Put Your Bum To Work

Words to a Song in the Book ---- The cover of "Put Your Bum To Work"

Path of Rigmarole I saw you way up in the clouds Say you will allow me taped up I am reaching for the key sound climbing (aspiring) for your misty ground extending bending shaping sound Sometime it's so cold and bare Then you turn around and it's hot Spread melody out into cords of emotion they hold in air. And listen it all over. Repeat and retreat over your hills of clouds you can hear it now, your shadow o'er me 'I'll cover and treat. Crackling energized tracks are extending passing out and passing in, Not ending the turning, tuning never sending And I, not of earth but sky divided into a birth space peering over edges that burst and fly seeds spinning, expanding, stretching expanding, stretching Written By Patrick Connolly - Copyright 1999. #249 Heaven and Earth / #254 Yes / #295 Path of Rigmarole

The cover of "Put Your Bum To Work"

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Words to another song in the book;

Movin' on down the railway track
On the train movin' all night and day.
Sometimes I wish I had my old living back,
Clean sheets, a change of clothes 'n' three meals everyday.

But we are riddin' on her - Confederation's mother -
The present is now, the rest is passing.
Yes the train's movin' to I don't know where.
Sure do wish I had clean underwear.

Life and the train slows down. - clang bang clang -
Life and the rails speed up. - bang clang bang -

2nd verse - Out the boxcar door, see; the mountain pass,
There's our train's beginning, through the trees bending.
Like a snake going through blades of grass
As, beyond a lake glints the tail in the other heading.

When we hopped the freight, we didn't leave a world behind
We aspire to a hobo's life on these tracks.
When I get hungry there's nothing to eat.
There's nothin' ahead but miles of wheat.

#218 - Words & music March 21, '74 & July 26, '74, Oakville, Ontario. Lyrics & verseification Dec. 17, 22, 1984, Southern Pines, North Carolina. Music Oct. 1, 1988. Copy Oct. 24 '88 Harp notes April 25, 1990, Vancouver. Chords & demo April 30, Aug. 27, 1992 , Typed 15, April 1994 London, Ontario. Chords & demo July 31, 1998. - Programmed August 21, 22 & 25 29. September 14, (15 Recorded) & 26, 1998 Urayasu, Japan. Posted August 11, 2003. Written By Patrick Thomas Connolly - Copyright 2003.

Note (November 10, 1988) ; In August of 1971 I hopped a freight from Kenora to Thunder Bay and then from Thunder Bay to North Bay, The inspiration to this song comes from those travels. - P. T. C.

Well we are taking the off the day.
We are taking the time to go out and play.
We are skating on canal ice. - yit d' deet yit
It doesn't matter
about cold weather.
It's warm skating with you.
I'm telling you here in daylight.
You've got me to feeling all right.

Nicole, there's not much time to go
'till we pick wild berries in Gatineau.
So for now, just skate on Rideau Ice,

yit d' deet yit d' deet

Linda, Jennifer,
Kim, Sal 'n' Spider,
P.K. Jacob 'n' Liz,
Sol, Nick, Andreoooo 'n' Berry,
Diane, Francine 'n' Melanie.

We haven't got much to say.
Just pass our time away.
Skating on Rideau ice. - yit d' deet yit

It doesn't matter
About cold weather.
It's warm skating with you.
I'm telling you here in daylight.
You've got me to feeling all right.

Written By Patrick Thomas Connolly - Copyright 2003.

Written Aug. 5, 1982, April 30, Sept. 21, 1983 and Sept. 21, 1985, in Ottawa, Ontario. Feb. 17 & 18, March 31 and April 4, 1988 in Vancouver, B. C. Typed, April 11, 1994 & Sept. 7, 1994 in London, Ontario. Programmed August 25, 1998 in Urayasu, Japan.

Linda skating on the Rideau Canal with me.
Skating On Rideau Ice - Notes and my life's story

On Aug. 5 1982, I wrote the first part of this song in my sleep, in a dream, about Melanie. I woke up and jotted it down. The second part was written as I walked home after dancing with "Wild Nicole" (not to be confused with Nicole C. from the Co-op). Melanie is in Nicole's part of the song and Nicole is in Melanie's. The people on verse 2 are all those that I skated on the canal with.

