Requiem for Whatcom Falls
Print or View Song:
Sound Recordings
Vocal Learning File - MELODY
Vocal Learning File - LOW
Vocal Learning File - HIGH
Vocal Learning File - BLEND
Submitter Comments
On June 10, 1999, a pipeline through my town of Bellingham ruptured and exploded. It dumped over 270,000 gallons of gasoline into Whatcom Creek where it runs through a beloved, deeply forested park, through downtown and into Bellingham Bay. The fumes exploded and took the lives of two ten-year-old boys and a young fly-fisherman just out of high school, as well as a huge swath of forested ravine. The fire was contained just
barely upstream of where the creek crossed under I-5 and into downtown. The huge black cloud could be seen from Vancouver BC, 50 miles away.
The families of the boys who died did something unusual. They refused to accept a gag order that was part of the settlement offered by the pipeline company. Instead they launched and led a national movement to improve pipeline safety, to prevent future tragedies.
The story behind the song is that, in the first days, while the fires were still burning, I heard a radio announcer talking about “There are people who are going to make a fuss about the burned trees, and then there are people who care about the families of those poor boys!” as if people needed to choose one or the other. I was outraged at this attempt to polarize our community in our shared trauma, and sat down to try to write an answer. It came out better than I expected, and broader. ~~ Fl!p Breskin, October 2018
[2019.01.16 version includes two small corrections to the low harmony,
one in measure 18 and one in measure 30.
2019.01.23 version fixes m17, first note of low harmony.
2019.01.30 version fixes m31, rhythm of beat 4 of melody.~ Ellen, for Annie]
My original recording is here, but it has guitar accompaniment, which I don’t think fits your style. But you’re welcome. There is stuff about money on the link. Ignore it. Thank you for the work you do!
Lyrics
No one is replaceable. Each one is unique:
Every woman, every man, every child, every tree,
Every tiny flower that sparkles in the forest,
Every snowflake, every leaf, you and me.
The shapes of cliffs and waterfalls, boulders, deep ravines,
The moss that shapes and softens the stones’ slow dignity,
Every tiny pebble that sparkles in the creek bed,
Every young man, every minnow, you and me.
Everything’s ephemeral. Nothing lasts forever.
This world of constant change brings grief and possibility:
Sometimes slow as moss on stone, sometimes fast as fire,
Deep as ocean, deep as loving memory.
No one is replaceable. Each one is unique:
Every woman, every man, every child, every tree,
Every tiny flower that sparkles in the forest,
Every snowflake, every leaf, you and me.
Deep as ocean, deep as loving memory.
External Links: