JPF Home Page Forums Lyric and MP3 Feedback Creative Challenge Forum St. Patrick's Day Song Challenge: "Let's Go GREEN"!

Hiya folks,

As many of you might recall, I'm a total sucker for song challenges, and with St. Patrick's Day right around the corner, I thought I'd toss out the obvious inspiration for your creative juices.

If you're willing and able, please try to come up with (and post) a song using the word GREEN, in any of its manifestations. Can be just a lyric, or a full-fledged song if you're feeling adventurous. Also, it doesn't necessarily have to be a new one, but the idea is to give you a fun starting point. Here's a quick one from me to start things off. Good luck and have fun!

Beth

"Go Green"
(c) 2016, Beth G. Williams, BMI

My minivan windows are still covered with stickers
Of Nemo and Mickey and cute random critters
But my kids are grown up now
I want to throw up now
And when I see your new Beemer I'm bitter

My kitchen has surely seen much better days
The linoleum's cracked, the countertop's stained
But with no means to remodel
Guess I'll just hit the bottle
And when I see your new granite I'm pained

Though I've tried to be grateful, I'm leaning towards hateful, 'cause ...

I finally know what it means to go green
And it's nothing to do with the planet
My blood is boiling my resentment obscene
And in truth it does feel organic
But my 2.2 kids and my white picket fence
Have fallen far short of my dreams
When I see how your husband has spared no expense
What else can I do but go green?

So I dug out old plans for this year's staycation
But the broken A/C adds a new aggravation
With no way to keep cool
And no underground pool
Your postcards from the beach cause me much consternation

Though I've tried to be grateful, I'm leaning towards hateful, 'cause ...

I finally know what it means to go green
And it's nothing to do with the planet
My blood is boiling my resentment obscene
And in truth, it does feel organic
But my 2.2 kids and my white picket fence
Have fallen far short of my dreams
When I see how your husband has spared no expense
What else can I do but go green?

I know I have my health
And a roof over my head
But the grass is always greener
And my lawn is way past dead

Though I've tried to be grateful, I'm leaning towards hateful, 'cause ...

I finally know what it means to go green
And it's nothing to do with the planet
My blood is boiling my resentment obscene
And in truth it does feel organic
But my 2.2 kids and my white picket fence
Have fallen far short of my dreams
When I see how your husband has spared no expense
What else can I do but go green?

Wow, Beth:

Double en'tendre's (sp?) in so many lines. Love the story behind the song and I hope it isn't your current status, LOL! This has a ton of potential and I hope you'll keep "whittling away" at it until it is perfect.

There are a couple of places here and there that might be difficult to sing but it's tough to judge that factor until the music is created... so I won't get into "crits" at this early stage.

"Green with Envy" might be a good title... LOL!

Regretfully, due to my recent illness, I'm not up to your challenge but we have so many talented writers at JPF, I'm sure you will snare a few for this effort. Best of luck.

All the best, my talented friend!

----Dave

Hey Dave,

Thanks for checking this out and bumping up the Challenge thread!

The song was mostly just for fun....so not too concerned that it'll ever get musicated. I had bandied about titles for a while -- "The Grass Is Always Greener" for instance -- but decided to play on the popular goal of Going Green. As for my current situation, sure I wouldn't mind some new countertops, but I try to focus more on creating a happy home than a showcase. But if I won the Lottery, mark my words, Walls Will Be Coming Down....

Finally, as I mentioned to you privately, I'm very sorry to hear that you've been feeling so poorly. Absolutely no worries about adding something to the mix here. If I offered you even a moment's distraction with the thread thus far, it was worth it.

Thanks again, and ciao for now!!
Beth

Beth,

Your lyric clearly shows your wit and sense of humor in full form! Your rhymes alone are "envy-worthy" lol and so clever. "stickers/critter/bitter", "staycation/aggravation/consternation". You should post it over in the crit forum in case people don't see it here. I like all the humorous lines throughout...easy to relate to:

I finally know what it means to go green
And it's nothing to do with the planet

Kudos to you on another fine write!

