Students share knowledge of biomes with creative songs

Alden Westbrook

The following is reposted content from Young Audiences roster musician Alden Phelps’ blog.

Westbrook Elementary School shines again!

Such a great time, as expected, at Westbrook. One of the best schools ever for me: great students, teachers, parents, and administration. A pleasure in every way, except…for the drive. Last week my power steering failed in one car and my fuel pump failed in the other car, on the DC beltway and on 95 South. A nightmare alleviated only by AAA and the anticipation of where I was driving to!

I again visited the school for a Preposterous Parodies residency program. This year’s songs focused on different biomes: desert, grassland, ocean, rainforest, tundra, and forest. Each class tackled two of them.

Alden Westbrook 2

See more photos from this residency here!

Once again the creative students at Westbrook Elementary have written some great parodies of recent hits. Great work, and many thanks to the fantastic teachers, parents, and administration, who made this residency such a pleasure to do! Below is just one example of a song written by the students. Click here to see the lyrics to all the parodies.

Desert (parody of “Treasure” by Bruno Mars)

Verse 1:

Really hot, burning hot, scorching hot in the desert
Dying for icy cold water in these places
Coyotes and gila monsters you could get so hurt
But you’re fainting out here so you want to find an oasis

Pre-chorus 1:

I’m dy-y-ing
I know that I’m complaining but it’s hot out here (hot out here)
I’m dy-y-ing
A scorpion just stung me now and I got tears (I got tears)

Chorus 1:

Desert, you may not survive
It’s so hot there you could die
There are barely any trees
I need some water please
The wolves are after me, me, me

Verse 2:

Grassland, grassland, grassland it’s so green here
I look around and I see no waving trees
Once in a while, there’s a flaming fire
I’m freaking out it is going past my knees

Pre-chorus 2:

Oh graaaaass lands
I know you’re unaware that cheetahs hunt their prey (everyday)
Oh graaaaass lands
Boy I’m gonna show you how it’s cold all night (hot all day)

Chorus 2:

Grasslands, that is where we are
The grass is huge and tall
Wildebeests graze on their cuisine
African plains are clearly seen
The lions get a lot of pro-tein, tein

Bridge:

A spiny cactus, it’s in the desert
If there’s a sandstorm you’d better close your eyes
The grass is so tall, that you should measure
The bobcats stalk here, they paw at butterflies

Chorus 3:

Treasures, that’s what these places are
Finding water’s just too hard
Hottest and flattest lands I’ve seen
They are mostly brown and green
The conditions are hard and mean oh oh

Read more posts by Alden on his blog. Learn more about Alden’s programs for schools offered through Young Audiences.