Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW

Peter Alsop
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Humor, wisdom & commentary by Peter Alsop on his award winning songs and stories; some for kids & families, some for teens and adults! peteralsop.substack.com

  1. 2d ago

    When You Ask Me First

    I played this song opening for Kenny Loggins at a huge ‘date-night’ concert in the gym at UC–SanDiego in 1977. Fortunately they appreciated satire! WHEN YOU ASK ME FIRST Cho: Well I love to do it Baby A But you only make it worse Bm I just don’t get excited Bm When you go and ask me first! A So don’t touch me where I’m ticklish A And don’t sit on my lap, Bm And don’t ask me politely Baby E It makes me feel trapped. A ‘Cause when you chase me, Darlin’ A It really turns me off Bm I’ve tried so hard to tell you, D But I guess I’m getting soft, E7 So please, just sit and smile A With helpless soulful eyes F#m Admiring me while F#m I run my finger up your thighs! C#7 Then I kiss you, … C#7 And I breathe heavy in your ear, C#7 And you should whisper “Take me! Take me!” D7 And could you make it sound sincere? E7 Cho: I love to do it Baby But you only make it worse, I just don’t get excited When you go and ask me first! When I start to change positions Like the pictures in the book, And use a couple mirrors So I can see how neat we look! You start to change positions too, In ways I’ve never seen! And you kiss with your eyes open! And you laugh, and yell, and scream! You used to be more normal, Yeah, you liked it face-to-face. But now you’re going crazy And you like it anyplace! You said I could be on top. You said you understood, But all last night you wouldn’t stop! Awww, …you busted it for good! Cho: I love to do it Baby But you only make it worse, I just don’t get excited When you go and ask me first! Cho: Yes, I love to do it Darlin’ When everything is right, But I think I feel my headache Coming on again tonight! Written by Peter Alsop © 1977, Moose School Music (BMI) On ‘Asleep At The Helm’ & ‘Songs On Sex & Sexuality’ peteralsop.com I encourage folks to be aware of the stories we have about ourselves, in relation to the world around us. The stories that have the most effect on us can be the ones that ‘keep us going’, when the ‘going gets rough’, …or the ones that taught us we must ‘live with things the way they are’, no matter how painful! No wonder this guy in this song is ‘scared’ and ‘confused’ and busy trying to control things! In fact, the stories we grew up with to survive in our family of origin and our culture, … need to be identified, dusted off, shaken out and retold to ourselves with healthier plot lines and endings! We can’t change our history, but we can change our stories. Growing up as a boy in any one of our worldwide patriarchal cultures, ... we are besieged with all sorts of stories about sex and girls and women. We hear stories about what boys and men can expect and how we should behave. This song is a reality check for any men who learned as a boy that we’re supposed to be in charge! Camping With Dads My newest album ‘Camping With Dads’ is a long-form story that centers on what us Dads can do to stop passing on unhealthy male messages to our boys. We often tell the very same jokes and stories that men in our lives taught us when we were boys! This album is for all men, … boys, dads, grandads, uncles and cousins; … to reflect on our behaviors; to root out some of our old tired stories, and to commit to hold ourselves responsible every time we do something that puts down women or girls or treats them like second class humans, regardless of our intended good intentions. (It’s also for moms, grammas, aunts and sisters!) For fifty years I’ve written songs to help grow and support a culture where men and boys care how girls and women are treated; a culture where we foster caring, kindness and a regard for women, girls, and boys! Some of our stories taught us that if a male gets ‘sexually aroused’ or ‘turned-on’ by a woman, it’s her fault! And therefore, males have the right to expect them to ‘relieve our arousal’. Boys and men often obsess about a female as the object of their lust, and when our misplaced sexual expectations are not met, these same real live women can become the target of our dangerous male anger. When a ‘Dad’ catches himself saying “C’mon son! Don’t cry. Cowboy up! What are you, a sissy!?” Can we take that moment to stop, ... apologize, ... and explain to our sons (and daughters!), that a remark like that came from our ‘old training’? Maybe share with them where we may have picked that story up! And most importantly, why WE want to stop passing these messages on to them, our sons, … and daughters! The Women’s ‘#MeToo Movement’ models wonderful solidarity of ‘sisterhood’! When a woman speaks up about her male abuser, she has to face being re-abused by a culture and a legal system that blames the survivor. Men get accused of doing things they didn’t do, ... but the number of those occasions are minuscule compared to the number of times women are abused and cannot speak up, because they know what will happen to them if they decide to accuse a man of sexual abuse. It takes great courage for any woman to stand up and tell, ... just as it does, for another women to come forward, join the first woman and tell her story about the same perpetrator who has abused them both. That’s why we need #MeToo!, … so individual women do not have to face our mostly male-run legal system by themselves. “When You Ask Me First” is on ASLEEP AT THE HELM My CAMPING WITH DADS album has stories and songs to be shared with the whole family to bring up subjects we need to look at for boys and men to change our ways! And you can find my CDs, DVDs & Songbooks at: Bandcamp.com. Lemme know what you think! I’d love to hear from you! Please send comments or ask questions! Send me an email! Stay safe out there! Keep singing! Please VOTE your heart! Big changes going on, ... and many big stories need changing! Bye for now! Peter Check out my audio podcasts here: Peter Alsop’s SONGS TO CHEW LIKE COMMENT RESTACK Peter Alsop’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe

