Emergency Singing, begun in March 2020: [New songs added at top of page below Somos El Barco]
Here you will find songs that I am posting to help folk who are social distancing to help slow the curve and relieve stress on the NHS. Thank you. I hope these can make you feel more connected to us all, and give you a wee voice work out as well. I will put a new song up every day or two as long as we need them. Each video will have a full singalong song, with a bit of teaching the tune at the beginning; whether that’s a full song with harmonies or just a join in chorus will vary. Enjoy! And please do share with others you think would benefit from this bit of musical connection.
I am making these learn-and-sing-along videos to keep people singing whilst ‘non-essential’ activities such as singing groups are temporarily suspended. Running these singing groups is my livelihood, and alongside many self employed workers my income has suddenly and dramatically reduced. If you are on a salary, or have regular money coming in, please consider donating a couple of quid towards my ongoing living costs. If you are financially unstable or anxious just now, please don’t donate. Just enjoy. Sing. Breathe.
You can make donations here:
Index of Singalong Songs
Scores with the parts for some of these songs can be found in the Songs For Sharing section of this website, especially Harmony Songs, Campaigning Songs and Arrangements.
Somos El Barco
by Lorre Wyatt, 1983. An internationalist community minded song if ever I heard one!
Lyrics posted in below the video if you click onto youtube, or can be found as a PDF here.
To Change Everything
It Keeps My Heart Warm
Every Snowflake
Wax and Wane
Marvellous Things!
Breathe Softly
Sá ég Spóa
The Waters of the World
Savoury Scone
Nightingales Are Here
Amaryllis, Miraculous!
Freedom Is A Noble Thing
Let the Circle Be Wide
Row On
Snowdrop
Music Freedom Day
Two More Minutes
Love Wins
Cool and Calm
Hackney Street Chant
The Light Will Return
Citizens Of The World
Singin’ and Swingin‘
Great Determination
Mother Apple Tree
This Too Shall Pass
Archiminia Ki Archichronia
Jingle Bells (Arabic)
Sail Downriver
Beethoven’s 250th
Snow Is Falling
Raising My Voice, Raising Your Voice
First Light
Moon Light (round)
El Doctorado
Scone, But Never Forgotten
Come, My Sisters
We Will Sing
With No Extraordinary Power
If We Believe
Hope For Tomorrow
Lay Down Sisters (learning Parts)
Asalaam Aleikum
One Child, One Teacher
Shiny Conkers
May The Long Time Sun
Pigeonholes
September Sunshine
Ali Ney Gori Ney
Sow Seeds of Hope
Song of Peace (Persian)
Woyaya (short)
Sisters Not Strangers
One Day at a Time
Every Grain of Sand
Better Times Will Come
Many more version of this song can be found at Janis Ian’s ‘Better Times’ project here.
D-Dog
The best anti-racist kid’s song ever – watch the original version by the Nashville Quartet here: https://youtu.be/QQ6FmG1w5ek
Witches Reel
Will You Go To Sleep Now
I Am Stronger Than Fear
You’ve Gotta Start Somewhere
Kind and Strong
Only Love
Do It Anyway!
Mosquito Song
Heavy Rain
Inzozi Nziza
Singing For Our Lives
A Healing Song
Harriet Tubman
Carry It On
I Am Not Free
Otter in the Water
EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT
Cholita Climbers
Give a Little Kindness
Umzabalazo
Lead With Love
May Round
Quite Early Morning
Take Time
Lay Down Sisters
Cuddle Against the War
Sizinyoni
We Shall Overcome
Lyrics (Arabic, Hindi and English)
Deep Blue Sea
Tulip Flower Lullaby
Bread and Roses
Rocking Solidarity (Forever)
Walk That Freedom Highway
A Force Of Love
“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well, for there is a force of love moving through the universe that holds us fast and will never let us go.” The words of this wee song were written by Julian of Norwich, who was a 14th Century nun. She is the first known woman to write a book in the English language.
Palestine, You’ve Been On My Mind
Palestine You’ve Been On My Mind from Penny Stone on Vimeo.
Oh How We Love The NHS
Funky Flapjack
Mary Maloney, La Belle
Mary was an Irish Suffragist who followed a young Winston Churchill around during a by-election in Dundee asking him to apologise for offensive comments he made about women and the suffrage movement. When he refused to, she rang a loud bell the whole time he was speaking so nobody could hear him!
Learn the parts:
Sing Along in Harmony:
Wonderful Friends
Monet’s Garden
“Everything changes, even stone.”
“I must have flowers, always and always.”
“I would like to paint as the bird sings.”
– Claude Monet
Learn the parts:
Sing along with all the parts:
When I Rise
An arrangement of Seth Martin’s beautiful setting of Wendell Berry’s words:
And when I rise, let me rise like a bird joyfully.
When I fall, let me fall like a leaf gracefully
And when I stand, let me stand like a tree, strong and tall.
And when I lay, let me lay like a lake reflecting all.
When I resist, let me resist like the sea, relentlessly.
And when I sing, I will sing like the wind wild and free.
Learn the parts:
Sing along with all the harmonies, or just enjoy listening:
A Brighter Morning
The words for this song are taken from a speech by Oprah Winfrey, speaking about #MeToo at the Golden Globes, January 2018: “I’ve interviewed and portrayed people who’ve withstood some of the ugliest things life can throw at you, but the one quality all of them seem to share is an ability to maintain hope for a brighter morning, even during our darkest nights. So I want all the girls watching here, now, to know that a new day is on the horizon! And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women.”
And from Martin Luther King Jr., from his last speech, 3 April 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.
“Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.”
Learn the parts:
Sing along with the video:
El Martillo
Victor Jara’s beautiful adaptation of Pete Seeger’s ‘Hammer Song’, learn in three parts:
Daisies White
Traditional Appalachian lullaby. Lyrics posted below video if you click onto youtube, or a PDF can be found here.
Bella Ciao
Traditional Italian Riceweeders song, later a well known Partisan song.
A PDF of the multiple language women’s versions of Bella Ciao can be found here.
The lyrics to the most well known Partisan version can be found here.
Penny Stone 