The Good Earth by Vince Oliver

By Vince Oliver

Duration: 6 minutes
Grade Level: 4

The Good Earth Festival Commission Program Notes

The Good Earth is a tone poem loosely inspired by a recitation by Davy Jones
(from the rock/pop band The Monkees):

When I was a child and the road was dark and the way was long and alone
My heart would lift as I turned the bend and saw the lights of home
Now high above in a silent sky
In a still and starry space
A man looks down on the earth below
And that blue and green and shining glow
To him is the lights of home

It’s the good earth, yes the good earth
It’s a land of sun and rain and snow
And mulberry trees and mistletoe
And burning plains and raging seas
And Sunday morning taking your ease
Watching your children grow

It’s the good earth, yes the good earth
Where we fought and loved and killed and died
And ruined and ravished the countryside
But now, from a million miles away
From another world that’s cold and gray
Someone is able to look and say
“That’s the good earth.”

So isn’t it time we stopped the tears?
We’ve lived together for thousands of years
And whether I’m wrong, and whether you’re right
Whether you’re black, and whether I’m white
One day we’ll stand on the edge of the world
And someone will ask us the land of our birth
And we’ll look into his eyes and quietly say:
“It’s the good earth, yes the good earth.”

Why can’t we be good on the good earth?