  2. Sep 20

    Gone For Good

    Two days ago I posted my song ‘New Ground’ about loss, … so, just to keep us in balance, … here’s a song about how us humans always start looking for someone to blame when the world goes crazy! We’re going through huge changes socially and globally these days, … people are dying and it sure feels like we don’t have much control over our own little lives. Y’know, … it makes it a little bit easier if we can just find someone or something to blame it on! GONE FOR GOOD An old brown cow was sittin’ G In a pasture eating grass D7, C#7 When she looked down at the ground, C7 She saw a black bug walkin’ past. D7-G She watched him push and struggle With that little twig he’d found, Then she raised her hoof and mashed that bug! (SQUISH!) Into the ground! Cho: I can’t find a reason C7 Why some of us must die. G And others live and feel bad, C7-C#7 Maybe God knows why, D7, C#7 But I can’t find a reason, C7 If I only understood, G-G/F-Em Then I wouldn’t be so angry, G Yes, that bug is gone for good!! A-D7-G Now later in the afternoon, That cow went home to eat And the Farmer, he packed her friends and her Into a truck out on the street. He’d decided to quit milkin’ cows And start t’raisin’ ducks Well Old MacDonald had a cow, Now she’s a Cheeseburger Deluxe! Cho: Well I can’t find a reason Why some of us must die. And others live and feel bad, Maybe God knows why, But I can’t find a reason, If I only understood, Then I wouldn’t be so angry, Hey, that cow is gone for good!! Well Old MacDonald choked to death On one hard-boiled duck egg. And the duck who laid it ended up, … As “Roasted Duck With Nutmeg!” And the chef who roasted up that duck, Stepped on an avocado, Slipped underneath a tour bus, Bound for southern Colorado! The driver’s name was Alice, And she didn’t even stop! They caught-up with her in Dallas, Eating pancakes with a cop, … He was this foolish guy named Jerry, Who never carried guns. He’d fed her boysenberry syrup And he caught her with the runs! When he took her down to book her At the nearest precinct house, Well next door there, all the local circus elephants, They got frightened by this mouse, And they stampeded on the squad car, They didn’t even hurt their feet! But Jerry, Alice and the car, Were tramped into the street! And the mouse who scared them elephants, He gave one little shrug, And three weeks later he died, When he was bitten by a bug, … Who was the thirty-second cousin Of that bug killed by that cow! Well if it wasn’t for that bug, … Maybe they’d all still be here now! Cho: Well I can’t find a reason Why some of us must die! And others live and feel bad, Maybe God knows why, … But I can’t find a reason, If I only understood! Then I wouldn’t be so angry, When you’re gone, you’re gone for good! No, I wouldn’t be so angry, … When you’re gone, … you’re gone, … for good!! Written by Peter Alsop, © 1985, Moose School Music (BMI) On Fan Club Favorites and Songs On Loss & Grief – www.peteralsop.com There’s a great lesson about blaming that gets passed around in Alanon circles. When I point my finger at you, and blame you for something you did, ... I might be very accurate at analyzing how you were part of this problem, ... but, ... if I look at my own hand with the pointing finger, there’s only one finger pointing at you, … and the other three other fingers, … are pointing back at ME!! Unless we’re Mary Poppins, ... (perfect in every way,) ... there’s usually some part of this problem that I need to look at, otherwise, ... I wouldn’t be pointing at you! The main reason we want to blame others is that, … if we do it really well, ... we deflect attention from ourselves, ... and we don’t have to take responsibility for OUR part of the situation! Besides, I can’t really do anything about you and your part of this, ... but I CAN look at my part, and make some changes there! Don’t forget we can vote! There’s an election coming up! Bye for now! Peter Alsop’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. If you’re not a Subscriber please click the Subscribe button. It’s free! You can always reach me at peter@peteralsop.com, and you don’t have to be a ‘paid’ subscriber to get my posts. All my posts are always public! Everyone gets ‘em, … some folks send in money to support my work, which I greatly appreciate, but in either case, I’m glad you’re here! (If you run into a request to pay something from Substack, … you can just ‘click on’ past it!) I’d also appreciate it if you would take a minute to ‘spread the word’ and share my Substack posts with your friends, family or anyone who you think might like to hear some of the information I pass on through my songs and stories. Feel free to check out any of my past posts that you haven’t seen yet, and please ‘Re-stack’ them if you think others might like to discover my work. They’re all here! Thanks for your support! Bye for now! Peter Check out my audio podcasts here: Peter Alsop’s SONGS TO CHEW And you can find my CDs, DVDs & Songbooks at: Bandcamp.com. I’d love to hear from you! Please send comments or ask questions! LIKE COMMENT RESTACK 2 Likes Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe

  3. Sep 20

    New Ground

    Our lives shift when a big loss happens. Things go along smoothly, then ‘BANG!’, something occurs, and our lives change drastically, and our perceptions shift. Hurt feelings can help us see things with new eyes. When we ‘lose’ someone or something important to us, we feel an emptiness and sadness inside. Sometimes we act brave for the people around us, and we need to give ourselves permission to cry, express anger, and grieve our losses. It’s okay to feel ‘not-okay’! Crying is a healthy way to release pent-up stress, fear, loneliness, and sadness. If we allow others, especially children, to see our sadness, we give them permission to express theirs too. NEW GROUND The leaf falls from the tree. E The sap runs deep. B7 Snow in the winter E Covers seeds that sleep. B7 Sun melts the ice, E And the warm Earth gives B7 Water to the sprouts E And the green world lives. B7-E Cho: Watch for a sign. A-B7 Keep your heart alive. E-C#m The spirit breaks new ground A-B-C#m Whenever something dies. E-B7-E Watch the shadows closely, A-B7 The tears will clean your eyes E-C#m The spirit breaks new ground A-B-C#m Whenever something dies. E-B7-E Instrumental E-F#m7-G#m6-F#m7 You may have lost a toy You may have lost a dream You may have lost a friend Someone who you need. Your chest can feel the pain That makes it hard to breathe, But your love will always stay And the pain will leave. Cho: Watch for a sign Keep your heart alive The spirit breaks new ground Whenever something dies. Watch the shadows closely, The tears will clean your eyes. The spirit breaks new ground Whenever something dies. Written by Peter Alsop, ©1987, Moose School Music (BMI) On ‘In The Hospital’ & ‘Songs On Loss & Grief’ www.peteralsop.com The opposite of ‘love’ is not ‘hate’, but fear. When we’re afraid, our fears cripple our ability to help our loved ones who are experiencing a loss. The comfort of a warm touch, or of listening silently to them are some of the most valuable things we can do when someone is sad. Here are some exercises I’ve used when working with kids. - Take a seed out of the next piece of fruit that you eat and plant it in some dirt, about two inches under the surface. Water it and keep the soil moist, but not soggy, then watch for what comes up! Ask a parent or grandparent to plant a small garden with you. Ask them if they ever knew anyone who died or left them, and what they did to adjust to the changes. Draw a picture of how you felt when you really missed someone. Illustration by Terri Asher - (colored in by Peter!) And here are some simple questions to ask others, … and ourselves! ( Make sure we ‘really listen’ to the ‘answers’!) Did you ever lose something or someone that you really liked or loved? How did your heart and chest feel when you thought about it? Have you ever grown too big to wear a favorite article of clothing? Was it hard to watch your younger brotheror sister wear it? Why? Have you ever had to move away from some place or someone you loved? Was there anything that made the pain of leaving go away? What? Have you ever had friends or family members move away from you? What did you do to take care of your feelings? Do you know a person or an animal who died? Were you sad? Did you cry about missing them? What things did you miss? Do you still need to do some crying now about something you lost? Can you find a safe place to cry? Do you know someone who you feel safe to cry with? How do you know when someone else feels ‘safe’ for you? Grief can cause sensations of physical pain, difficulty in breathing, depression, and loss of appetite. When we discuss past losses with our friends and loved ones, painful feelings are acknowledged and expressed, and we discover that ‘new sprouts’ of hope start to appear. Unexpected strength, wisdom, compassion, insight, and acceptance can grow out of loss experiences. Watch for a sign. Keep your heart alive! Peter Alsop’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. If you’re not a Subscriber please click the Subscribe button. It’s free! You can always reach me at peter@peteralsop.com, and you don’t have to be a ‘paid’ subscriber to get my posts. All my posts are always public! Everyone gets ‘em, … some folks send in money to support my work, which I greatly appreciate, but in either case, I’m glad you’re here! (If you run into a request to pay something from Substack, … you can just ‘click on’ past it!) I’d also appreciate it if you would take a minute to ‘spread the word’ and share my Substack posts with your friends, family or anyone who you think might like to hear some of the information I pass on through my songs and stories. Feel free to check out any of my past posts that you haven’t seen yet, and please ‘Re-stack’ them if you think others might like to discover my work. They’re all here! Thanks for your support! Bye for now! Peter Check out my audio podcasts here: Peter Alsop’s SONGS TO CHEW And you can find my CDs, DVDs & Songbooks at: Bandcamp.com. I’d love to hear from you! Please send comments or ask questions! LIKE COMMENT RESTACK Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe

  4. Sep 15

    Low Flying Crows

    Crows have developed a reputation as ‘thieves’ who steal a farmer’s seeds and crops after they’ve been planted. Maybe so, … but I don’t think crows could ever be as devastating to farmers as Monsanto/Bayer. I first heard about the Monsanto company creating problems for farmers when I traveled to play music for folks in the Mid-west. LOW FLYING CROWS Low flying crows Em Sail in on a wind Cmaj7 As cold as a city Asus4 As cold as their grin Em Skimming over our fields Em Sowing seeds full of tears Cmaj7 For their hybrids won’t yield D Even one seed next year Em Cho: Low flying crows C Want your eyes to stay closed D Make sure everyone knows Em Watch for low flying crows! Em-D Watch for low flying crows! Em-D Watch for low flying crows! Em-B7-Em With their corporate seal They darken our sky For the profits to rise Our old seeds must die When our heirlooms are gone Then the crows who we feed Crow all night long For we must buy their seed! Cho: Low flying crows Want your eyes to stay closed Make sure everyone knows Watch for low flying crows! Watch for low flying crows! Watch for low flying crows! Instrumental Break Now we stand as one! A They’ve been blocking the sun C Back to shadows they go D When all of us know, Em-D-Em Watch for low flying crows! Em-D-Em Watch for low flying crows! Em-D-Em Watch for low flying crows! Em-B7-Em Written by Peter Alsop, ©Copyright 2010, Moose School Music (BMI) On ‘Disciples of PerFection’ https://www.peteralsop.com Monsanto genetically modified seeds to resist certain kinds of toxic chemicals. The great idea was to sell these crop seeds to farmers, and when their crops started to grow, the farmers could spray them with Monsanto’s ‘Roundup’ or ‘Dicamba’ or some other kind of toxic plant killer, and these crops would have a built-in immunity. All the other plants or bugs in the area however, … would be killed. Farmers wouldn’t have to weed their crops! Great sales pitch! The crop plants could then use the minerals, water and sunlight resources, without having to compete with any other plants or insect pests around them. Seemed like a good idea, but the problem with spreading toxins around where we grow our food, is that Monsanto couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that toxins would NOT be the absorbed by the plants or the humans who work in the fields, or who live nearby or who consume these crops! And when the wind carried some of these seeds accidentally into neighboring fields, Monsanto’s lawyers would sue those neighboring farmers for copyright infringement and the theft and of their modified plants, because Monsanto had copyrighted the DNA of their genetically modified seeds! The farmers who had legally purchased and used the GMO seeds and toxins on their property, in order to grow corn or soy crops, eventually discovered that those modified plants were hybrids that did not produce new seed that could be planted for the next season’s crops. With their lands tainted from the toxins they had already spread, the farmers had to buy more seeds from Monsanto year after year, ending the age-old cycle and practice of collecting seeds from the previous year’s crop to seed the fields for the new year. Monsanto effectively had a monopoly, so, … of course they raised the price of their seeds. This system also created health problems. The main active ingredient of Roundup is isopropylamine salt of glyphosate. There is a graph, easily accessible online, that shows the remarkable, almost exact correlation between the rise in childhood autism and the manufacture, sale and usage of Monsanto’s Round Up (glyphosate) on corn and soy crops from 1994 to 2010. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the prevalence of childhood autism continues to rise here in America. Although we do not yet know the actual cause of autism, more and more research points to the connection between autism risk and exposure to the herbicide glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s common weed killer ‘Roundup’. Scientists, as yet unable to prove that that glyphosate causes autism, point out that the exact similarity in the aforementioned graph implies a strong connection. On March 21, 2025, after a three‑week trial in Cobb County, Georgia, the court awarded John Barnes, 65 million dollars in compensatory damages, plus 2 billion dollars in punitive damages when the jury concluded Barnes’ NHL(non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma) cancer was caused by glyphosate exposure and that Monsanto (now part of Bayer) withheld or failed to disclose known risks about ‘Roundup’. Expert testimony linked glyphosate to NHL; Monsanto argued no credible scientific proof and cited regulatory safety assessments. Many victims, including farm workers, landscape professionals, golf course green-keepers, and private homeowners have already come forward now to file claims against Monsanto after having been exposed to glyphosate. Glyphosate has made its way into our food supply, as about 90% of all corn and soy, as well as a significant amount of wheat, are treated with this toxic chemical. The presence of high amounts of glyphosate in the urine samples of the severely affected children in the current study, who had been eating nonorganic food, calls into question the wisdom of distributing GMO foods dependent on glyphosate usage throughout the world. Please Restack or share this post with your friends and family. We can try to change these unhealthy profit-based systems by boycotting and writing letters to these irresponsible corporations. We need to pressure them to base their decisions on caring about our health, not simply on making a profit. It’s common to feel small and overwhelmed when we challenge the callousness of huge corporations like Bayer and Monsanto, but then I remember what the Dalai Lama said, … “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito!” Peter Alsop’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. If you’re not a Subscriber please click the Subscribe button. It’s free! You can always reach me at peter@peteralsop.com, and you don’t have to be a ‘paid’ subscriber to get my posts. All my posts are always public! Everyone gets ‘em, … some folks send in money to support my work, which I greatly appreciate, but in either case, I’m glad you’re here! (If you run into a request to pay something from Substack, … you can just ‘click on’ past it!) I’d also appreciate it if you would take a minute to ‘spread the word’ and share my Substack posts with your friends, family or anyone who you think might like to hear some of the information I pass on through my songs and stories. Feel free to check out any of my past posts that you haven’t seen yet, and please ‘Re-stack’ them if you think others might like to discover my work. They’re all here! Thanks for your support! Bye for now! Peter Check out my audio podcasts here: Peter Alsop’s SONGS TO CHEW And you can find my CDs, DVDs & Songbooks at: Bandcamp.com. I’d love to hear from you! Please send comments or ask questions! LIKE COMMENT RESTACK Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe

    Low Flying Crows

  5. Sep 13

    Abiyoyo

    I do a lot of children’s songs, … and Pete Seeger did too. I had two daughters though, … I feel ‘rich in daughters’, … and that can be a little bit confusing as a parent. I told the kids “to not write in books!”, and then I got all these little kids’ books with a woodchuck! … And it was always a ‘little boy’ hero. I didn’t understand it! … so I went in, and changed all the he’s to she’s, and thehims to hers, and, then I wrote in the books! ‘Cause I think that they needed to hear that little girls could be heroes too? Don’t ya think?! Pete did a song called ‘Abiyoyo’ which is taken from and old African tale which I’m gonna do for you. There’s a little boy, … so, … it’s gonna be a little girl today, … I’m sorry!! (Not really!) ABIYOYO Abiyoyo. Abiyoyo. Abiyoyo. Abiyoyo. D Abiyoyo, ya-yoyo, ya-yoyo! A-A7-D, A-A7-D Abiyoyo, ya-yoyo, ya-yoyo! Once upon a time there was a little, … girl, who had a ukelele. She’d go around town going, plunk-plunk-plunk-plunk! plunk-plunk-plunk-plunk! People said “Get that thing out of here!” Not only that, but the girl’s father was a-gettin’ in trouble. He was a magician, and he had a Magic wand. He could go Zoop! Zoop! Make things disappear! Well, the problem was, the little girl’s father, Was playin’ too many tricks on people. Someone would be doing a hard day’s work, Zzt, zzt, zzt, zzt! (sound of sawing) Father would come up with his Magic wand and, Zoop! - No saw! Come to someone about to have a big cold glass of, … something, Father would come up, Zoop! the glass would Disappear! He’d come to someone about to sit down after a hard day’s work, Zoop! No chair! People said, “You get out of here, too! You take your Magic wand and your daughter!” And the little girl and her father were ‘ostracized’. That means that they had to live on the edge of town. Now in this town, people told stories. Dm The old people told stories about the Giants That used to live there in the old days! They told a story about a Giant called “Abiyoyo”! Said he was “Big as a House!” And he could EAT - PEOPLE - UP! Of course, no one believed them, But they told the stories anyway. One day, … one day, The Sun rose, blood red over the hills . People woke up and looked out their window. They saw a big shadow in front of the Sun. And they could feel the ground shake! Stomp! Stomp! Women screamed! “Ahh!” Strong Men fainted “Ohh!” “Run for your lives! Abiyoyo’s coming!” Abiyoyo went into a sheep pasture Grabbed a whole sheep, GULP! He went to the cow pasture, Grabbeds a whole cow! GYEULP! People said, “Grab your favorite possessions. And run for your lives!!” Just then the little girl and her father woke up. They looked out the window. “Hey Pa! What’s coming over across the fields?” “Oh, Daughter, … that’s Abiyoyo! If only I could get him to lie down, I could make him disappear!” The girl said “Come with me, … Pa!” She took her Father’s hand and she grabbed the ukulele, And Father grabbed the Magic wand, and they ran across the field. People yelled, “Don’t go near him! He’ll eat you alive!” It was Abiyoyo! He had long fingernails, ‘cause he never cut ‘em. He had slobbery teeth, … ‘cause he didn’t brush them. He had stinky feet, ‘cause he didn’t wash them. And he raised up his claws! And the little girl whipped out her ukelele, and she said, “Abiyoyo. Abiyoyo. Abiyoyo. Abiyoyo. Abiyoyo, ya-yoyo, ya-yoyo! (nervous & scared) Abiyoyo, ya-yoyo, ya-yoyo.” Well, the Giant had never heard a song about himself before. And a foolish Grin spread over his face. And the Giant started to dance and sing! “Abiyoyo. Abiyoyo. Abiyoyo. Abiyoyo.” The little girl played faster! “Abiyoyo. Abiyoyo. Abiyoyo. Abiyoyo. Abiyoyo, ya-yoyo, ya-yoyo! Abiyoyo, huff, puff, huff, puff!” The Giant got out of breath! And fell down, … flat on the ground! Zoop! Zoop! The people looked out their window. Abiyoyo disappeared! They ran across the field! They picked up the little girl, … and her Father! They said, “Come back to town. Bring the damn ukelele, we don’t care!” And they all started to sing! Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo. Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo. Abiyoyo, ya-yoyo, ya-yoyo! Abiyoyo, ya-yoyo, ya-yoyo! Far as I know, … this story collected by Pete Seeger Now I know there’s a bit of Magic in this story. I like to think that some things surely do seem magical to us humans, … like electricity seems kinda magical to me. My favorite part of this story is getting to see the sometimes ‘invisible magic’ that happens to us humans, when one of us, … maybe a little child who loves the arts and music, has the courage to stand up against impossible odds and see what they can achieve by taking some action. This little girl recruited some help from her Pa, … and the community jumped up to support them. There are lots of scary and upsetting things going on in our world right now, and many of us feel like there’s no way out! We feel helpless, … like we don’t know what we could possibly do to make a difference because we’re facing ‘impossible odds’! Hmmm? So as you drift off to sleep tonight, maybe you can think about this little girl and her Pa. And maybe there are some real live people you know, who have shown courage and who don’t stop trying to make the world a better place. Maybe folks who have figured out how to set things up so giants aren’t so scary. Let me know what you come up with. I’d love to hear from you. Bye for now … Peter Peter Alsop’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. If you’re not a Subscriber please click the Subscribe button. It’s free! You can always reach me at peter@peteralsop.com, and you don’t have to be a ‘paid’ subscriber to get my posts. All my posts are always public! Everyone gets ‘em, … some folks send in money to support my work, which I greatly appreciate, but in either case, I’m glad you’re here! (If you run into a request to pay something from Substack, … you can just ‘click on’ past it!) It helps if you would ‘spread the word’ and share my Substack posts with your friends. Feel free to ‘re-stack’ a post or send it to anyone who might find it entertaining or helpful. Thanks for stopping by! Bye for now! Check out my audio podcasts here: Peter Alsop’s SONGS TO CHEW And you can find my CDs, DVDs & Songbooks at: Bandcamp.com. I’d love to hear from you! Please send comments or ask questions! LIKE COMMENT RESTACK Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe

  6. Sep 5

    Garbage!

    One of the many wonderful things about being a folk and family music performer is singing ‘sing-alongs’ with our audiences. It’s definitely a requirement for playing songs with kids, ... less so for a folk-singer, ... but still, there’s nothing quite as fun and dear as a room full of humans lifting our voices together. This video is from 1977 when I opened a show for Kenny Loggins at UC San Diego. I closed my set with Bill Steele’s song about ‘garbage’. It’s way fun to sing because my version of it is what I call ‘a scream-along’! Feel free to scream along with us! GARBAGE Mr. Thompson calls the waiter, F#m Orders steak and baked po-tater, Then he leaves the bone and gristle, And he never eats the skin. C#7 The busboy comes and takes it, With a cough contaminates it, Then he throws it in a can with coffee Grinds and sardine tins. F#m A truck comes by on Friday C#7 And carts it all away. D7 And a thousand trucks just like it, G#7 Are converging on the bay! C#7 Cho: Garbage! (GARBAGE!), Garbage! (GARBAGE!) F#m We’re filling up the sea with garbage! (GARBAGE!) F#m-C#7 Garbage! (GARBAGE!), Garbage! (GARBAGE!) C#7 What will we do when there’s C#7 No place left to put all of the garbage? (GARBAGE!) C#7-F#m Mr. Johnson starts his Cadillac, Winds it up the freeway track Leaving friends and neighbors in a ‘Hydro-carbon’ haze. He’s joined by lots of smaller cars, All sending gases to the stars There to form a seething cloud That hangs for thirty days While the sun licks down upon it With its ultra-violet tongues It turns to smog and settles down Right inside your lungs! Cho: Garbage! (GARBAGE!), Garbage! (GARBAGE!) We’re filling up our lungs with garbage! (GARBAGE!) Garbage, (GARBAGE!), Garbage, (GARBAGE!) What will we do when there’s Nothing left to breathe but garbage? (GARBAGE!) Getting home and taking off his shoes, He settles down with the evening news While the kids do homework , With the T.V. in one ear. While Superman for the thousandth time, Sells talking dolls and conquers crime, They dutifully learn the date of Birth of Paul Revere. In the paper there’s a piece About the mayor’s middle name, And he gets it done in time to watch The all-star Bingo Game! Cho: Garbage! (GARBAGE!), Garbage! (GARBAGE!) We’re filling up our minds with garbage! (GARBAGE!) Garbage, (GARBAGE!)Garbage, (GARBAGE!) What will we do when there’s Nothing left to sing about, nothing left to talk about Nothing left to look like, and nothing left to smell like, Nothing left to be, … but garbage?! (GARBAGE!) Written by Bill Steele, ©1973, C****a Music Ltd On ‘Peter Alsop’ – www.peteralsop.com This concert happened 50 year ago, and since then, ... we’ve been overrun and overloaded with excess packaging for our food, our plastic bottles and individually wrapped apples, extra-large bulk store quantity boxes. We didn’t have many recycling bins back then, and now they’re being phased out because we have too much plastic waste in the US that companies no longer value it as a recycle-able resource. Alana Semuels wrote an article in 2019 in The Atlantic Magazine entitled “Is This The End of Recycling?” We’re consuming more and more stuff, and now that other countries won’t take our papers and plastics anymore, all our discarded stuff ends up in the trash, or the ocean and our water. Our municipalities face two choices: pay higher rates to get rid of our recycling overflow, or throw it all away. Most choose the latter, because we can’t afford to be environmentally responsible. And maybe you’ve heard, ... there’s an area in the middle of the Pacific ocean, between California/Mexico and Hawaii where there’s a high concentration of plastic waste. Last time I heard, the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ was 1.6 million square kilometers and growing. Fortunately, there are young activists trying to reduce the amount of plastic waste produced, so it won’t end up in our oceans or as micro-plastics in our bodies! Many of our weather reports include something called the AQI or Air Quality Index. Some days our AQI numbers are healthy for us, but increasingly we face numbers that are unhealthy for sensitive groups, or very unhealthy for everyone! Recently this has included smoke from the plethora of wild fires blazing in the West and dust generated by drought. Perhaps the most powerful verse of Bill Steele’s song, .is the one about ‘filling our minds with garbage’! If that could be heeded, ... we could actually focus on what’s going on in our world; then, instead of teaching children in schools ‘what to think’ so they can past a test, we could be teaching them ‘HOW’ to think!’ We need their new little brains to address some of our most critical issues facing us today! Instead of buying and swallowing corporate propaganda about our, need for any kind of jobs (regardless of what’s being produced), ... we could give people jobs making solar and wind power more available so that everyone could benefit from renewable energies. We could unglue from our cel phones and get out on the land to support our indigenous water-defenders, our youth climate activists, and find ways to slow down the huge increase in our human population that puts such demands on our finite resources. So yes, ... my audience and I had a great time screaming along together, and building community like that creates opportunities for us to get other people’s attention! We have an election coming up soon. ... and we need to organize with each other to go out and make sure our votes count! There is some genius to the art of putting deep ideas into a fun, musical format. We listen, we think, we stir the pot, we chew on ideas, and then we make an effort to see what we can come up with! Let’s find the missing puzzle-pieces, ... so we can make caring about others, ... important again! Bye for now! Thanks for subscribing! It’s public so feel free to ‘re-stack’ it or share it with anyone who might find my posts helpful. Check out my audio podcasts here: Peter Alsop’s SONGS TO CHEW And you can find my CDs, DVDs & Songbooks at: Bandcamp.com. I’d love to hear from you! Send a comment, or ask questions, and if you're not a Subscriber please click the Subscribe button. It’s free! And you can always reach me at peter@peteralsop.com. You don’t have to be a ‘paid’ subscriber to get my posts. Everyone gets ‘em, … some folks send in money to support my work, which I appreciate. In either case, I’m glad you’re here! Thanks for spreading the word and sharing with your friends. Bye for now Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe

