Zig and Siusan have a recording clip on this page, of a perky little song called "The Very Breast Present Ever"

http://www.myspace.com/zigandsiusan

Subject: RE: Songs for Battling Cancer
From: GUEST,pattyClink
Date: 17 Feb 10 - 09:52 PM

Sorry about that 'guest' post, it was inadvertent

Also on that Zig and Siusan page is a song "Another Day", it is a great song about the process of getting through a cancer 'storm'.

Subject: Lyr Add: SECOND WIND (Claire Lynch)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 10 Mar 10 - 11:23 AM

Second Wind


SECOND WIND
(Claire Lynch & Pamela Brown Hayes, Songs of Polygram Int'l Pub., Inc. - Sound Cell Songs, BMI)

1. Somethin' familiar blew in with the wind--
A dream I let fall by the wayside.
I find myself yearnin' to live it again;
Now, there's no stoppin' me this time, 'cause

CHORUS: I've been surveyin' the shape that I'm in--
Wasted and weary and wearin' it thin.
I know where I've been but who knows where I'm goin'?
I feel a second wind blowin', blowin' my way.

2. The first time around you don't know what you have
Until the day comes when you lose it.
Now, I'm gettin' ready for my second chance;
This time I won't refuse it, 'cause--CHORUS

INSTRUMENTAL INTERLUDE

BRIDGE: I won't be denyin' my heart any longer;
The longer I wait, this feeling grows stronger.

CHORUS

SH

Subject: RE: Songs for Battling Cancer
From: Mary Katherine
Date: 10 Mar 10 - 01:38 PM

Peter Yarrow wrote this song for a friend who had cancer. It's called "With Your Face to the Wind" ("Hariett's Song".)Peter, Paul & Mary recorded it on an album called Flowers And Stones.

http://www.peterpaulandmary.com/music/16-07.htm

Subject: Lyr/Chords Add: I HOPE YOU DANCE (Sanders/Sillers)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 10 Mar 10 - 03:03 PM

I Hope You Dance (youtube video)


Roughstock.com/COWPIE lyric and chords:

  
      
  Artist: Lee Ann Womack
  I HOPE YOU DANCE
  Written By: Mark D. Sanders, Tia Sillers
  
  Guitar Notes: Capo on 3
  
  "I Hope You Dance"
  
  Em   C   G   D       Em   C   D     Em   C   G   D     Em   C   D
  
  Verse 1:
  G 
  I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
                         Em
  You get your fill to eat, but always have that hunger
                 C
  May you never take one single breath for granted
                D       
  God forbid love ever leave you empty-handed
                  C                              D                              
  
  Verse 2:  
   G
  I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
                       C                   D                      G
  Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
              Am                           G                       C
  Promise me that you'll give fate the fighting chance 
                                                                       D
  And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
  
  
  CHORUS:
                       Em  C  G  D
  I hope you dance
                       Em  C   D
  I hope you dance
  
  
  Verse 3:
                     G
  I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
              Em
  Never settle for the path of least resistance
              C
  Living might mean taking chances, but they're worth taking
               D
  Loving might be a mistake, but it's worth making
  
  
  Verse 4:
             C                           D                      G
  Don't let some hell-bent heart leave you bitter
                             C                    D               G
  When you come close to selling out reconsider
                   Am                G                        C      
  Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
                                                                       D
  And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
  
                       Em  C  G  D                       Em  C  D
  I hope you dance              I hope you dance
                       Em  C  G  D                       Em  C  D
  I hope you dance              I hope you dance
  
                     C                                D                         
  
  
  
  Em  C  G  D     Em  C  D    Em  C  G  D    Em  C  
  
  

SH

Subject: RE: Songs for Battling Cancer
From: oldhippie
Date: 14 Mar 10 - 09:29 AM

The Colonoscopy Song - Peter Yarrow_
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqvpfrnmJrg

Subject: RE: Songs for Battling Cancer
From: wysiwyg
Date: 14 Mar 10 - 12:45 PM

LilyFestre mentioned Rumi's poetry in another thread. I think this thread should include pomes, too. :~)

~Susan

Subject: RE: Songs for Battling Cancer
From: oldhippie
Date: 14 Mar 10 - 05:40 PM

Krysta Youngs, a singer/songwriter from Boston, MA released a song, "I'll Believe In You", inspired by her mother's battle with breast cancer. The song is available for free download at www.krystayoungs.com

Subject: Lyr Add: THE COLONOSCOPY SONG (Peter Yarrow)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Apr 15 - 09:45 PM

OldHippie mentioned this a couple of messages back, and provided a link to YouTube. It's also on Spotify.


THE COLONOSCOPY SONG
As sung by Peter Yarrow; released as a single, 2010.

When I had my colonoscopy, I had a question on my mind:
Do we all look the same when the doctor sees us from behind?
Then I had the answer; I felt like such a fool,
'Cause the doctor smiled and said to me: "Your colon's really cool!"
My colon's really cool! What a nice surprise!
He sees a lot of colons but my colon took the prize.

Then he added something that was even more divine:
"We found a polyp hiding, Peter, but we caught it just in time."
He found a polyp hiding; don't mean to sound so crass,
But the polyp was discovered by a cam'ra up—*

My mother and my father spoke to me that very day.
They said: "My son, it seems you've won the polyp prize. Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!"
Now the cam'ra that they used is not like the ones on movie lots.
It's a cam'ra that is tiny and it takes interior shots.
It's a cam'ra that is groovy; it can twist and turn and bend
To film your colon's story and insure a happy end.

So listen to me closely, for this is not a lie:
Colon cancer can be beaten if you are not cam'ra shy.
Call your doctor swiftly, no ifs or ands or buts.
Schedule your colonoscopy; I know you've got the guts.

My colon's really cool, and what a nice surprise!
My doctor sees a lot of colons but mine took the prize.
Mine took the prize, my friends; mine took the prize.
My colon's really groovy so my colon took first prize.


[* This line is run on with the next one, not missing a beat.]

Subject: Lyr Add: THE COLONOSCOPY SONG (Stu Moss)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Apr 15 - 10:07 PM

A different song on the same topic. I found this on Spotify.


THE COLONOSCOPY SONG
As sung by Stu Moss on "Look at Me" (2005).

I don't like getting older; it doesn't seem quite fair.
Your memory fades, you need a hearing aid, and you lose your hair.
The young men get the women, but I don't give a damn,
'Cause there's something I get more often than any younger man:

A colonoscopy, a colonoscopy.
It stirs such feelings so deep inside of me,
And for a modest fee,
A colonoscopy
Opened up a whole new world for me.

A tiny TV camera four feet inside of me,
Some Valium, and a very large sum, and some Vaseline.
I don't have much courage; I know myself, no doubt,
But my gastroenterologist knows me inside out.

A colonoscopy, a colonoscopy—
I find I'm dreamin' of
Someone with rubber gloves—
Not a sigmoidoscopy,
'Cause a sigmoidoscopy
Is just a semicolonoscopy.
And I saw the whole thing on TV,
And it opened up a whole new world,
It opened up a whole new world,
It opened up a whole new world for me.

Subject: RE: Songs for Battling Cancer
From: Jack Campin
Date: 29 Apr 15 - 03:17 AM

There is quite a lot of evidence that people who conceptualize their response to having cancer as a "fight" or "battle" tend to suffer more and die sooner than those who don't see it as a suitable target for aggression and violence.

Maybe the thread title is asking for the wrong thing. (Most of the songs mentioned don't in fact militarize it, anyway).

Subject: RE: Songs for Battling Cancer
From: Murpholly
Date: 29 Apr 15 - 09:34 AM

For friends battling cancer we have always sung "Don't give up till it's over, Don't quit if you can" as performed by Ronnie Drew of the Dublingers who himself eventually succombed to cancer.