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Slugs at Sea

by Banana Slug String Band

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    Sail with the Slugs as they sing about ocean habitats.This recording was produced in cooperation with the Oceanic Society and follows the Project Ocean K-8 curriculum. It's perfect for teachers who present units in marine studies. It's also great music for anyone interested in our fragile blue wave machine -- our oceans.

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1.
Chorus: Oo-ee, we’re lucky to live by the sea Oo-ee, we’re going to visit the Ocean Community Look by the rocks at the island shore Guess what friend we’re looking for An ocean mammal with lots of fat A sea lion’s what we’re looking at [Chorus] Have you ever seen a spout on the blue horizon Watch the great mystery rising Spyhop, breach, and fluke its tail It’s the great migration humpback whale [Chorus] On the rocky shore by the restless ocean Waves they break in constant motion Hold onto the rocks to stay alive Sea stars know how to survive [Chorus] What is the bird that you’ll spot by the bay Its colors are black, white and gray Its beak is yellow, flies in the breeze The western gull is who you’ll see [Chorus] We welcome you to use our lyrics & music for classrooms and camps. Please include credit. Thank you! Written by Banana Slug String Band www.BananaSlugStringBand.com
2.
TIDEPOOL BOOGIE Spoken Intro: Okay, it’s time to go down to the ocean. Oh, boy! If you go down to the ocean Ocean? Down by some rocky shore Rock out! When the tide goes out, you’ll be dancing Let’s dance! Like you never, never danced before Crabs They pinch out the rhythm Sea stars Walk on hollow feet Anemones Are waving their tentacles Sculpins Are looking for something to eat If you go down to the ocean The ocean Down by some rocky shore Rock out! When the tide goes out, you’ll be dancing We like to dance! Like you’ve never, never danced before One, two three Chorus: Do the Tidepool Boogie Boogie woogie woogie Listen to that ocean beat You do the Tidepool Boogie Boogie woogie woogie It’s amazing who you’ll meet You do the Tidepool Boogie Boogie woogie woogie As the wind and water play You do the Tidepool Boogie Boogie woogie woogie You can do it now twice a day Mussels are holding on tightly Limpets do the one-foot slide Hermit crabs are looking for new homes Sea palms sway in the tide [Chorus] Echinoderms have skin that is spiny (a sea star) Cephalopods, means a head with feet (an octopus) Gastropods, a foot with a stomach (a sea slug) Tidepool critters are the strangest you’ll meet! [Chorus] We welcome you to use our lyrics & music for classrooms and camps. Please include credit. Thank you! Written by Banana Slug String Band www.BananaSlugStringBand.com
3.
Life on the shore, it’s a white foam fizzy Life on the shore, the waves are dizzy Chorus: Life on the shore, you’ve got to move with the tide It’s run real fast or burrow and hide Live on the shore, clams have what they need Life on the shore, because we filter feed [Chorus] Life on the shore, sandpipers race Life on the shore, the waves we chase [Chorus] Life on the shore, sand crabs dig fast Life on the shore, as the waves roll past [Chorus] Life on the shore, willets cry Life on the shore, we fly to run to fly [Chorus] Life on the shore, gulls grab a snack Life on the shore, we peck at the wrack [Chorus] Life on the shore, tracks each day Life on the shore, then they’re washed away. [Chorus] We welcome you to use our lyrics & music for classrooms and camps. Please include credit. Thank you! Written by Banana Slug String Band www.BananaSlugStringBand.com
4.
Butts Up 03:34
I’d like a tasty marsh mud shake A mixture of water and muck I’d like a tasty marsh mud shake Prepared just right for a duck To eat my tasty marsh mud shake I use my bill, don’t need a cup I get my tasty marsh mud shake Just by going butts up Chorus: Butts up (Butts up) Butts up (Butts up) That’s what a duck must do To get a tasty marsh mud shake A mixture of water and goo I was flying south out of Canada Heading toward Mexico way I pull into the marsh for a snack And put my hind end on display [Chorus] It’s a serve-yourself soda fountain Where everyone feeds their face I like leaves, seeds, stems, and roots With a little bit of mud for a taste [Chorus] Now if you see a headless bird Trying to walk in the air with webbed feet You’ll