How many songs from Camp Ajawah were written by members of the Songwriting Hall of Fame? Well, at least one:
http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/C189?exhibitId=189
Written for the Civil War in the words of a POW awaiting rescue, it eventual was given words more appropriate for a summer camp:
Tramp Tramp Tramp the scouts are marching
Under smiling skies above (skies above!)
For the red, the white, the blue
We will stay forever true
For the glory of the country that we love
(repeat)
We used it as one of a handful of songs that served to dismiss campers after meals. The song leader would point to whichever table was singing best, indicating that they could leave the Mess Hall. Then the next best table, and so on, down to the last one. This kept the exit from becoming a riot of kids struggling to be first out the door.
The melody also has some pop music fame; it serves as the melody for the introduction to Ray Stevens' Grammy-winning #1 song from 1970, "Everything is Beautiful." George Root's melody was set to Biblically inspired words by a lyricist he knew named C. Herbert Woolston ("Jesus loves the little children") and became a Sunday school favorite for decades.
Military prison to the hiking path to church - a pretty versatile tune...
2 comments:
It is a very nice and good post. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, Kids Music, for reading and for posting.
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