John McCutcheon's Four Seasons:
Wintersongs
Grammy Nominated!

Wintersongs is the latest in a stellar collection of award-winning family albums by John McCutcheon. Like his previous five family albums, McCutcheon proves that family music can indeed be child-oriented and truly adult-friendly. Wintersongs celebrates the rituals of winter which mark the memory of every child (and adult), reminding us of experiences at once both personal and universal, from a child's eager anticipation of the first snowfall to memories of the last thaw of winter. John celebrates the things which bring comfort in the cold (such as soup and hot chocolate) and excitement in the short days (skating) and long nights (watching the northern lights), but he also doesn't shy away from the restless discomfort of having the flu. He even sympathizes with the child who wants to hibernate all winter long, sleeping through the bitter cold. Leaving us in anticipation of spring, McCutcheon finds ways for both children and adults to experience the wonder of the year's longest season. As always, the musicianship is superb, the songs are infectious, and the fun is non-stop. Winner of the 1995 ALA (American Library Association) Notable Children's Recording.

Personnel

John McCutcheon, acoustic and electric guitars, hammer dulcimers, fiddle, banjo, percussion / Michael Aharon, piano, organ, synthesizer, tubatronic / Pete Kennedy, acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin, banjo / Robert "Jos" Jospé, drums, percussion / Kevin Davis, percussion / Bobby King, bass / Bob Read, saxophones / John D'earth, trumpets / Jon Carroll, harmony vocals / JT Brown, harmony vocals / Maura Kennedy, harmony vocals / Robin & Linda Williams, harmony vocals

Formats

Compact Disk: Rounder CD:011661803824 Cassette: Rounder CS:011661803848

Produced by John McCutcheon and Bob Dawson

Lyrics

New Boots
(c) 1995 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP) & Si Kahn/Joe Hill Music (ASCAP)

Woke up just this morning
Snow's all over the ground
My best friend Garfield called
Said, "Come on down
"We're gonna go sledding
"Have a snowball fight
"You might not get back home
"`Til tomorrow night!"
I ran down to the back door
Right past Mom
She said, "Hold it there, child,
"Put your new boots on!"

New boots
Better than the old
New boots
My feet'll never be cold
New boots
They're shiny and red
First time that I had `em
I wore `em to bed

By the end of last winter
They didn't fit at all
My feet had got too big
Or the boots had got too small
They were orange and ugly
They had holes in the bottom
I saw a pair of red ones
My Mom went out and got `em
Now I feel like the coolest
Kid out on the street
Got brand new boots
On both my feet

Dad came home
Walked up to the door
Looked down and saw the biggest prints
He's ever seen before
He thought it was a monster
Or some dinosaur trick
He called out to the family
Said, "Get over here quick!"
I burst out laughing, I thought it was a hoot
I said, "It's only me in my brand new boots!"

Tommy Don't Lick That Pipe
(c) 1995 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP) & Si Kahn/Joe Hill Music (ASCAP)

Winter is a-coming
And the weather's getting cold
I have to watch my brother Tom
He's eight years old
I never have to worry
That he'll slip on ice and fall
In fact there's only just one thing
That worries me at all

Tommy, don't lick that pipe
Your tongue will stick like glue
I've warned you twice
And I wish you'd mind
Don't you remember
What happened last time
You can do about anything else that you like
But Tommy, don't lick that pipe

Do you still remember Uncle Albert
Such scientific curiosity
He stuck his tongue out on the old pump handle
It took us two whole days to get him free

Do you still remember Grandma Dawson
She touched her tongue on to a waterspout
She said she thought that it was made of plastic
It took us until May to thaw her out

Do you still remember our dog Fluffy
He went outside to do his doggy thing
We found him frozen solid to a hydrant
We couldn't break him loose until the spring

Hot Chocolate
(c) 1995 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP) & Si Kahn/Joe Hill Music (ASCAP)

Chorus
Hot chocolate one, hot chocolate two
Hot chocolate me, hot chocolate you
Hot chocolate three, hot chocolate four
Hot chocolate yes, hot chocolate more

Refrain
Hot chocolate, hot chocolate
Hot chocolate, hot chocolate

Hot chocolate in the afternoon
Hot chocolate `neath the winter moon
Hot chocolate in our bed at night
Hot chocolate everything's just right

Hot chocolate in the wintertime
Hot chocolate with a friend of mine
Hot chocolate in the summer heat
Hot chocolate is a year-round treat

Hot chocolate in a paper cup
You drink it down and then you fill it up
Hot chocolate in a steaming mug
Everybody want's to drink it by the jug

Put some milk on to heat
Add some sugar, make it sweet
Now some cocoa, make it brown
Stir it up and drink it down

Put some water on to brew
Add some cocoa, sugar too
Add marshmallows on the top
Now I'll drink it, every drop

Soup
(c) 1995 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP) & Si Kahn/Joe Hill Music (ASCAP)

Get off the bus and I can see my breath
Air's so cold that you could freeze to death
I turn up my collar and the wind starts to blowing
Sky turns gray and it starts to snowing
I put down my head, it's only two blocks more
Make it to my house and the I open the door