know it’s me with my mouth on the bottom While my bottom’s in the air when I eat [Chorus] Some birds probe the sand for a meal Some will spear a fish Just give mea tasty marsh mud shake A duck’s favorite dish [Chorus] So give this marsh some protection Please, give it some love and care ‘Cause I need a place to get a marsh mud shake And to wave my butt in the air [Chorus] The marsh is a nursery and restaurant It’s also a fine motel And when the birds are out there eating Here’s how you can tell [Chorus] We welcome you to use our lyrics & music for classrooms and camps. Please include credit. Thank you! Written by Banana Slug String Band www.BananaSlugStringBand.com
5.
Have you ever seen a forest without any birds, Without any trees, without any bees? Have you ever seen a forest under the sea? Chorus: Gonna swim, gonna sway Put on your mask Gonna swim, gonna sway Put on your fins Going where the otters play To the giant kelp forest, let’s dive in Growing high and wild one hundred feet or more Instead of roots, trunks, leaves or seeds It has holdfasts, stipes, blades, floats and spores. The giant kelp forest, giant kelp forest. It attaches to rocks way down below Along with urchins and anemones It grows to the surface to catch the sun’s glow The giant kelp forest, giant kelp forest. [Chorus] If you see something hiding in that brown algae There’s hundreds of fish that it could be But then, of course, it could be me In the giant kelp forest, giant kelp forest [Chorus] We welcome you to use our lyrics & music for classrooms and camps. Please include credit. Thank you! Written by Banana Slug String Band www.BananaSlugStringBand.com
6.
WATER CYCLE BOOGIE Written by Doug Greenfield Performed by the Banana Slug String Band All rights reserved Chorus: Evaporation, condensation, precipitation, The water cycle boogie goes round and round. The water cycle boogie goes up and down. The sun gives the water cycle power to spin The water goes up and down again The surface of the all water heats up with the sun The water rises up and then the boogie's begun What's that called? What's that called? (EVAPORATION!!) Chorus Water holds together chemically, Hydrogen bonding is what you see. All those airborne vapors they squeeze together, To form a cloud that could change the weather. What's that called? What's that called? (CONDENSATION!!) Chorus (this time beginning with condensation) All those dark clouds can't hold together, The water boogies down bringing stormy weather. Fog, rain, hail, flurries, ice and sleet, Splish, splash, and crunch beneath your feet. What's that called? What's that called? (PRECIPITATION!!) Chorus (this time beginning with precipitation) Two thirds of the earth is water, it's true, It gives life to every plant and animal too. Respect water's power, only use your share, Don't waste a drop, there's none to spare. Let's do the water cycle boogie again! Let's go for another spin! (c) Slug Music (BMI) 2012 www.BananaSlugStringBand.com If you copy these lyrics, please include our copyright information and website. Thanks!
7.
Blue Planet 03:21
I like to watch the waves With their windy whirls at the ocean, the ocean See the surfing seals In the salty spray curls at the ocean, the ocean Chorus: (2X) Watery home, moving, moving A mystery beneath the sea Blue planet, blue planet I like to watch the whales As they breech and spout in the ocean, the ocean I wonder what the whales All think about in the ocean, the ocean [Chorus] Bridge 1: The ocean is the reason all life can be Thank you, mother sea. The little plankton plants Are floating in the ocean, the ocean Breathing out and in life’s oxygen In the ocean, the ocean [Chorus] [Bridge – 2X] Thank you, mother sea Tag: Watery home, movin’, movin’ Blue planet. Thank you, mother sea (Repeat and fade) We welcome you to use our lyrics & music for classrooms and camps. Please include credit. Thank you! Written by Banana Slug String Band www.BananaSlugStringBand.com
8.
Island Rock 02:22
