Original Recordings
Mitch Carnie’s winning 5th grade class – 2007
Original Recordings
I was searching through some old music files yesterday looking for a specific song from long ago. I never found it, but I did find some interesting original recordings of songs I wrote with the help of Mr. Carnie’s 5th grade classes at Sutterville Elementary School. All of them are over 10 years old. Here’s the back-story…
Mr. Mitch Carnie started teaching 5th grade at Sutterville in 2000. My son, John, was a member of his first class. Mr. Carnie was a fabulous teacher and his students enjoyed the many enrichment programs he brought to the school. He was the one that set up annual trips to the Marin Headlands, which 5th graders still take to this day. Another project he was involved in was the “Jiminy Cricket Environmentality Challenge.” This was a California statewide competition where 5th grade classes picked a topic having to do with saving the environment and then completed a project of their own design to be evaluated by judges. Usually, around 50 schools would participate with the winning class receiving a free trip to Disneyland. These three songs were included in the 2003, 2004, and 2005 class entries. Mr. Carnie’s class won in 2007.
I wrote the music portion of the songs with the kids adding their own lyrics. The recordings are pretty bad, but you can get the idea. The results got better each year. I have included the lyrics so you can follow along. I hope you enjoy these blasts from the past…
“Pollution Goes Down” 2003
Pollution Goes Down
Pollution goes down, down, down
Pollution goes down, down, down
Pollution goes down, down, down
Always downstream
We all live downstream
So help the water stay clean
Pollution goes down, down, down
Always downstream
Everyone will be sad
If our drinking water is bad
Pollution goes down, down, down
Always downstream
chorus
Fish like the water pure
So remember you’re the cure
Pollution goes down, down, down
Always downstream
Oil and chemical spray
Will take their lives away
Pollution goes down, down, down
Always downstream
chorus
Every son and daughter
Dreams of cool, clean water
Pollution goes down, down, down
Always downstream
You are the solution
To storm water pollution
Pollution goes down, down, down
Always downstream
chorus
“Help the Earth Survive” 2004
*** This track is too long because the students added a video to the final 2 minutes. It would be wise to stop the song at the 2-minute mark.
Help The Earth Survive
Reduce, reuse, rot and recycle
Four ways the help with the earth’s survival
Reduce, reuse, rot and recycle
Four ways the help with the earth’s survival
Reduce:
Reduce packaging that you don’t need
Cancel magazines that you don’t read
Buy in bulk at the grocery store
And we won’t need landfills anymore
Reuse:
Cut your old clothes into rags
And reuse canvas shopping bags
Repair appliances that have broken
The time is now – we’re not jokin’
Rot:
Put leftovers in a compost heap
Throw in the worms and while you’re asleep
The worms start crunchin’ and munchin’ down
And out comes soil, rich and brown
Recycle:
Paper, plastic, glass or cans
Don’t give them to the garbage man
Take them all to the recycle station
It’s one more way to assist our nation
“Use Less Gasoline” 2005
Use Less Gasoline
Use less gasoline
It’s gonna be gone someday
Use less gasoline
The price is too high to pay
Our world is choking on air pollution
Too many Hummers and SUVs
Traffic jams are filled with road rage
No one cares about the gas gauge
The future looks dim for you and me
You can ride the bus or form a carpool
You can drive a car using vegetable oil
Do what my mom and dad did
Go out and buy a hybrid
Let’s not depend on foreign soil
We really enjoyed reading about the origins of these songs and that the kids actually wrote the words. We also enjoyed listening to the songs on your post and learning more about Sutterville’s Mitch Carnie and the evolution of how these songs came about. Thank you for sharing some of the history of your career. You should post more of these.