ADD: Songs of the Ancient Matriarch (Holly Tannen)

Subject: Add: Rime of the Ancient Matriarch (Holly Tannen)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Feb 19 - 12:14 AM

This is an edited PermaThread®, used for a special project - collecting the songs of Holly Tannen. This thread will be moderated. Feel free to post to this thread, but remember that all messages posted here are subject to editing or deletion. Editors of this thread are Joe Offer and Holly Tannen.
-Joe Offer-

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I feel like sharing some of the best I've heard from the San Francisco Folk Music Club. Here's Holly Tannen, singing her "Ancient Matriarch":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyXoQstLaSw

That's my friend Amelia Hogan singing with her.

RIME OF THE ANCIENT MATRIARCH
(Holly Tannen)

I was born in Turkey thirty thousand years ago
I taught the women and the men the things that they should know
The patriarchs invaded and I was forced to roam
I am an ancient matriarch, a long way from my home

So I escaped to Brittany, way up in Northern France
I met some Gauls with hairy balls, who thought they wore the pants
Until I had them brought to me, inside my pleasure dome
I am an ancient matriarch, a long way from my home

Across the Channel I was called to help the Celts carouse
Where fungi flourished on the crops and droppings of the cows
In jest I said, "Ingest these things"
And thus the Henge was stoned
I am an ancient matriarch, a long way from my home

'Tis then across the Irish sea I boldly made my way
Where I was worshipped as a queen on each St Brigid's Day
Invading Brits disdained my tits and threw me from my throne
I am an ancient matriarch, a long way from my home

Amongst the Appalachians I then did take my stand
Likewise in Nova Scotia and up in Newfoundland
In New Orleans, them Voodoo queens embraced me as their own
I am an ancient matriarch, a long way from my home

It's now in California this matriarch belongs
Where paunchy bards in Star Trek garb sing ersatz gaelic songs
Though madam Pele calls me I shall no longer roam
I am an ancient matriarch, a long way from my home

Subject: ADD: Bonobo Wannabee (Holly Tannen)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Jul 21 - 07:26 PM

Thread #74787   Message #1328932
Posted By: Barbara
16-Nov-04 - 03:04 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: monkeys more humane than humans
Subject: Lyr Add: BONOBO WANABEE (Holly Tannen)

There's also this one, written by Holly Tannen a year ago, that addresses another facet of humane monkey behavior. This one is about the Bonobos, a recent split from chimpanzee who are known for all the things they do to deal with stress that keep them from even being shown on the discovery channel. They just about exclusively use sexuality instead of agression when things get tense.
Blessings,
Barbara

WANT TO BE A BONOBO
(Holly Tannen c 2003)

Oh, I want to be a Bonobo,
A Bonobo life for me
I want to be a Bonobo,
I'm a Bonobo wannabe.

We hang around, around the trees,
And sit on one another's knees,
And search for nits and ticks and fleas,
Ah, it's a Bonobo life for me

Oh, I want to be a Bonobo,
A Bonobo life for me
A bona fide Bonobo
I'm a Bonobo wannabe.

We nest up in the trees at night
And fondle everything in sight
We hardly ever have to fight
It's the Bonobo life for me.

Oh, I want to be a Bonobo,
A Bonobo life for me
A born-again Bonobo,
I'm a Bonobo wannabe.

You can harangue an orangutang
You can moon a baboon
But I want to be a Bonobo
And croon a Bonobo tune.

Dum da dum da duddle la dum
Duddle la duddle la dum
(Same as last two lines) (as you will)

Oh, come over here mama Bonobo
Sit on your Daddy's knee
Oh, do you want to Bonobo
Bonobo a bit with me

And if we do Bonobo
I will not charge a fee
I'll do it pro Bonobo
I'm a Bonobo wannabe.

Oh, I want to be a Bonobo,
A Bonobo life for me
I want to be a Bonobo,
I'm a Bonobo wannabe.

You can thrill a gorilla
Make free with a chimpanzee
But I want to be a Bonobo,
It's the Bonobo life for me.

Subject: RE: ADD: Songs of the Ancient Matriarch (Holly Tannen)
From: GUEST,#
Date: 08 Jul 21 - 12:18 PM

http://hollytannen.com/songlyrics.htm

That may be of some help.

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This is a thread I established mostly for Holly to post her lyrics, but others are also welcome to post their favorite Holly songs. It was so nice to see her at the Singaround Monday.
-Joe-

Subject: ADD: Delta Blues (Holly Tannen)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Aug 21 - 11:55 PM

Here's another gem I got by email from Holly:

DELTA BLUES
Words: Holly Tannen
Tune: Evil-Hearted Me or any good blues tune
© Copywrong 2021 All rights reversed
Please sing, make up verses, make it your own - though I do appreciate being credited

Got my N95, then I went and got my vax
Now the Delta variant is creeping through the cracks

I got the blues, I got the blues, got the mean old Delta Blues
I got the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and the mean old Delta Blues

I try to wear a mask but I sniffle and I sneeze
Till I think I’m coming down with this ridiculous disease

I got the blues, I got the blues, I got the mean old Delta Blues
I know it must be true ‘cause I saw it on the morning news

I want to go to Sweden on a Viking river cruise
But I’m stuck in California with the Delta Blues

I got the blues, I got the blues, I got the mean old Delta Blues
I know all about it ‘cause I read it on Google news

I wanna smoke some dope and I wanna drink some booze
Will they help me to forget about the Delta Blues?