Chorus: Wild, rock, rock, island rock Wild, rock, rock, island rock Waves rock, rock, island rock A hundred miles from shore on a rock So nice I was born by the sea in this paradise My parents flew from the north for twenty days and nights To a rock, rock steady paradise The parents flew from the north for 20 days and nights To raise a family on this paradise They had to fight for space for a nesting sight On a rock, rock steady paradise They found a space that would suffice In this rookery on this paradise They had to lay an egg not once but twice On their rock, rock steady paradise [Chorus] They laid once and they laid twice Hatched my sister and me on this paradise We dive and catch a fish with one or two tries Rock home, rock steady paradise Now we could dive and catch a fish with one or two tries And nothing could hurt us on this paradise But one day Immigrated to northern skies I left my rock, rock steady paradise [Chorus] Honey, pack your bags; we’re going to the Galapagos Aay, aay, I don’t feel like it How ‘bout the Farallones? No, too desolate. The Channel Islands? Forget it, man; it’s ugly. How ‘bout Hawaii? Na, na, too many people. How ‘bout Long Island? Yeah! I thought that I’d return but to my surprise An oil spill ruined my paradise Keep the oceans clean, please hear my cries I loved my rock Now I’ve heard of a place that’s just as nice Where pelagic birds share a paradise It’s a refuge they say, may it always stay nice Rock on. [Chorus] We welcome you to use our lyrics & music for classrooms and camps. Please include credit. Thank you! Written by Banana Slug String Band www.BananaSlugStringBand.com
9.
Estuary Life 03:22
Bridge: Life is good here by the bay. Chorus: Estuary, salty and fresh, the river mixes with the sea Estuary, salty and fresh, life has diversity Life is good here by the bay. Diatoms bloom and grow from organic decay. The food chain starts where the river outflows its nutrients to the bay. Life is good here by the bay. The innkeeper worm digs his habitat and lives commensally in a U-shaped burrow on the tidal mudflat with a crab, a clam, and the fish go by. Bridge, Chorus, Bridge Wading birds eat crustaceans, an invertebrate cuisine. Leg and beak adaptations dig deep, shallow, or in-between. Bridge Salmon use the estuary when they must migrate. Before the fry swim out to sea, here’s where they acclimate. Bridge, Chorus, Bridge Some bays are changing dangerously with our human impact. Let’s learn some ways to live so we can keep our bay life intact. Bridge Estuary, mud flat, marsh and bay, our wetland communities Keep fill and toxic spills away from this good life by the sea. Bridge, Chorus, Bridge Arranged and © 1991 Banana Slug String Band/Slug Music (BMI). All rights reserved. We welcome you to use our lyrics & music for classrooms and camps. Please include credit. Thank you! www.BananaSlugStringBand.com
10.
Ocean Rap 03:48
There’s more water than land on this big round ball We’re the Banana Slug boys; we want to talk to you all It’s a def ocean jam; it’s a hang-ten rap Watch the waves as the pelicans flap Check out the tidepools, bend down low The animals there put on a radical show More colors than the rainbow, more action than the mall Open year round summer, winter spring, fall Chorus: Learn about it Learn about it, love it, keep it clean Learn about it This fragile, blue wave machine We have a little of the ocean, the beach and the bay Rocky shore, kelp forest, and the estuary These are the homes of many living things A list of which I will sing Sea star, urchins, turbin snail Sea lions, seal and the humpback whale Turtles, dolphins, shore birds too Octopus and otters, to name a few [Chorus] Under the ocean, there’s also plants And I’ll teach you about them if you give me a chance They attach to rocks or they float free The start of the food chain in the sea Shelter, food, and oxygen Plants are where all life begins Algae, plankton, kelp does grow It’s a living garden for the animals below [Chorus] You’ve been there before, you played in the sand You love this place and I can understand Jump in the water, run and play With the wind in your face and the ocean spray Build your castle, walk down the shore Watch the pelicans fly and you’ll know there’s more There’s music and magic, sync into the beat Listen to the ocean -- you’re in for a treat [Chorus] I’m the M.C. with the mike, I’m the Nature Man If you believe what I rhyme, you will give me a hand When I see a wave crash, I feel emotion If we work together, we can save Mother Ocean The ocean is important in every way And there’s one last thing I’ve got to say Learn about it, love it, keep it clean This fragile blue wave machine [Chorus] We welcome you to use our lyrics & music for classrooms and camps. Please include credit. Thank you! Written by Banana Slug String Band www.BananaSlugStringBand.com