I can't help but add that during FAWM, they have these hourly challenges, just like this board here. I only did a couple because it depended on the title, and couldn't get them all to work within an hour's time. So I thought I'd set the timer and test myself with your "GREEN" challenge here. So, here's my 1/2 hour of labor for it...Have no real title, so just threw something in....it's all in testing the creativity...I don't expect crits on it! Thanks for the "push"!

Winter’s End

Snow has melted
And the cold subsides
I feel the sun’s presence
As the clouds divide

Spring soon enters
With a soft warm hand
I see the birds’ gather now
At the park’s bandstand

[ch]
And it’s green that signals
The winter’s end
Green that waves at us
Like an old lost friend
And we’ll walk with vigor
Thru the lime green grass
Watch some kites fly
With our dreams, at last

Days are longer
But my energy builds
Light brings more than time
To the foothills

Roads with repairs
Holes filled in like new
We can get outside
And be part of the view

[ch]
And it’s green that signals
The winter’s end
Green that waves at us
Like an old lost friend
And we’ll walk with vigor
Thru the lime green grass
Watch some kites fly
With our dreams, at last

[br]
Our voices will travel
Our hearts beating fast
Cuz we know the seasons
Are always in the forecast

Repeat ch

©2016 Kristi McKeever

Hey there Kristi....

You wrote this in a half hour?!?! Wow. I am impressed. FAWM is really helping you up your game (not that it needed "upping" mind you!)... As usual, you bring such vivid imagery and sensuality to your lyrics. I particularly enjoyed the promise of this section:

Days are longer
But my energy builds
Light brings more than time
To the foothills

Thanks so much for playing along...and for your kind remarks about my lyric. As for posting it separately in the Lyric boards, I'm trying to pace myself; have another one I'm working on, and think I'll wait til "Labor Of Love" falls down a bit before posting that one. I appreciate the encouragement though...

See ya around the boards,
Beth

please listen ... http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart
Green
© words and music by C. Stewart ( Mar. 14, 2016 )


My neighbor drives a car that's green
Just like her nasty dress
The back seat of her four hole Buick
Never gets a rest

It takes a special kind of man
To wallow in the dirt
Your little wiener might fall off
I bet that would hurt

Her mobile home is painted green
Just like both her teeth
I saw that same ol' dress again
Who knows what's underneath

It takes a special kind of man
To wallow in the dirt
Your little wiener might fall off
I bet that would hurt

We all know, the grass is greener
On the other side
But I've decided to stay right here
Cause I think someone lied

It takes a special kind of man
To wallow in the dirt
Your little wiener might fall off
I bet that would hurt

Hey Calvin,

That's quite a song. Funny how Kristi's "green" was about the newness of the season, whereas your green is a bit more on the skanky side shall we say.

Anyhoo, I'm always impressed by how you bring your characters to life -- the good, the bad, and everything in between.

Your chorus is pretty hysterical too.

Thanks for humoring me and playing along!

Cheers,
Beth

~I sure hope I'm not toast
And there's no room to boast
For I'm posting a lyric not new
For the day has been loooong
So I hope it's not wrong
Since you asked for a song, didn't you?
Back from 2 thousand nine
I did search and did find
An old lyric that touts the word "green"
You can label me lazy
But my head's kind of hazy
Still I want to part of the team~!!

[i]“A Little Green”[/i] (still needs musicating )
©2009 Lynn Orloff

Never been in love before
This is all so very new
But if what I’m feeling now is love
Baby it’s because of you
So forgive me if I stumble with the words I wanna say
This is something unfamiliar but you won’t hear me once complain…

I’ve never been in love, I’m still a little green
The only thing I know of love’s what I watched on movie screens
No I’ve never been in love, didn’t know how it would be
But aren’t I the lucky one cos it’s my turn…finally

Can’t say I saw it coming
Guess I must've missed the signs
Seems it snuck up kind of quietly
Yeah it took me by surprise
If I seem alittle nervous, babe I hope you understand
Something happens that I can't explain everytime I hold your hand

I’ve never been in love, I’m still a little green
The only thing I know of love’s what I read in magazines
No I’ve never been in love, didn’t know how it would be
But aren’t I the lucky one cos it’s my turn…finally

Bridge
Now I know why I’ve heard people say that love’s the greatest thing
It’s like my heart was standing still until you came and gave it wings..

