Posts Tagged "Camp Songs"

Moon on the Meadow

Moon on the Meadow

At camp we’d often end our closing all-camp campfire with slow songs.  Some of my favorites were Linger, Barges, and this one, Moon on the Meadow. We usually only sang the first two verses but the whole song is lovely.

Moon on the meadow
bugs in our ears,
Smoke in our eyes,
wet wood and tears.
On up the meadow,
water somewhere,
We were the only ones there.

Wild horse and Slushy,
Dry Lake, the Peaks,
finding the love there
ev’ry one seeks.
Hiking to rainbows,
sunsets and stars,
Just finding out who we are.

We will return here
one lucky day,
Out hearts will guide us,
they’ve learned the way.
People in cities
don’t under stand
falling in love with the land.

Moon on the meadow,
bugs in our ears,
Smoke in our eyes
wet wood and tears.
On up the meadow,
water somewhere,
With you, my friend, I am there.

Buy the Sangam Songbook here for full sheet music.sheet music

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Peace Like a River

Peace Like a River

This was always a popular song for younger girls since there aren’t many words to remember. We would always make motions like the river, ocean, fountains with our hands. We’d also repeat the lines that ended with “in my soul” with a second, revival tent style shouting of “In my soul!”.

I’ve got peace like a river
I’ve got peace like a river
I’ve got peace like a river in my soul
I’ve got peace like a river
I’ve got peace like a river
I’ve got peace like a river in my soul
 
I’ve got love like an ocean
I’ve got love like an ocean
I’ve got love like an ocean in my soul
I’ve got love like an ocean
I’ve got love like an ocean
I’ve got love like an ocean in my soul
 
I’ve got joy like a fountain
I’ve got joy like a fountain
I’ve got joy like a fountain in my soul
I’ve got joy like a fountain
I’ve got joy like a fountain
I’ve got joy like a fountain in my soul
 
I’ve got peace and joy like a river
I’ve got peace and joy like a river
I’ve got peace and joy like a river in my soul
I’ve got peace and joy like a river
I’ve got peace and joy like a river
I’ve got peace and joy like a river in my soul
I’ve got peace and joy like a river in my soul

 

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Taps

Taps

During our closing flag ceremony at every camp I went to, we always sang at least the first verse of Taps (also sometimes known as Day is Done. It sometimes turned into an obscure trivia contest to find someone who actually knew the second verse. Since my Girl Scout leader was a life-long scout herself, she made sure we knew it. There are actually many different versions of Taps floating around, as evidence by reading the Taps Wikipedia Article.

Day is done, gone the sun
From the lakes, from the hill, from the sky.
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

Thanks and praise for our days
‘Neath the sun, ‘neath the stars, ‘neath the sky.
As we go, this we know, God is nigh.

Buy the Girl Scout Pocket Songbook here for full sheet music.sheet music

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America, The Beautiful

America, The Beautiful

Lesser known, but just as beautiful a song, we often reserved America The Beautiful for our ceremonies where parents were invited. The song was originally written in the 1880s by Katherine Lee Bates and the music was composed by church organist Samuel A. Ward (from Wikipedia)

O beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain.
 
America; America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown they good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
 
O beautiful for pilgrim feet whose stern impassioned stress,
A thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness.
 
America; America! God mend thine ev’ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control
Thy liberty in law.
 
O beautiful for glorious tale of liberating strife,
When valiantly for man’s avail, Men lavished precious life.
 
America; America! May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness
And ev’ry gain divine.
 
O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears.
 
America; America! God shed his grace on thee,
And crown they good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

 

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The Star-Spangled Banner

The Star-Spangled Banner

I’d say that most children in America are taught The Star-Spangled Banner at some point, but even adults need the lyrics for reference sometimes, especially for that second verse that they never sing at baseball games, do they? As the National Anthem for the United States, it’s important for girls to learn the song for official troop ceremonies and events!

Oh, say! Can you see by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still there.
Oh say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave.
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand
Between their lov’d homes and war’s desolation;
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
Praise the pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Buy the Girl Scout Pocket Songbook here for full sheet music.sheet music

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