Of the dozen other Ottawa songs, "Skating On Ice'' is 'the Ottawa song' I wrote while living there. When I crossed most of Canada in 1987 on the "You Won't Like Most of it [Busking] Tour'', I played it and realized that it was one of my stronger songs. For me in Vancouver, the summer of 1987 never ended as there was little snow, the year turned into 1988. I missed Ottawa and winter. Over-viewing things, in my Vancouver amendments to the song, I thought to specify the people and places and make it truly into an Ottawa song, naming all the people I skating with on the Rideau Canal.

Now, I forget who some of the people are, so here is a list; (March 1, 2003)

Linda D. was an Ottawa University student who was form Montreal. She is the woman in the picture above. (I took the picture.)

Jennifer worked at the Department of Northern Affairs across the river from Ottawa in Hull, Quebec, where I worked for a time. Somehow I skated with her, not on the Rideau Canal, but on some ice in (close enough) Hull.

Kim was Tom (see 'I'm Not A Car Drivin' Nerd' above) Pirosok's ex-girlfriend and my only date with her was skating. She never thought skating would be a good date because she only had one good leg. Sally was a friend of Kim and Tom's.

Melanie was a very clever Toronto girl who studied linguistics at Ottawa University. I took her middle name and wrote (with L. R.) my eighth Ottawa song, 'Yes, Alicesandra' (#389), to her. I also followed her example and studied linguistics. Francine was her best friend.

Spider was a school teacher who turned to busking. Being a school teacher was good experience for busking. I never skated with him on the Rideau Canal but he was sometimes busking out on the canal ice. Maybe experience being a busker is good experience for being a school teacher.

In the early 80's I lived my happy days in a Co-op house on Sweetland Ave. with four other people. They moved in and out over the years. From the Co-op house I went out skating on the Rideau Canal with P.K., Solomon, Diane, and Liz at one time or another. P.K. still works for Environment Canada. As well as skating, on the Rideau Canal in winter, P. K. and I also went canoeing on it one summer day. Solomon became a medical doctor in Montreal, I think. Jacob was a friend of one of the girls, who I lived with, whose name I can't remember. We saw more of her friends than we did of her.

Andrew R. Miller was my room mate after the Co-op house went bust and we moved next door. He studied the double base at Ottawa University. His father is a noted composer and Professor in New Brunswick. Andrew went back to New Brunswick and was playing with the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra. Now Andrew Miller is the principal bass in Symphony NB and teaches at U. de Moncton. "Miller has written music for orchestra, dance, chamber music, film, theatre and performance art. Andrew founded Motion Ensemble in 1998."

This information is from their web site at; http://www.motionensemble.com/

"Motion is the new music ensemble in New Brunswick Canada. The repertoire is an eclectic mix of contemporary classical and experimental music. ... Motion have been heard on CBC Radio and have recorded CDs of Veronika Krausas (self-produced) and John Cage (Mode Records). ... Motion Ensemble has premiered work by Bruce Mather,Tim Brady, Michael R. Miller, Richard Gibson, W.L. Altman, Alasdair MacLean, alcides lanza, Jim O'Leary, Veronika Krausas, Jordan Nobles. The group regularly performs a diverse body of work by Kunsu Shim, Gerhard Staebler, Marc Sabat, James Tenney, John Cage, Earle Brown, Gyorgy Kurtag, Michael Oesterle, Kaija Saariaho, Terry Riley and more. Over 25 works have been written for the ensemble."

Nick B., a fellow music student of Andrew's, lived below us. Bassoonist Berry N. was friends with both of them. Berry and Nick taught me how to play 'go,' a handy skill here in Japan. Nick reverts to his Ukrainian name 'Mykola'. He gave up the piano to concentrate his energies on flowering Ottawa. Recently he has been studying French in Paris, France. He has been in Paris since about 2002.

P. T. C.

You can - You can change -
You can change the way we live.
You can change and rearrange the world at large.