No I’ve never been in love, oh yeah I'm still a little green
All I know is what I’m feeling now makes it real darn hard to breathe
And even though I didn’t know how lucky someday I might be
It’s all for real the way I feel and it’s my turn
It’s my turn, it’s my turn….finally

So great to see BethieBoo in town ...spring is definitely in the air and Dave poor Dave I hope you are not feeling too green
feel better and soon!!!

Hey Lynn!!

Thanks so much
For chiming in
You're one of my favorite
Rhmying kin
I hope to stay
And write a while
Your welcome back
Sure made me smile
Hope Life is good
At your end too
I'll see you around
Love, Bethieboo

Well,
I seem to remember one of those Folk Groups having a song Entitled GREEN, GREEN maybe back in the 50's. Never had any inspiration to write such a song, maybe someday. Never thought I would ever write any Bluegrass but I now have a few.
It was The New Christy Minstrels who put out the song GREEN, GREEN, listed in 1961.

The only song I have written that may come close is HERE IN THE COUNTRY posted under Ray's Music at
http://www.geocities.ws/fiverosesmusicgroup/ another not even close either is OH WHERE, OH WHERE. Eureka!

Hey Ray,

Thanks so much for checking this challenge out. It's funny how any little ole thing can trigger somebody's muse!

And not to worry about not having a green song, per se. BLUEgrass is at least a color, right? I really enjoyed listening to both "Here in the country" AND "Oh Where, Oh Where". Two for the price of one!

Enjoy the first day of Spring!!

Beth

Not sure if anyone's particularly active in environmental change, but if you need any hints from why I wrote this song, I also saw Leonardo DiCaprio's latest documentary that's currently the most evident and possibly paradigm shift-effective effort yet.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.c...ch-before-the-flood-for-free-everywhere/

BEFORE THE FLOOD
©2016 Chelsea Lamb

v1
As much as you refuse to see the truth
The harbinger that's brewing outside your little world
Is now right in front of the truth you never knew

v2
We may teach children that green is the nature
That we've come to know and love
But they never knew the hate and the money
And the greed that sadly share the color of

chorus
Mighty winds and storms amidst
Too much gluttony while we resist
To see the steam in the skies above is opening danger...
We could run out of time until we look at what we savor
And resist the wake before the flood
I'm not merely telling you just because
You'd care enough if you refused to let sink the meaning of life and love

v3
As much as you refuse to see the truth
The harbinger that's brewing outside your little world
A tempest of extreme temperatures and natural disasters
Disguised with egotistical ignorant points of view

v4
Don't walk away
Don't take that kind of view point called "some might say"
It may be opinion or is it confusion versus illusion
Walking around their need to do what they have to
To sacrifice giving and get their pay

prechorus
In the end they don't know that getting the money and then getting what for is all one and the same
Don't you know
Don't just sit there before too late
It's easy to see all this

chorus
Mighty winds and storms amidst
Too much gluttony while we resist
To see the steam in the skies above is opening danger...
We could run out of time until we look at what we savor
And resist the wake before the flood
I'm not merely telling you just because
You'd care enough if you refused to let sink the meaning of life and love

bridge
As much as you refuse to see the truth
The harbinger that's brewing outside your little world
Is now right in front of the truth you never knew
No, you never knew
Until you see all the warning signs around you
Take the view you need to see
It's not too late to change the course of history

chorus
Mighty winds and storms amidst
Too much gluttony while we resist
To see the steam in the skies above is opening danger
We could run out of time until we look at what we savor
And resist the wake before the flood
I'm not merely telling you just because
You'd care enough if you refused to let sink the meaning of life and love

(instrumentals, then repeat chorus)

When is St. Patrick's Day this year?