Earnest TV, Episode 1, guest starring Hayley and Kris.
After coming together to play some songs at Ottawa’s Hiroshima & Nagasaki Peace Memorial Lantern Ceremony a couple of days ago, we reconvened to the Quaker house basement to create a record some of what we’d played.
“Deadly Harvest” is known in Japanese as 原爆を許すまじ or “Genbaku o yurusumaji” – “No More Atomic Bombs” or “We must never forgive the atomic bomb.” It was written in 1955 by Koki Kinoshita (music) and Ishiji Asada (words ). The English translation is by Ewan MacColl, with a few touch-ups from Tim.
(The reverby echo is coming from an Empress Reverb pedal that’s well-hidden by Tim’s head, plus that Orange MicroDark that is only half-hidden, hurrah.)
The lyrics and chords we used:
[Introductory verse in Japanese]
Furusato no machi yakare
Mi yori no hone umeshi yaketsuchi ni
Iwa wa shiroi hana saku
Ah yurusumaji genbaku o
[Refrain] Mitabi yurusumaji genbaku o
Warera no machi ni
Verse 1
In the place where our city was destroyed
Where we buried the ashes of the ones that we loved
There the grass grows and the white waving weeds
Deadly the harvest of two atom bombs
Refrain:
Then brothers & sisters you must watch & take care
That the third atom bomb never falls
2
The sky hangs like a shroud overhead
And the sun’s in the cage of the black evening cloud
No birds fly in the leaden sky
Deadly the harvest of two atom bombs
Then brothers & sisters…
3
Gentle rain carries poison from the sky
And the fish carry death in the depths of the sea
Fishing boats are idle, their owners are blind
Deadly the harvest…
4
All that we have created with our hands
All that is, all the glory of the world we live in
Now it can be smashed, in a moment destroyed
Deadly…
Verse chords:
Am Dm E7 Am | Am E7 AmDm Am | – A7 Dm E7 | Am C E7 –
Chorus chords:
F Dm E7 Am / Dm E7 Am —
Slashes show line divisions, dashes mean repeat the previous chord, two chords squeezed together means play two chords in the time you normally play one.
“Step by Step” uses the melody of the traditional Irish song “The praties grow small,” a song about blight and starvation during the Potato Famine. The first verse was adapted by Waldemar Hills and Pete Seeger from the preamble of the constitution of the American Mineworkers Association (1963).
The last two verses are by Ottawa folk music stalwart Chris White.
VERSE 1
Step by step the longest march can be won, can be won
Many stones can form an arch, singly none, singly none
And in union what we will can be accomplished still
Drops of water turn a mill, singly none, singly none
VERSE 2
Note by note the sweetest song can be sung, can be sung
As our voices sing along, we are one, we are one
Different colours rising high form a rainbow in the sky
So together we will rise, singly none, singly none
VERSE 3
Thread by thread each slender strand, can be spun, can be spun
And then woven hand to hand, one by one, one by one
Making fabrics that enfold weak and strong, young and old
Intertwined all lines shall hold, singly none, singly none
CHORDS: Am C Am — G Am G Am / ” / Am C – – – Dm – E / E7 Am G Am G Am E7 Am
(Slashes show line divisions, dashes mean repeat the previous chord, ditto/quotation mark means repeat the last line’s chords)
Blackgrass 