So lets get down to what matters.
Tell all your sisters,
Tell all your brothers,
Tell all your convictions.
We can be a part together,
We can be apart a part.
We need to be together
And never to fall a part.
Oh Wimin, we've gotta work sisters.
Being a part won't make us stronger.
As looking things over we see we got to take A Part.
Let's all obliterate hate,
Let's tear apart nuclear plants.
Let's start to disarm the war machine.
Let's start taking apart nuclear bombs.

Yes, lets get down to what really matters.
Tell all your sisters,
Tell all your brothers,
Tell all your beliefs.
Everybody sing your part together.
Everybody sing your part apart.
It's time we all got together,
So we can give everyone a part.
Oh people, we can try to make it work brothers.
Look where we're headin' before life's over.
Also let's get it all - - together.
Let's all abandon fear,
Let's tear apart nuclear subs.
Let's put a to stop hunger.
Let's finish taking apart nuclear bombs.

Dates of Composition of 'Take A Part'
Started on January 1, 1970, - Written on other dates in 1970, - March 1971, March 12 & 13, 1973, May 16 & 17, 1974 , June 20, 1981, September 8 & 14, 1989, March 21, 1990. - Typed April 25, 1994, - Slight editing & note August 8, 2000. Slight editing and html adaptation May 4 & 5, 2004. - Music & Lyrics by Patrick Thomas Connolly

'Take A Part' - Comments by the Author
'Take A Part' is my first and one of my best songs. It was written on the first day of the new decade after going through the sixties with no inspiration ever hitting me. Originally titled 'Let's Start All Over' it was a plea to a Cathy not to reject me but it had a more universal meaning that took the song over. Some of the early lyrics went "If we don't start soon there will be bombs [flying] all over." The strong influence of John Lennon's 'Give Peace A Chance' is obviously on the song. In June, 1981 I changed some words to "Let's start to dismantle nuclear bombs" after I had been marching in demonstrations organized by Jim Stark's 'Operation Dismantle' in Ottawa. People really have started to dismantle nuclear bombs and I am one of the millions of voices that made that happen. I have now adapted the song to our new times, where we need to finish the job, and made the song more wide ranging (and elegant "dismantle" being a bit of a mouthful). - P. T. C. - Urayasu, Japan.

'Take A Part', A Publishing Recording & Performance History
'Take A Part' was played on the radio in 1986 by the Carlton University Station, CFMU. It is one of the ten songs of the 'You Won't Like All Of It Tape' and was published in Phreap Vol. 04 (Summer & Fall 1981, & Winter 1982). All the songs of 'The Won't Like All Of It Tape' were printed in Phreap and were performed at the open stage, on Sunday nights, at the Jack Percel Community Center in Ottawa Ontario, Canada. 'Take A Part' was played, Fed. 5, 1984, on my seventh performance at the Hoot. 'Take A Part' is the first song I tried recording but I have still to do a satisfactory recording of it. March 1971 was my first go and it has been recorded many, many times since. 'Take A Part' is the original song of mine I have played the most, but not enough. - P. T. C.

- #135 ? What There Was for Me / I Needed To Know - Lyrics &Music by Patrick Thomas Connolly
Composed, Oakville, Ont. March 19-1, transcription and versification, Ottawa, April 2, 30, Sept. 2, 1983, April 2 1984. Music, Vancouver, Sept. 6, 9, 10, 1988 (Writing, Aug. 15, Oct. 10, 24 1988). Arraignment, Urayasu Japan, Aug. 2 1997.

I Needed To Know - Lyrics &Music by Patrick Thomas Connolly - Typed, London, Ont. 17:01 Tuesday 25 January 1994

There was a time, when I didn't know you
Oh so very well.
- I needed to know; will I be alone?
- Will you be mine, all of the time?
Will we get along fine?

But now I know, that you do so love me,
oh so very well.
- I'll never be alone & at our home
- you will greet me, all of the time
now we sure get along fine.

Not just today, but for everyday
that's what I needed to know. Oh!

Note: This is one of the songs in my book " Put your Bum To Work in Vancouver" and this is the note from the book. Jan. 2, 1998.
Note: See notes of its sister song " Don't Let That Be " . Since I first made it up on the spot, in the early 70's it has been refined and made sense of. I guess it's sort of like an Irish air. I don't believe I was addressing anyone in particular, it's just a fantasy lyric. P. T. C. March 1, 1989