2005-09-04

Yet another filk

Not many people have heard of the song Lillibulero today, though many have heard the tune on the BBC World News Service without knowing what it was, or that it's generally attributed to Henry Purcell. I was reading an article about the near-total loss of snow on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, made famous by the Ernest Hemingway story "The Snows of Kilimanjaro". Shortly thereafter, I found the chorus of this song dancing in my head. The classic BBC version is on YouTube; it has about the right tempo, but it's only one verse + chorus. You'll need to put it on Loop (right click on the video before starting it) if you want to sing along. The original lyrics, history, other versions, and much more are at Wikipedia.

Ah, brother mine, have you read the report?
Kilimanjaro's melting away.
The summers grow long, the winters grow short:
Kilimanjaro's melting away.

Chorus:

'Jaro, 'Jaro, Kilimanjaro,
All of your snows are melting away;
'Jaro, 'Jaro, 'Jaro, 'Jaro,
Kilimanjaro, melting away.

The rain it will fall, the storm it will storm,
Kilimanjaro's melting away.
Our planet is growing unpleasantly warm,
Kilimanjaro's melting away.

Chorus

There is a prophecy found in old books,
Kilimanjaro's melting away,
The world will be ruled by dimwits and crooks,
Kilimanjaro's melting away.

Chorus

And if we don't change our culture of waste,
Kilimanjaro won't be alone.
Antarctican ice will slip off its base,
Katrina will look like a weekend at home.

Chorus:

London, London, New York and London,
Bangkok and Singapore under the waves.
Global warming, global warming ‒
Hundreds of millions in watery graves.

'Jaro, 'Jaro, Kilimanjaro,
All of your snows are melting away;
'Jaro, 'Jaro, 'Jaro, 'Jaro,
Kilimanjaro, melting away.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

yszwcxcmHi my name is Bob Chuwa from Uru village in kilimanjaro, I loved the song about kilimanjaro, have some songs too and i want i want to make many more songs because i,m a chief musician too.
I want to go back and get into my historic culture but its so hard with the western dominance in our region, its sad to see how colonialism is affecting kilimanjaro and culture.
I plan to go back home there to kilimanjaro and wake it up with some serious reggae i be jammin seen, call my self the lion of kili ( (Kili) bobchuwa.com