A gentle reminder of how we do things: 🐱🐶🐦
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Ok, I know it’s silly. But I’ve done this for a long time. It’s one of the life skills my beloved first grade teacher gave me; I remember things much better when I can sing them. And so, I taught myself to make up words to tunes I already know to remember important things. It covered my academic needs from history dates to geometry formulas.
And that silly skill/habit leads me to be prone to make up songs for my pets. After all, one needs to have a song to sing to one’s nitten(s) or woozle(s).
A little over two weeks ago, Griffin informed me that I was going to have to stop calling him a Russian Blue. I could describe him as a blue, a smoky (or silver) blue, a plain grey, or even better, a Ukrainian Blue!
It stuck in my head. Several days later I heard an old favorite on the radio and knew I had a new Griffin song. Here is the base tune.
I think Linda Ronstadt is the best female vocalist of her generation! What a voice! The tune is very sticky, and most of it is in my vocal range. It’s (nearly) perfect! I had lots of words before I got home. The words are below. Griffin invites you to sing along with us and Linda.
Feeling blue solidarity
With the people across the sea
Won’t the Russians leave them be?
I’m a Ukraine Blue!
Been a Blue all of my life,
Some say Russian, but that’s not right
Won’t be Russian. Not in this fight.
I’m a Ukraine Blue!
They’re going back some day
Come what may,
They’re all Ukraine Blue.
They’ll rebuild their home,
And they’ll be their own,
They’re all Ukraine Blue!
They won’t bend their knee,
Choose their destiny
They will all live free.
Hard won liberty,
Democracy;
The way it will be.
Friendly neighbors opened their gates
As they fled this terrible fate
Hoping soon the terror abates
They’re all Ukraine Blue!
Oh, the people, they will survive.
They’ll return and then they’ll thrive.
To heal their land they will strive
They’re all Ukraine Blue!
They’re going back some day
Come what may,
They’re all Ukraine Blue.
They’ll rebuild their home,
And they’ll be their own,
They’re all Ukraine Blue!
They won’t bend their knee,
Choose their destiny
They will all live free.
Hard won liberty,
Democracy;
The way it will be.
They will turn tide,
And push Putin aside!
Reclaim their borderlands.
Oh, some sweet day
Gonna take away
Their hurting inside.
Hard won liberty,
Democracy!
We’re all Ukraine Blue!
(Now, a brief pause from my typically playful tone…)
Please don’t think I’m trivializing the horror, pain and loss that arises from war. This is intended to be a personal homage to the courage, kindness and determination of the Ukrainian people and the sacrifices they are being forced to make. Now that I’ve set it to music, I will be able to recall the way they inspire me when I face odds stacked against me. Maybe you will, too.
(Normal playful tone resumes)
Griffin commented that he noticed that there isn’t much about him in “his” new song. I pointed out that the entire second verse is about him. He asked if that means he gets to sing a solo there. Hm. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, I guess.
We agreed that he could sing the second verse very loudly until I write some verses about him. Sometime during this negotiation, Violet walked by and muttered something about extortion…
A few of the courageous Ukrainians and their pets…
Slava Ukraini