  7. Sep 1

    Snake Dance

    In 1971 I saw an action film called ‘Billy Jack’ where writer-director Tom Laughlin plays a half-Navajo, ex-Green Beret veteran, who saves wild horses from being slaughtered for dog food, while he helps protect a desert “freedom school” for runaways. During the film Billy Jack goes through a Navajo ‘snake dance’ initiation rite of manhood, where he enters a ceremonial dance ring with a large rattlesnake. The rattlesnake’s job is to bite the dancer, and the dancer’s job is to survive the bite and become a warrior. It doesn’t always work out well for the young dancer. As a 25-year-old myself, I was amazed that everyone involved agreed to play the roles they were assigned. The dancer and the snake are stuck in the ring together, … acting out their parts in their very real relationship. SNAKE DANCE Dancing in a snake dance A-Asus2-E7sus4-A Where the dancer twirls and spins Dsus2-A And the guilty serpent strikes Dsus2 And neither partner wins Dsus2-A, A V1: I asked her how she’d been A She said, “You’ve been our best friend, Dsus2-A And I don’t know where to begin, E2-G6-A Cho: I don’t love him anymore Dsus2-A I’ve had it up to here, I’ve seen it all before C#7-F#m He won’t let me help him E He hollers if I try F#7sus4/E And I know I must be crazy B-B7sus4, Emodal But I can’t say ‘Good-bye’“ Emodal-A, A V2: She cried and poured my tea A She said “What can I do? Dsus2-A You see, I’m his guiding light F#m-F#m7 When I help him talk things through Bm-E, Esus4-E But he holds me up on high A Where he guards me jealously D-Bm, Bm7 While he gets it on with one-night stands E-F#m He can’t make love with me! Esus4-E Cho: I don’t love him anymore Dsus2-Afig I’ve had it up to here, I’ve seen it all before C#7-F#m He scares me when he’s angry E He burns me with his eyes, F#7sus4/E(044200) And if I say ‘I’m leaving’ B(799800)-B7sus4(797900), E-modal(079900) It kills me when he cries.” E-modal-A, A V3: I hugged her in the silence A “It’ll all work out,” I lied Dsus2-A I was hardly out her door F#m-F#m7 When I had to stop and cry Bm-E, Esus4-E They were dancing in a snake dance A To a tune I used to know D-Bm, Bm7 My heart was aching now E-F#m Though it happened long ago Esus4-E Cho: They were dancing in a snake dance D That would have to run it’s time A And it hurt to see them dancing C#7 In a dance so much like mine F#m, F#m7 Where the serpent strikes E When he hears his dancer’s cries F#7sus4/E And he feels twice the pain B-B7sus4, Emodal When his dancer finally dies! Emodal Yes, he strikes ‘cause he’s afraid E Of love that’s true, F#7sus4/E And both of them are poisoned B-B7sus4-Emodal When the dance is through. Emodal-A Dancing in a snake dance A-Asus2-E7sus4/A-A Where the dancers twirl and spin, Dsus2-A And the guilty serpent strikes Dsus2 And neither partner wins! Dsus2 (005030/004030)4x-(002200) Written by Peter Alsop, ©1979, Moose School Music (BMI) On ‘Draw The Line’ and ‘Songs On Recovery & Addiction’ Big ‘Thanks’ to Janis Liebhart, Jim McVay and Matt Cartsonis www.peteralsop.com Eight years later, when I wrote this song, I saw echoes of this powerful ‘snake dance’ analogy everywhere I went. On the road, I’d visit a variety of friends as I criss-crossed the country. During my stays I would hear separate private painful stories from each partner! So many couples struggle with their own version of a ‘snake dance’. I listened, and although I felt I might have some valuable advice, I didn’t ‘take sides’, as they were figuring out how to proceed with their own lives, … together or apart. When we don’t know how or where to go for help, we strike out physically, or verbally. Often one or both of us find someone else to soothe us, as we try to escape this painful and toxic dance, where neither dancer knows how to retreat. And the man who sings this song, the best friend of the woman who confides to him about the painful trap her relationship has become for her, has his own wounds that get triggered. Having been through a ‘snake dance’ himself, his pain is very present and real, and yet he knows that ‘placing blame’ only continues the dance. ILLUSTRATION BY TERRI ASHER The question I heard most frequently from women who heard this song was, “How did you learn these things?” And I would say, “from watching men, and listening to women.” Sometimes we have to finish our dance. Once we’ve lived through the pain of what got us here, we need to look honestly at how we got into this ‘snake dance’ in the first place. Once we understand the entanglements, we can avoid the missteps we took in the past, ... so we don’t repeat them in the future. Each of us take ‘missteps’ as we find our way through our personal lives. By understanding them, we learn to take better steps that improve all areas of our lives. By learning how to love ourselves better and care for others, we gain the skills we need to surround ourselves with people who know how to love us back. Written by Peter Alsop, ©1979, Moose School Music (BMI) On ‘Draw The Line’ and ‘Songs On Recovery & Addiction’ Glad you stopped by. Please share this post with anyone who might find it useful! Thanks for reading Peter Alsop’s Substack! This post is public so feel free to share it or Re-stack it! Check out my audio podcasts here: Peter Alsop’s SONGS TO CHEW And you can find my CDs, DVDs & Songbooks at: Bandcamp.com. I’d love to hear from you. To send me a comment, or ask a question, please sign up as a Substack Subscriber by clicking the Subscribe button. It’s free! And you can always reach me at peter@peteralsop.com. You don’t have to be a ‘paid’ subscriber to get my posts. Everyone gets ‘em, … some folks send in money to support my work. In either case, glad you’re here! Thanks for spreading the word and sharing with your friends. Bye for now! Peter Alsop’s Substack is a reader supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe

  8. Aug 18

    Hard Love

    While presenting a keynote address in Atlanta, GA in 2008 at the National Foster Parents Association Annual Meeting, I had the opportunity to visit a foster home nearby, where five severely developmentally disabled kids were being ‘fostered’ by some very special people. Children with disabilities are always hard to place, and these foster parents had decided to legally adopt 4 of these 5 kids, each one of which required 24/7 care for their disabilities. When I arrived at their home of these children, all five kids were in their cribs in their group bedroom. Their parents were on their way home from the conference, so I sat and waited in the low light with the children and their paid helpers, who were there on that particular shift. They tended to the kids who were not sleeping. One of the boys, a 13-year-old, was still in his crib in diapers. Next to his crib, a little 3-year-old girl lay paralyzed and brain-damaged as she had been a ‘shaken baby’ whose spinal cord had been damaged. She seemed like she was in another world. The children stirred when they heard the parents come into the room. Each of those kids who had appeared to be ‘unavailable’, living at the severe end of the autism spectrum, lite up with smiles as they heard the parents voices and felt the presence of these folks who loved them. They got hugs and caresses from their parents, and I thought, … “How hard this must be, … to have the responsibility of caring for these little humans. So many other adults would only see the burdens and impediments that these children carry with them, while these two loving parents obviously delighted in having the company of these innocent little ones.” Love songs I’ve heard on the radio, are mostly someone singing a mournful lament about how their heart has been ‘broken’ by someone they loved, who didn’t love them back enough. “Love is so HARD! It gives me the blues!” “Well, …” I thought, “All that musical ‘heart-ache’ and that, “it’s just you and me against the world Darling” kind-of-love, seems “EASY”, compared to what these parents signed up for! And that’s what sprouted the idea for my “Hard Love” song. HARD LOVE Sometimes love seems so easy D9-G6 Then that passion knocks me flat down D9-Asus4-A And my heart sings the blues, for each love that I lose D9-G6 Then I get up n’start lookin’ around Em-A(Asus4-A) Chorus: Hard love is not what I look for D-G(C-G) Specially when it looks hard from the start D-Asus4-A But I learned how to live, when I learned how t’give Bm-G Hard love helps me find my heart Em-A Hard love helped me find my heart. Em-A-D, Dsus4-D Now ‘hit’ songs are all ‘easy love’ songs Lovers fight, they make up, they rejoice. But I never knew what ‘hard love’ was Til I had to make that hard choice When my drunken Dad bust in through my door When my buddy the soldier just stared at the floor When my cousin got caught, and I bailed her out That’s what hard love’s about Chorus: Hard love is not what I look for ‘Cause I know it can tear me apart But I learned how to live, when I learned how t’give Hard love helped me find my heart Hard love helped me find my heart. Instrumental chorus Bridge: What ever happened to “turn the other cheek”? Cmaj7(032030)-Em7(020030)-A Was that only popular last week? Cmaj7-Em7-Asus4-A7 Hard love’s all around, but where’s the awards? For those young single Moms lugging babies through stores For that Dad who keeps working a job that’s dead-end T’keep family together or t’pay back a friend? Where’s that statue for Grandma, whose daughter’s in jail, As she helps her blind granddaughter learn t’read Braille She gave up her own dreams to ‘hard-love’ that girl, And that hard love opened their worlds! Chorus: Hard love is not what we look for ‘Specially when it looks hard from the start But we learn how to live, when we learn how to give Hard love helps us find our heart Hard love helps us find our heart. Hard love helped me find my heart! Em-A-Cmj7, Em7/Asus4-A Em7(020030)/Asus4-A Written by Peter Alsop, ©2010 Moose School Music (BMI) On ‘Disciples Of PerFection’ - www.peteralsop.com Here’s me and my 2nd & 3rd grade Junior Guidance class at PS132 in the South Bronx, NYC in 1970. These guys taught me sooo much about ‘hard love’ and stickin’ together! Thanks Clinton, Harold, Jesse, both Darrells and George! And I think that ‘finding our heart’ is the reason we were born. Of course, I don’t know for sure why we arrived here on this planet. Some people experience life as joyous, some find it overwhelming and full of pain. There are bunches of us who would report a blended mix of those two. I suspect the story we tell ourselves about our own lives has a lot to do with our experience as we travel through our time here. Some of those stories come from our families, our parents, our culture, our religion, our experiences, our gender and place of birth and color of our skin. And there are lots of people who have changed the story they got, … and made it better. I’ve seen people who have gone through horrendous experiences and rather than accept that story as their story, they shift, and reframe things. They create new stories that empower them; and songs to lift themselves up as they search and find lessons in their misfortune, and by doing so, … they build knowledge and the ability to help others shift their stories and songs too. The story I think we need most in the world now, is one that helps us figure out how to widen our circle of caring for others. How do we open our hearts and our hands and let go of our own personal fears about ‘not having enough’, … so we can share what we do have, with others? I think that’s what ‘hard love’ is about. What do you think? Drop me a note and let me know. Bye for now, … Thanks to Greg Hilfman for playing piano and engineering this song. Ellen Geer and Shelby Flint sing background vocals. If you liked this song and my comments, … I’d sure appreciate you spreading the word about it by re-stacking and sharing it, … maybe telling your friends and family about my work. My albums and songs are available as cd’s or as downloads at https://peteralsop.bandcamp.com. Or check out more of my songs on earlier posts, or listen to my audio posts at: Peter Alsop’s SONGS TO CHEW (click here! ) My Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and to support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. (You don’t have to be a ‘paid’ subscriber to get my posts. Everyone gets ‘em, … but some folks do send in money to support my work, which I appreciate!) To send me a comment, you can hit the Subscribe button. That’s free! And you can always email me at peter@peteralsop.com. I’d love to hear from you! In either case, glad you’re here! Thanks for spreading the word! Bye for now!. Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe

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Humor, wisdom & commentary by Peter Alsop on his award winning songs and stories; some for kids & families, some for teens and adults! peteralsop.substack.com

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