It smells like winter at our house
Smells like winter at our house
Smells like winter at our house
Smells like soup

When my Dad was a kid in my Grandma's home
She taught him how to start with an old soup bone
You put the onions, carrots, celery, and water in the pot
It only takes a little of whatever you've got
"There ain't no way to hurry it," my Grandma would remind
"Anything worth waiting for is gonna take time"

All day I hear it simmering in the pot
Sneak up to the lid, be careful it's hot
Lift up the corner and I take a little sniff
Close my eyes and take a great big whiff
Go and get a tablespoon, to steal a little taste
I got a big soup smile all over my face

Bean soup, chicken soup with macaroni
Cream of broccoli, minestrone
Potato soup, tomato soup, chowder made of clam
Miso soup, mushroom soup, split pea with ham
Bouillon, scallion, tom kha ghai with lemongrass
Matzo ball, chilibean, cream of asparagus

So it doesn't even matter if the cold winds blow
If the rivers freeze and there's three feet of snow
From my Dad and my Grandma it's what I got
The put a whole lotta love in that old black pot
In my mind I see a little boy, a distant winter day
He's standing at the door and I can hear him say

Wintersong
(c) 1995 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP) & Si Kahn/Joe Hill Music (ASCAP)

Geese are flying in a ragged "V"
Honking across the sky
The pine trees rustle their song to me
As the geese and the night go by
The owls that sweep past the swamp's dark edge
Hoot as they fly along
They're singing their song of the winter
Singing their wintersong

The old barn creaks as we pitch the hay
To the horses who neigh below
The bright flames crackle in the burning field
Helping next summer's crop to grow
The garden has given her final gift
The very last pumpkin is gone
They're singing their song of the winter
Singing their wintersong

All for a reason
We each have a season
We rise and we lay ourselves down
Changing and turning
Planting and learning
`Til, like the sun, we come `round

The trees stand traced against the sky
Their arms outstretched and bare
The squirrels asleep within their nest
Find peace and comfort there
In months ahead the spring will find
The world renewed and strong
Now we're singing our song of the winter
Singing our wintersong

Aurora
(c) 1995 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP) & Si Kahn/Joe Hill Music (ASCAP)

When the light is low and the day is done
Aurora dances down
When she find the land that thirsts for sun
Aurora dances down
When the stars are up and the moon is dark
Aurora dances down
When the night leaps out like a fiery spark
Aurora dances down

Chorus
She'll spin and turn and chill and burn
Till your knees fall to the ground
She wears the starry crown
When the moon and sun are joined as one
Aurora dances down

Oh, the voice will still and the heart will leap
When Aurora dances down
As the midnight watch I keep
When Aurora dances down
Every human, bird, and beast
Aurora dances down
All partake of the swirling feast
When Aurora dances down

Through the northern sky she bounds
Aurora dances down
Through every forest, field, and town
Aurora dances down
She hangs her ribbons burning bright
Aurora dances down
She weaves the rainbow of the night
Aurora dances down

Every woman, child, and man
Aurora dances down
Will in silent wonder stand
When Aurora dances down
As across the sky's unfurled
Aurora dances down
One more mystery of this world
Aurora dances down

Hibernation
(c) 1995 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP) & Si Kahn/Joe Hill Music (ASCAP)

January is so hard
Staring at six months of school
No relief until June
Seems to me that's awfully cruel
This year I'm trying something new
`Cause I can't spend my whole life wasting away at school
I learned it in biology
It's just good psychology
I'll do it like the animals do

Hibernation
Just close your eyes and dream
It's a three month vacation
As simple as it seems
Hibernation
Stay in bed all day
It's a natural education
I'm just sleeping the winter away

A growing kid needs his rest
It's just a natural thing
I'll cuddle up in bed
And go to sleep till spring
And If I wake a time or two
I'll take a tip from what the other furry sleepers do
Get up and get a bite to eat
Roll over and go back to sleep
The one thing that you cannot overdue

Hibernation
It's perfect, don't you see?
No more math frustration
Your day's completely free
Hibernation
Stay in bed all day
It's a natural education
I'm just sleeping the winter away

Bridge
After springtime, summer, and fall
Each of us could use an overhaul
Nature has a reason
For sleeping through the season
Maybe we should pay attention after all

Now, you may shake your head
And you may scoff and scold
But just think back a bit
To when you're nine years old
How much that you knew then
And all that you've forgotten since you don't remember when
The animals remember
That starting in December
The best way through the winter is to sleep until the end

Hibernation
It's really nothing new
Seems all creation, (`cept us)
Knows what to do
Hibernation
Stay in bed all day
It's a natural education
I'm just sleeping the winter away

The Flu
(c) 1995 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP) & Si Kahn/Joe Hill Music (ASCAP)

Wouldn't you like to stay in bed all day
Wouldn't you like to stay at home
And not go to school
Lie around the house in your pajamas
Well, it seems I've got good news for you...
You've got the flu

There's a bug inside my body
Living underneath my skin
I don't know how it got there
I didn't let it in
Camping in my capillaries
Surfing through my veins
Trampolining in my stomach
Messing with my brain

