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music video: youtu.be/-7PG2qcuMmc

'Camping by the Lake' [from 'Some Songs Will Fight You' 2023]
by Bret H Hart
Players:
bhh: voice & fingerstyle acoustic guitar
Instrumental accompaniment and vocal harmony: Pete Zolli
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"When I was a kid in the 1970's, a controversial anti-pollution television spot with a "crying indian" resonated with me. Yeah, I found out later that corporados were behind it and that the actor in the canoe was Italian-American, but to this day, I pick up other people's litter.
I was a cub scout who grew into what you might call a 'part-time outdoorsman', not a trooper like my friend Lucas who spends most of his free time out in the woods or on a river, but *engaged* in the natural world. Ecology found its way into my middle school lesson plans and the vast majority of songs I've written over the years remember that there's a finite physical world we all live in.
I sent Peter a skeletal early home-recording of this 'what does intentionally being outdoors mean?' song that hit me one morning; and after a spell, PZ sent me back this. My wife thinks that his arrangement is lovely." - bhh
....................................
When you're camping by the lake
Sometimes you might get burned
Sometime you find you're going under
Despite the lessons we've all learned
We read the signs b y the lake's edge
We saw charred bones there on the beach
Tongues of fire on the surface
And drowning friends we cannot reach

WHY AM I CAMPING BY THE LAKE?
WHY DID I GO TO ALL THIS TROUBLE?
SO MUCH AT HOME THAT'S LEFT UNDONE...
I OUGHT PACK UP HERE ON THE DOUBLE
I THINK I'M CAMPING BY THE LAKE
BECAUSE THIS WORLD CAN PULL ME DOWN
...SO ALONE
ON ITS NOISY, BUSY STREETS
A BOY LIKE ME CAN'T EVEN SKIP A STONE

this lake is hot
this lake is so cold
it's waters hurt my skin
see its oily surface roll
Grandpa said, "...this lake could sink the finest boat...
and this lake is surely not a place
where a good soul wants to float."

we throw our garbage in the lake
oily rainbows leading to our boats
turtle gagging
eye bulged out
with plastic nooses 'round their necks and throats
fish are floating in an algal bloom
ducks and geese you do not see
wouldn't it be cosmic justice
to swim in it eternally?

YOU SAY YOU'RE CAMPING BY THE LAKE?WHY DID YOU GO TO ALL THIS TROUBLE?SO MUCH BACK HOME THAT'S LEFT UNDONE...CONSIDER LEAVING ON THE DOUBLE
MAYBE YOU'RE CAMPING BY THE LAKE
BECAUSE THIS WORLD CAN PULL YOU DOWN...SO ALONE
ON ITS NOISY, BUSY STREETS
BOYS LIKE US CAN'T EVEN SKIP A STONE
ON ITS NOISY, BUSY STREETS
BOYS LIKE US CAN'T MAKE IT ON OUR OWN
ON ITS NOISY, BUSY STREETS
BOYS LIKE ME
CAN'T EVEN SKIP A STONE

bret harold hart - 2017
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sea monster paintings: bhh
'Bathing at Port Yeti 1973' & 'On the Shores of the Nodrink Sea 1977' are from my small-run 'IMAGINARY LOCATIONS' project, which was momentarily distributed by Wayside Music.
Check it (and its sequel) out at:
bhhstuff.bandcamp.com/album/imaginary-locations-digital-2017
bhhstuff.bandcamp.com/album/more-imaginary-locations

credits

from bhh: Some Songs Will Fight You | 12 songs, released July 25, 2023

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Bret H. Hart Eden, North Carolina

Bret Hart is a musician, artist, and child of God living in North Carolina.
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"Life is too short to spend it making nothing."

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