EXTRA **** Columbia
It’s great to have you with us here for an Apple Seed Extra – something special that’s available only here on the Apple Seed podcast space.
In these days of dealing with the isolation of social distancing, we’re producing the Apple Seed from a couple of home studios. Sam took to posting to social media a little song every day – something filled with a little hope and a little encouragement to hang on. We thought we’d bring you some of those pieces here, as Apple Seed Extras. These aren’t studio recordings, and you’ll be able to tell – they’re made with an iPad, aimed at Sam while he sits at his desk. But we do hope that you enjoy them. We’re happy to bring them to you here on The Apple Seed.
Here’s what Sam says about today’s song:
“This is a song called ‘Columbia,’ named for the space shuttle that disintegrated over Texas on the 1st of February in 2003. I remember being in fourth grade and watching that shuttle take off for the first time – I watched it in the media center of Alpine Elementary school. 22 years later, I turned on the TV to watch Saturday morning cartoons with my little boy, and on every channel there was just a blue field with a little white line on it that had only moments before, been Columbia. The morning was filled with questions from my son about that tragedy, but as the morning wore on, the questions opened up to include questions about how big outer space was, and could my son go there someday, and by the end of the morning we were downloading photos of the International Space Station. It was quite a morning, and this song of hope came out of it.
Here are the lyrics to Columbia:
Hey brother I know who you are
You've got nothing to lose
Head full of taxes and your car
And the feet in your shoes
Hey brother don't you notice me above your head?
Holding up the moon for you to see
there it is now turning red
And if I go out in a burning blaze
It's a less than subtle gesture but I hope it says
Somehow to
Look up look up, through the starry day
Look up look up this rocket knows the way
Look up look up might I be so bold
Hey brother look up
Hey brother I knew your dad
You know you've got his eyes
I lit up dreams he never knew he had
Of the midnight skies
Hey brother you've been told
And it's all true
I'm as common as a lightning Bolt
Whistling through the blue
And if I go out in a burning blaze
Well I guess that's what it takes in these here troubled days
To get you to
Look up look up, through the starry day
Look up look up this rocket knows the way
Look up look up might I be so bold
Hey brother look up
Won't you catch me in my flying dream machine
Spin that speedometer round
It's a car like you've hardly ever seen
Gonna lift you up like thunder
Right off the ground
We’d love to know what you’re up to, how you’ve passed the time in an era of isolation. Did you recite Shakespeare monologues? Sing broadway show tunes? Tell family stories? Let us know, by emailing us at theappleseed@byu.edu. We love to hear from you, especially now. And thanks for joining us for an Apple Seed Extra.