Happy Birthday!

C F
Verse 1. Deep in the ocean, there's a silent rain of shells, my dear,
G C G
Shed, from creatures who've outgrown their former ways, my dear,
F C Am
And from creatures who have met the fiercest carnivore,
F G
Our mother, who is time and change.

G C D
We might wish, oh my dear, that we'll never see a change,
Am G C
Or that time will never eat our hearts,
D G Am (no chords)
But she devours us all, and we're (slow) never here again
C F G
Hold my hand, I'll stay with you 'til then.

Verse 2. Deep in the ocean, the bones drop from above, my dear,
Polished from creatures who have sung their final song, my dear,
And they're unsuspecting of the always waiting mouth,
Hungry mother, who is time and change.

We might wish, oh my dear, that our bones will keep their strength,
Or that change will never suck them dry,
But they will crumble and fail, and (slow) we're never here again,
Hold my hand, I'll stay with you 'til then.

Verse 3. Deep in the ocean, where sunlight's swallowed whole, my dear,
Where it pulses like the inside of a bell, my dear
Which resounds with the songs of busy unseen life,
In the mouth of time and change.

We might wish, oh my dear, that the sun will shine at night,
And that none of us will (ever) still our songs,
But our life here is short, and (slow) we're never here again,
Hold my hand, I'll stay with you 'til then.

G
I'm a salmon who's endangered, I'll say just what I mean,
C
Got hatched out of a fish egg, in a dirty urban stream.
D
My mamma up and left me, she just spawned and then she died,
G
And she left five thousand children, you can hear our mournful cry,
D G
And she left five thousand children, you can hear our mournful cry.

We are poor and lonely orphans, we can't breathe in that creek,
We had no walking shoes on, so we swam out to the sea.
An eagle got my sister, and a seagull got her twin,
But we had no time for grievin' baby, we just had to swim. (2X)

Now our watershed is pavement, the situation's scary,
There's garbage in our water, we can't find the estuary.
We're eating gnats and midges that are laced with pesti-cides,
And a lot of toxic creatures, that you hardly could a-bide. (2X)

So we got down to ol' Puget, we're looking for the sea,
We're much reduced in numbers, 'cause we live so dangerously,
We swam on out to Waldron, where the eating should be fine,
But the seiners set their net up, for a sci-en-ti-fic time. (2X)

They put me in a bucket with a bubbling plastic tube,
Anes-the-tized me, baby, in a manner I found rude,
They stuck a syringe down me, so that I'd regurgitate,
All the scientists were hankering, to find out what I ate. (2X)

Whoa, they snipped a bit of fin off, to test my DNA,
They stuck it in a test tube, and they sent me on my way,
I won't go back to Cowlitz, where they treated me so mean,
I swam to Juan de Fuca where the pastures look so green. (2X)

So I swam to the Pacific, I stayed for several years,
I gained in length and poundage with my other salmon peers,
Evading sharks and orcas and those parasitic mites,
I was eating silver herring and just groovin' on my life. (2X)

A commercial fish boat got me, and threw me in the hold,
A hungry gourmet bought me, I was wild caught he was told,
He grilled me with some butter, and a hint of lemon peel,
For a potluck out on Cowlitz, you don't know how bad I feel. (2X)

In a full moon storm when the tide pulls at the shores,
Then my love is the strength of the sea.
As the waves are torn by the wind's unyielding force
The familiar is washed away.

I look for you when the waters are still
Like a mirror to the heart of the sky,
Listen for you in the whalesong and the krill
The familiar is washed away

As the waters rise anew and the glaciers bleed out ice
And villages founder and drown
I call for you in the fleeting schools of fish
The familiar is washed away.

You'll have a thousand pearls and find there's always more
We hold all the treasures of the sea,
My love spans the world, and it laps at every shore,
The familiar is washed away.

1. Well, I was so hungry, I needed a meal,
So I went out fishing and caught me a seal.
Its brown eyes implored me, its face was so sweet,
But I did not care, I was raring to eat.

We roasted it, broiled it, we ate it with glee,
Until we discovered its toxicity.
It's loaded with mercury and PCB's,
Retardant PBDE's and DDT.

2. My houseguests were getting a boisterous feel,
And so I suggested an oysterous meal.
We went to the one place where there were some left,
And got all the oysters and left it bereft.

We shucked 'em, we steamed 'em, we ate them with glee,
Until we discovered their toxicity.
They hyper accumulate nickel you see,
And cadmium metal that's not good for me.

3. The children were whining for something delish,
And so I went out and I jigged for cod fish,
My grandmother's spot in the kelp bed is gone,
But sonar equipment worked fine in the dawn.

We grilled it, we steamed it, we ate it with glee,
Until we discovered its toxicity.
It's loaded with mercury and PCB's,
Retardant PBDE's and DDT.

4. My tummy was growling, it filled me with gloom,
I put on my hat to go hunt the mushroom.
Agaricas grow in my neighbors' locked yard,
To spot them is easy, to get them is hard.

We fried them with garlic and ate them with glee,
Until we discovered their toxicity.
They hyper-accumulate nickel you see,
And cadmium metal that's not good for me.

I invited friends to dinner for a culinary treat
I listened to them tell me what they could & couldn't eat
First off, Ed was eating Atkins with no carbs but lots of meat,
Cornelia goes for spelt and corn but stays away from wheat.

Well, Victor's on a diet eating only sprouted vetch.
And Dinah can't have dairy 'cause the lactose makes her retch,
You know Michael is a vegan and he won't touch eggs or cheese,
And Annie's anorexic and hates food that's cooked with grease.

Now young Patty can't eat peanuts and her friend can't have sea food,
No alcohol for Albert since it puts him in a mood
And old Hugie's hypertensive so he never uses salt,
To feed these people anything, well, it would be my fault

So I made my Spam Velveeta loaf with bread crumbs soaked in gin,
Organic food it wasn't but I served it with a grin,
And all those who lived to tell of it were happy with my meal
At-the gravesides of the others, oh how sad it made me feel.

Back in two thousand and three, that's when Tina Wyllie-E
Checked the beaches in the Sound.
From where the Frazer River drains, to San Juan in springtime rains,
She seined the County all around.

She found chinook, chum, pink and king, and a little sculpin that sings,
Invertebrates as well.
On energetic gravel shores, where fresh water streams do pour,
That's where the fry are wont to dwell.

Now her study’s gotten bigger, because Tina wants to figure
Out how insects play a role.
So she sets out trays in threes, to catch mayflies, gnats, and bees,
And count how many could be eaten whole.

It was in the Salish Sea, when with Tina Wyllie-E,
We seined for salmon in the bay.
Carrying floats and a lead line, we made a Chinese dragon fine
But ne’er a salmonid we found.

Trout Lake is a watershed, so is Aug. Two,
Way, hey, we all drink it!
We try to protect it, it’s the right thing to do,
We’re bound to drink the water.

Turbidity’s settled out in a small pond,
Way, hey, can you clean it?
Nine-ty percent of it's got to be gone,
The State's got standards for water.

They add in aluminum ions to clot,
Way, hey, coagulation!
Through garnet sand they pour the lot,
To filter crud from our water.

Three hour contact time for the chlorine,
Way, hey, sterilize it!
Down through the pipes it is almost pristine,
We’re bound to taste the water.

Now, sewage flows on through the harbor in pipes,
Way, hey, sanitation!
At Tucker Street plastic’s raked out (and it’s ripe,)
And that’s the influx sewage.

Then it’s aerated with bacterial aid,
Way, hey, agitation!
Then settled and separated until it is made
Into solid and liquid components.

The solid is rollered and dried - it’s Grade A,
Way, hey, it was sewage!
And the liquid is uv-d and returned to the Bay,
It was Friday Harbor sewage.