about

Sail with the Slugs as they sing about ocean habitats.This recording was produced in cooperation with the Oceanic Society and follows the Project Ocean K-8 curriculum. It's perfect for teachers who present units in marine studies. It's also great music for anyone interested in our fragile blue wave machine; our oceans.

credits

released January 1, 1991

The Banana Slug String Band
“Solar” Steve Van Zandt – acoustic guitar, banjo, jaw harp, slide whistle, vocals
“Airy” Larry Graff – acoustic guitar, piano & vocals
“Marine” Mark Nolan – acoustic & electric guitar, mandolin, vocals
Doug “Dirt” Greenfield – electric bass, harmonica, vocals

Guest Slugs
Jean Dean – drum programming, electric hoo haw, song writing assistance
Nathan Shaw Van Zandt – quacks on “Butts Up”

All songs composed & arranged by the Banana Slug String Band
© 1991 Slug Music (BMI). All rights reserved.

This album was created in collaboration with the K-8 Marine Science curricula at U.C. Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science. To learn more, read on!

A note from Craig Strang, Director, M.A.R.E.
Lawrence Hall of Science

Dear Educators and Parents,
It is with great pride and enthusiasm that M.A.R.E. and the Banana Slug String Band present this innovative and educational marine science recording. Through human history the ocean inspires great works of art, poetry, music and literature. It gives so much to both the biological and cultural development of humanity that it is time we sing out in appreciation of its wonders. It provides food, controls climate, and is fundamental to air and water cycles. Though seemingly limitless, the ocean environment is fragile and vulnerable and cannot withstand destructive human impact without losing its life-supporting integrity. With your support, the Banana Slug String Band and M.A.R.E. will keep on singing and teaching so that children will understand, appreciate and protect our blue planet. I hope you enjoy the music and the message.

M.A.R.E. is a nonprofit, interdisciplinary marine scienc program which works with schools throughout the Untied States and Mexico. We provide trainigng and rucriculum materials for elementary and middle school eachers. Each M.A. Re. E. school celebrates its own Ocean Week, a week of intensive ocean study that includes guest speakers, assemblies, field trips and special assistance from the M.A. R. E. staff. The sogns on this tape are based on and correlate with the M.A.R.E. curriculum. Each grade level studies a different ocean habitat: Rocky Shore (K-1), Sandy Beach (2), Marshes and Mudflats (3), Kelp Forets (4), Open Ocean (5), Islands (6), Bay & estuary (7 & 8).

If you would like more information, please contact M.A.R.E. at…
(510) 642-5008
www.lhs.berkeley.edu/mare/

Special thanks to Craig Strang, MARE staff, Oliver DiCicco, Brent Hurtig, Angela Fitzgerald and our families and friends.

Produced and engineered by Jim Dean. Assistant engineer Jane Scolleri.
Recorded at Mobius Music Studios, San Francisco, CA
Distigally mastered for Cd by Richard Karst at Prema Music Studio, Santa Cruz, CA
Cover Artist Janet Young
Graphic design for original cassette release by John Angus. CD Layout by Richard Karst.

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Banana Slug String Band Santa Cruz

Booty-shakin' music for kids ... or anyone 'young' enough to love this precious Earth!

"The best thing about Banana Slug String Band albums? An adult can listen to them [i]almost[/i] as many times as the kids want them played and not experience an urge to strangle a purple dinosaur.
Dr. Amy Rogers, Science Thrillers
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