Skip to main content

Thursday, April 25th Sing-along Café Review

Earth Day was our theme. The Beauty of the Earth. So, songs about nature, about appreciating and saving the beauty of our planet were the focus. Love and peace are always themes when we sing, and we always enjoy the surprise of seeing the words of songs that we thought we knew. We listened to two versions of a few songs, appreciating the different impact and moods of the different voices and arrangements.

Here's the list of songs we sang and listened to:

  • For the Beauty of the Earth by Barlow Girl
  • All Things Bright and Beautiful by The Countdown Kids, and by The Cambridge Singers
  • What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong, and by Anne Murray
  • Colors of the Wind by Judy Kuhn, and by Vanessa Williams
  • Big Yellow Taxi by Counting Crows 
  • Mercy Mercy Me by Marvin Gaye
  • Everything is Beautiful by Gaither & Gordon Mote
  • That's the Way of the World by Earth, Wind & Fire
  • Radioactive by Pentatonix & Lindsey Stirling, and by Imagine Dragons
  • 4 Minutes by Madonna
  • How Far I'll Go, by Auli'i Cravalho, and by Alessia Cara
  • Earth Day Every Day by John Denver
  • Cool an' Green an' Shady by John Denver
  • Rocky Mountain High by John Denver
  • Annie's Song by John Denver
  • Thank God I'm a Country Boy by John Denver
  • After the Gold Rush by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris
  • This is My Father's World by Amy Grant
  • Where Have all the Flowers Gone by Chris de Burgh, and by Peter, Paul & Mary
  • Indescribable by Chris Tomlin
  • Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World by Israel Kamakawinwo'ole
  • Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show
  • Morning has Broken by Cat Stevens
  • 100 Years by Five for Fighting
  • From a Distance by Bette Midler
Were you surprised by the number of John Denver songs on the list? We could have listened to more! He sang so much about the beauty of nature that even his love song, Annie's Song, was about how much he loved nature: "You fill up my senses like a night in the forest, like the mountains in springtime...". And, we know and enjoy so many John Denver songs; that surprised us too. We appreciated Denver's gentle, fun, and loving messages, and of course his beautiful voice. Maybe those songs can inspire us to protect the environment. Songs like Big Yellow Taxi and Mercy Mercy Me, and Radioactive make us feel the need to, the urgency. We were disappointed at how old some of those urgent songs are. 

We were not surprised by the number of hymns and Contemporary Christian songs about the beauty of the Earth. Of course, we want to sing how grateful we are to the Creator for this magnificent planet. We are compelled to extol the glory of the mountains, valleys, trees, flowers, rain, snow, all the animals, and even all of our siblings, not just because we're Christian, but because they are awesome in the true sense of the word. 

People are a part of creation and we're sustained by, reliant on, nature and the environment. So are all of our siblings all over the world. So, we headed into the theme of peace, and inclusivity, love. 

We wondered about the reasons that people might have for not worrying about climate change and not doing anything, not even wishing and dreaming about saving the environment. Do we take it for granted (think of the word), and maybe expect an all-powerful God to take care of it? Our feeling was that the story of Adam and Eve tells us that we are responsible, have to make good choices, it's in our hands, as stewards. That's what we've learned at church. But, we're busy with the various dreams in the seasons of our lives: of friends and fun, then lovers, children, houses and cars, jobs and money. We're busy? We can do better.

We will continue with this theme next week, Thursday, May 2nd, as we ran out of time with a few really good songs we wanted to sing, and we'll add Peace to this theme. I've updated the playlist already to include Peace. Here's the link to the Earth and Peace Playlist. We also wanted more la-las! So, next week we will sing more of those. 

I baked cinnamon apple muffins to go with our tea. It was a lovely evening in lovely company. 

Here's a nice video for you to watch, made by National Geographic for Earth Day, featuring a song by Andy Grammer called Jump.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Singing Together in July and August

I posted this on my YRCC blog, and I think it applies to my Trinity Singers too. While we’re not singing together in July and August, please find opportunities to sing in other places and with other people.  You can always sing in your car and in your kitchen. You can accept all invitations to cottages, camping, and beach days, and do some campfire singing. Or, sing while you paddle around in a lake. Sound carries over water, so have some buddies join you if you’re not comfortable with a solo performance.  Orchestrate some backyard sing-alongs if you can.  Singing outdoors in the summer is an opportunity you don’t want to miss. I’ve enjoyed the free concerts in Aurora and Newmarket in the past. They have ‘tribute bands’ who perform all the hits you know, and you’ll want to sing and dance along. (would be nice if they projected the lyrics for us, because we're used to having those words now) I’ve added these concerts to my YRCC Calendar to encourage my choristers to go. I’...
Post a Comment
Read more

June 5th, 2025 Sing-along Café is Outdoors!

We're going to be outside, singing along with a cover band, Telltale Sounds, at the 2025 Newmarket Music Series Lineup Launch Party! Then, we'll sing and dance to Glenn Marais and the Mojo Train!  I think we'll want to bring lawn chairs, and maybe a snack and a beverage. There will be a food truck there if you want to get something fun.  We are asked to bring a Food Bank Donation. We'll head down together on foot from the Park Street entrance at 6:15. Hopefully that will be early enough to get parking behind the church and get a spot to sit at Riverwalk Commons.  We'll walk across Main Street, down the stairs to the parking lot, and across towards the community centre, unless some of us have issues with stairs, then we'll go down the ramp at the next block that ends up just behind the community centre.  Wear comfortable shoes and dress for the weather (should be perfect, not too warm, not too cool). I'm a big fan of these free summer concerts. Can't wait...
Post a Comment
Read more

Summer Break 2025 Starts Early for Sing-Along Café

I apologize for the short notice, but I've decided to break for summer a couple weeks early. For July and August, you can spend every Thursday at Riverwalk Commons at the free concerts there. Thursday night is still "my singing night". I like to take in as many of those free concerts as I can. If you like, you can send me a text or an email and we can go together, or meet up there.   Aurora has free concerts on Wednesday evenings, so I might go there sometimes instead, or too, depending on the weather, other summer plans, and whimsy.  We'll open the café again in September. I hope to see you then. 
Post a Comment
Read more