I got the blues, I got the blues, the mean old Delta Blues
I wanna go to bed and take a fourteen-hour snooze

I wanna hug my buddy and I wanna kiss my friend
And I wanna know if this fershlugginer plague will ever end

I got the blues, I got the blues, the mean old Delta Blues
I got the Alpha and Omega and the mean old Delta Blues

Subject: RE: ADD: Songs of the Ancient Matriarch (Holly Tannen)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Aug 21 - 01:40 AM

Well, I gave her a thread for her songs, but she likes to put them where she likes to put them. Don't mess with a woman with a creative mind. :-)

Thread #167408   Message #4115703
Posted By: GUEST,Holly Tannen
07-Aug-21 - 09:09 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Coronavirus Songs (COVID-19; Pandemic)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Coronavirus Songs (COVID-19; Pandemic)

I Could Not Stop For Covid
        by Homily Tannenson
Tune: The Bold Privateer   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeHVVpx-ny4

I could not stop for Covid
So He kindly stopped for me.
The Seniors’ bus held only us
And my mortality.
        He slowly drove down Franklin Street
        As I lay down my phone
        And wondered what to say
        After nine long weeks alone.                

We passed the school where children once
Played soccer on the lawn.
The playground and the swimming pool,
But everyone was gone.
        He paused outside the coffee shop
        I used to go to eat
        But no one was inside now
        And no one on the street.

I shivered in the morning fog
The air was cold and dank
No neighbors in the hardware store
The grocery or the bank.
        I raised my mask and asked him
        Is poison on my breath?
        Or shall I live and witness
        My town condemned to Death?

Subject: New Old Song: Slithering (Holly Tannen)
From: Holly Tannen
Date: 30 Oct 21 - 02:06 AM

SLITHERING
Words: Holly
Tune: Streets of Laredo

As I slithered out in the garden of Eden
As I went slith’ring round Eden one day
I spied a young couple all wrapped up in nothing
All of their naughty bits out on display.

I said to the short one, I see you are mammals
You both have nipples for feeding your young
I have no nipples, for I am a reptile
I have bright scales and a flattering tongue.

I said to the tall one, I see you are manly
You have that dangly thing down by your thigh
Would you oblige me by wearing this fig leaf?
I feel embarrassed, though I don’t know why.

Let me present you this shiny red apple
You can both share it with your buddy Steve
It will give you wisdom, it is psychedelic
Take a bite, Adam, and don’t you blame Eve.

Subject: New album: Eat Your Triceratops (Holly Tannen)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Mar 22 - 02:36 PM

Eat Your Triceratops

Holly Tannen presents a digital download of twelve new songs and an old one.

1. Eat Your Triceratops - a conversation between a mother tyrannosaur and her toddler.
2. Slithering Round Eden - the second book of Genesis from a reptilian perspective.
3. Holio - there are many very spiritual people in Mendocino.
4. Butterflies and Puppy Dogs - more spiritual people.
5. Bonnie Boy - a northern California variant of a Scottish love song.
6. The Princess and the Frog - a fairytale.
7. Downstream from Dylan - clarifies the cause and cure of Songwriter’s Block.
8. Redwood Blues - Do I have to get up this early?
9. The Grateful Dead Boogie (Help the Redwoods Thrive) - “Was there music before the Grateful Dead? And why are they grateful?”
10. Braxton Bragg - Fort Bragg is named after a Confederate general whom everybody hated, except the Union generals to whom he lost battle after battle.
11. The House That Once Was Mine - Newcomers move into a handmade house.
12. (Friendship is a) Sheltering Tree - A quote from Coleridge discovered on a peppermint teabag.
13. Pardon Me, Thou Bleeding Piece of Earth - that I am meek and gentle with these butchers. (Shakespeare)

Available Beltane, May 1st, 2022, I hope. [e-mail]

Subject: RE: ADD: Songs of the Ancient Matriarch (Holly Tannen)
From: GUEST,Rearranging Deck Chairs
Date: 16 May 22 - 01:28 AM

REARRANGING DECK CHAIRS

The crew are winching lifeboats down into the freezing sea.
The band is on the boatdeck playing Nearer My God To Thee
I am an able seaman charged with maintenance and repairs,
The bos'n says, “Go up on deck and rearrange the chairs.”

He thinks they’ve fallen over so I have to go and check
And bring a bucket and a mop so I can swab the deck.
The ship is slowly sinking while the boilers team and smoke,
I gaze around and wonder if there isn’t something broke.

A thousand squealing Norway rats are diving off the side
But I’m not going to follow them, a worker has his pride.
The jewel-bedazzled heiresses and self-made millionaires
Are crowding into lifeboats as I rearrange the chairs.

They’ve locked the doors to steerage so the poor folks can’t get out
“There isn’t room for all of you,” I heard the Captain shout.
The Irish and Italian are all kneeling, saying prayers
While up here on the quarterdeck I’m rearranging chairs.