Monthly Archives: September 2012

The Passenger Pigeon – Song No. 3

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Welcome back!
Our next song from the Extinct Animal Songs project is about the Passenger Pigeon.

We have uploaded 3 versions of the song, sung by 3 fantastic soloists (that means they sing on their own!). The solos are sung by 8 year old Maya and Rosa, and 6 year old Erin. We have also added a backing track for you to sing a solo of your own!
Use the lyrics to sing along and make your own version of The Passenger Pigeon song – enjoy!

Lyrics

There was once a bird called Passenger Pigeon,
It was everyone’s favourite bird in the sky.
You could see it here and there and everywhere,
But then it left, never said goodbye.
Passenger Pigeon, Passenger Pigeon, Passenger Pigeon fly!

There was once a bird called Passenger Pigeon,
It was everyone’s favourite bird in the sky.
You could hear it calling ‘Coo’ to all its friends,
But then it left, never said goodbye.
Passenger Pigeon, Passenger Pigeon, Passenger Pigeon fly!

Coo, Coo, Coo…

Passenger Pigeon, Passenger Pigeon, Passenger Pigeon fly!

***

Singing Solo – means singing on your own. Try practising singing the song for a bit and when you think you know it well enough you can perform it for your family and friends!

The Passenger Pigeon used to be a very common bird and there used to be lots and lots of them, some people estimate there were between 3-5 BILLION of them! That is a lot! Even though there were so many of them they became extinct at the beginning of the 20th century.

Did you know?

There were a few reasons for the extinction of the Passenger Pigeons:

a. Humans destroyed their natural habitats by cutting down trees and even whole forests

b. Pigeon meat became popular during the 19th century so people used to often hunt and eat them

Did you also know:

The last known living Passenger Pigeon was called Martha, and she died on the 1st of September 1914.

This page is dedicated to Martha.

See you next week with a brand new Extinct Animal Song!

The Dodo – Song No. 2

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We are happily continuing our releases of the Extinct Animal Songs with The Dodo song!

This song tells us lots of facts and details about the dodo and why it became extinct. Read the lyrics below and find out how many details you can learn about the dodo! 

* All drawings made by the Daphodil Music singers!

Lyrics:

Verse

Big and round and very slow,
The sky is somewhere he won’t go.
He can’t fly though he has wings,
But he can do some other things.

Chorus

“Oh Mr Dodo where can I find you now?”
“You won’t find me, no,no, I’m no longer around”.

Verse

Very friendly, orange beak
This is the bird of whom we speak.
He eats off the Dodo Tree
And is a friend to you and me.

Chorus

“Oh Mr Dodo where can I find you now?”
“You won’t find me, no,no, I’m no longer around”.

“Where can I find you Dodo?”
“You can find me in this song!”

      

As the song tells us, the dodo became extinct because it was such a friendly bird and was not at all scared of humans which made it very easy for hunters to catch them. The dodos were also flightless birds, which means they couldn’t fly so it wasn’t easy for them to get away from the hunters even if they wanted to!

Did you know?

You can see what the dodo looked like at the Natural History Museum.

      

Did you also know:

The dodo bird also appears as one of the characters in Alice In Wonderland.

The illustration is by John Tenniel, and is of Alice In Wonderland’s Dodo in “A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale”. Some people believe that the author of the book Lewis Carrol, whose full name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson based The Dodo character on himself and the reason he chose the dodo to represent him was because of his stammer that would have caused him to accidentally introduce himself as “Do-do-dodgson.”

In the book, the dodo is one of the animals that swim around in Alice’s Pool Of Tears.  In order to get dry after the swim, the Dodo suggests that everyone run a Caucus race — where they all run in patterns of any shape, starting and leaving off whenever they like, so that everyone wins. At the end of the race, Alice hands out sweets from her pocket to everyone as prizes. However this leaves no prize for herself. The Dodo inquires what else she has in her pocket. As she has only a thimble, the Dodo requests it from her and then awards it to Alice as her prize. The Caucus Race as depicted by Carroll is a satire on the political caucus system, mocking its lack of clarity and decisiveness*

*from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodo_(Alice’s_Adventures_in_Wonderland)

Come back next week to hear the third song of the Exinct Animal Songs project. See you soon!

Don’t Forget Them – Song No. 1

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Hi everyone,

I am very happy to release the first song of the Extinct Animal Songs project.

It is called Don’t Forget Them and it explains what this music project is all about. It was recorded only a few weeks ago by some very talented young singers. The middle part that is spoken was inspired and written by some of the singers and is based on a real chat they had while we were learning the songs. Scroll down to find the words to the song, sing along and add a commnet.

Don’t forget to check out the dance that goes with the song, made up by some of the same children who recorded the singing!

Come back every week to hear the latest song release and listen to your old favourites too!

Enjoy and spread the word – it’s all about the Extinct Animal Songs!!!

Lyrics

Chorus:
Please make sure you don’t forget them,
Keep them in your heart and mind.
If you make sure you don’t forget them,
You will keep them alive!

“Welcome to our special musical programme of Extinct Animal Songs!”
“What does kextinc mean?”
“Well EXTINCT means animals that don’t exist any more”
“But why don’t they exist any more?”
“Well, sometimes it’s because humans hunt them down so much that there aren’t any more around, like the dodo bird. Or sometimes, nature wipes out whole species, like the gigantic asteroid that killed all the dinosaurs a long long time ago”
“Wow it that true?! But what does species mean?”
“It means whole groups of animals!”
“Hmm…I think I’ve got a good idea how to make sure we don’t forget about them”
“What is it??”
“Sing some songs about them!”

Chorus:
Please make sure you don’t forget them,
Keep them in your heart and mind.
If you make sure you don’t forget them,
You will keep them alive!

Listen to all the songs we have uploaded so far, we hope you enjoy!

Get in touch to find out about future musical projects and to join in and get involved!