As part of the residency mentioned in my previous post, we’ve now written the words and learned five songs about butterflies. One is Butterfly Wishes by Sarah Pirtle. I’m not including that here. One is adapted from Butterfly Dance by Joanie Calem. The other three are Butterflies, Long Way Down to Mexico, and Changes in the Air.
These are very rough versions of the songs that are only intended to be tools for learning them for performance. But they might be useful for other musicians who are looking for songs on butterflies.
Other options that people sent in.
Liz Buchanan’s If I Were a Butterfly
Patricia Shih’s Three Butterflies
Barbara Tilsen’s Little Caterpillar
Joanie Calem’s original Butterfly Dance
Butterfly Dance (adapted from Joanie Calem’s Song)
Butterfly (verses by 2nd graders)
Long Way Down to Mexico (verses by 3rd graders)
Changes in the Air (verses by 4th graders)
Butterfly Dance (Kindergarten) (in D)
Chorus:
D A G D
Butterfly dance, butterfly dance, everybody doing the butterfly dance
D G A D
spread your wings and take a chance, everybody doing the butterfly dance
Verse 1:
C G D
Caterpillars crawl on the milkweed
C G D
Watch them chew and chew
C G D
Eat and eat with a hundred feet
Em A
It’s what they’re born to do.
Chorus
Wrap themselves in a chrysalis
We can see them soon
Then they hatch out they come
From their small cocoon
Chorus
Sip the flower nectar
Flap up in the air
Lay their eggs and flap again
Headed off somewhere
Chorus
© Joanie Calem 2015 adapted by Stuart Stotts
Butterfly (2nd Grade) (in D)
D F#m G A D F#m
Butterfly. Floating in the breezes of the summer sky.
G A Bm A
I wish I could flutter with you way up high.
G A D
‘Til it’s time for us to say goodbye.
D F#m G A
Eggs, caterpillars, and cocoons
D F#m G A
Will turn into pretty butterflies.
D F#m G A
Then the cycle will begin again
G A
As they rise into the summer skies
Chorus
There are many types of butterflies
Monarch, amber phantom, and birdwing
Admiral, blue morpho, swallowtail
Butterflies are hatching in the spring
Chorus
The patterns on their wings are all unique
Different shapes and sizes all around
Imagine how they migrate very far
‘Til they reach their sunny breeding ground
Chorus
© Stuart Stotts 2019 and Windsor Students
Long way to Mexico (3rd Grade) (in D)
G D A D
It’s a long way. A long way
G D A
A long way when you go
G D A Bm
It’s a long way, a long long way
G A D
A long way down to Mexico.
D em
Laying eggs on milkweed And the eggs will hatch
G A
They will eat the eggshells It’s their fav’rite snack
Bm A
And they’ll fly——- Chorus
They have different patterns. Sometimes hard to spot
Camouflaged and fragile With zig-zags, stripes, and dots
And they fly——— Chorus
When they take their journey They land on certain trees
It always is the same one. Then they’re soaring free
And they fly——— Chorus
Adios mariposa We hope you come back soon
We’ll wait for you in Windsor\ When it gets warm in June
And they fly——— Chorus
© Stuart Stotts 2019 and Windsor students
Changes in the Air (4th Grade) (in E)
E
Butterflies around us with metamorphosis
Starting from a small egg, to a chrysalis
B A B
Growing just like me and you and going everywhere
E
Change is in the air.
Changes in the air.
A E B C#m
The only thing that stays the same
E
Is changes in the air.
Is changes in the air.
Technology has changed us, fire turned to light
Landlines changed to cell phones, and riding turned to flight
Who knows where we’re going, but we’ll be prepared
Chorus
Start in kindergarten, now we’re in fourth grade
We’ve all had big changes, look at what we’ve made
There’s no turning back now, a cycle we all share
Chorus
© Stuart Stotts 2019 and Windsor Students