I'm sick to my stomach
I'm tired and achy too
(Sniff) (Achoo!)
The flu

Multitudes of microbes are trampling over me
Battalions of bacteria are marching sea to sea
Viruses in vehicles are speeding coast to coast
Stopping to make camp wherever it can hurt me most

Bridge
I'm drinking lots of liquids
I'm getting lots of rest
I'm forgetting all my homework
I've ignored my spelling test
I'm doing everything that everyone
Has said for me to do
I'm waiting for this flu to fly
Where flus have always flew

I'm choking on warm chicken soup, I'm drowning in hot tea
No one else who's had the flu felt half as bad as me
A million milligrams of medicine are sitting on the shelf
But I feel so much better feeling sorry for myself

Waiting For Snow
(c) 1995 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP) & Si Kahn/Joe Hill Music (ASCAP)

The nights are so long
They shorten the day
Over the mountains
The sky's turning gray
The geese all fly southward
As homeward they go
I'm sitting here waiting
And waiting for snow

Waiting for snow
The first of the year
I just can't believe
That it almost is here
Like cousins and Christmas
And places to go
Nothing takes longer
Than waiting for snow

Waiting for sledding
Waiting for fun
Piled high around me
Bright mountains of sun
Waiting for snowballs
For shouting and laughter
For sliding down hillsides
With hot chocolate after

Chorus

Bridge
The longer I'm waiting
The longer it takes
`Til I stick out my tongue
To catch the first flakes
Wash your face in the snow
You'll be pretty all year
Look out the window
It's finally here

Waiting for snow
Waiting for you
To bundle me up
Like you always do
Your glove in my mitten
Together we'll go
To make footprints and angels
In our brand new snow

Fly
(c) 1995 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP) & Si Kahn/Joe Hill Music (ASCAP)

This river is so smooth
It looks like a sheet of glass
Hard as stone,
I'm all alone
The snow has blown off at last
For miles ahead the river bed
Is stretched out in the sun
The sky is clear and I'm sitting here
Waiting for Kamau to come
Ain't no way to explain the feeling
Unless you're ready to try
You gotta stretch your skates
And you can fly

Wind against your face
Sun against your back
Skates against the ice
Your eyes upon the track
The fields and farms and trees and barns
Go racing past your view
As you circle round this river town
A speeding streak of blue
And people you don't even know
Will wave as you pass by
`Cause they see that you got skates
And you can fly

Ain't it funny how we go along
And how much we can change
Everything is different
Yet everything's the same
This water in the summertime
That cooled you in the heat
This time of year is hard and clear
And smooth beneath your feet
You splashed and played in June
And through the dog days of July
But in January
You sprout skates and fly

Groundhog Day
(c) 1995 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP) & Si Kahn/Joe Hill Music (ASCAP)

They hate me in the garden
They hate me in the yard
The life of a groundhog
Is awful darn hard
They set out traps, they throw their rocks
They swerve to hit me with their cars
But on the second day of February
Suddenly I'm a star

On Groundhog Day
I dress up in high style
Step out of my winter home
The crowd goes wild
Photographers are snapping
The networks all are there
They want to know the answer
Like I really care

If I see my shadow
Lying on the ground
That means that spring is coming—
No, it's the other way around
It's if I see my shadow
I go back in my hole
There's six more weeks of winter
It's all in my control

Yes, on Groundhog Day
The whole wide world is mine
They want to know the answer
Will it snow or will it shine?
Kings and queens and presidents
All gather `round my hole
They ask me how I do it
But I'll never tell a soul

`Cause I never can remember
I just can't keep it straight
As far as I'm concerned
They can all just sit and wait
While I control the seasons
I control the sun
I control the snowstorms
I rule everyone

But though for now I'm famous
Tomorrow's just another day
I'll go back to hibernating
In that boring groundhog way
Smelling like a groundhog
And dreaming groundhog dreams
Even worldwide fame
Is much more fragile than it seems

Footprints
(c) 1995 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP) & Si Kahn/Joe Hill Music (ASCAP)

On the day that school let out
My sister, Anne, and me
Crossed the field behind the house
To find our Christmas tree
She was six years older
And so she led the way
As we went out to find the tree
We'd have on Christmas Day

Now, weeks of late November rain
Had brought the creek to flood
So as we walked across the field
Our boots sank in the mud
But soon I realized I could step
Inside her prints so grand
`Til I felt like I was walking
Across the driest land

Chorus
I was walking in your footprints
Counting every step
Measuring every move you made
And every word you said
I was dancing in your shadow
Doing what you'd do
I was learning how to be like me
By being just like you

Now, Mom could hit a baseball
And Lee could fly a kite
And Dad knew every constellation
In the sky at night
And Anne could sing `bout every song
That Elvis ever sung
And it wasn't long before it seemed
That I knew every one

Bridge
I was watching how you walked and talked
How you held your head
Every joke that made you laugh
Every book you read
How you always did your best
When no one seemed to care
How you did your duty
And how you did your share

And now as I grow older
It's so easy to forget
The ones who'll follow after me
I can't imagine yet
Who'll learn what I remember
Who'll do what I have done
And every step I travel now
I walk for more than one