I've been working on a project called "Compost Creatures" in collaboration with my friends Donna Delaney and Dave Weber. As with all my projects, nothing is ever simple. It includes an educational intent, a sculptural intent, an environmental intent, and a community building intent. It has a song, a sculpture, a composter, and a short 3D movie. Well, maybe not a 3D movie.
So today I'm just gonna share the song sketch. I'll include lyrics because I mumble and stuff.
Trying to fit in all the salient facts about composting is tricky. I met with another friend, Eric Hurlock, to consult on my accuracy. I'm afraid there are limits to how much even I can jam into a song. Bob Dylan probably could do it. But as John Kennedy once said "Mike, you are no Bob Dylan." (I've resolved the issue with a footnote below)*
CLICK HERE FOR A LINK TO THE AMAZING SONG: "Compostion in D: Compost" (youtube)
Here's the full text:
Compost
There's nothing complicated about your compost
everything eventually turns to dirt
but seeing how we are fancy critters
just a few improvements, improvements wouldn't hurt
first of all, there's things you think are stinky
you'd rather have those things go far away
you tolerate the smell of fruits gone squishy
but things that smell like crap they cannot stay
And the other fans of things that's going rotten
Like raccoons and rats and flies, you’d hold it bay
the bees and spiders you can grant as neighbors
but the vermin that are creepy cannot stay
The final thing I know you might be thinking
it take so long to make the stuff turn into soil
seems forever things look just like they always did
did brontosaurus take so long to turn itself to oil
So here's the simple scoop to make your compost
if you're in a rush just keep it stirred
to keep the critters out just keep it closed up
and don't put critters in if you don't like it stinking like a turd
Of course there’s more refinements if you’re tricky
You could add dead leaves to turn the heat down
Or hay, dead grass or shred some paper
(The rule is 1 of green and 4 of brown)
This is where the faint of heart get squirrelly
Don’t let the chemistry make ya frown
You could make a special place to hold it
That’s a fun surprise with whirling things and turns
And wiggly gears to churn make it burn make it burn
You could make it look just like a critter
cuz a compost critter on the outside does no harm
And you could throw a party every time when
the compost’s nice and warm you’d sound the dirt alarm
and the kids and dancers swarm
and we’re dancing on the farm
but all these things as much as they are awesome
Keep in mind this thing so you don’t get to worn
Important thing is keep it from the land fill
Keep it simple not a horrible chore
There's nothing complicated about your compost
everything eventually turns to dirt
but seeing how we are fancy critters
just a few improvements improvements wouldn't hurt
*This is the only lyric that matters: "There's nothing complicated about compost, everything eventually turns to dirt." The science of balancing out the "cool" brown stuff (dead leaves or grass kinds of stuff) at about 4 parts and "warm" green stuff (raw veggies and fruits and such) at about 1 part, is hard to pull off in a song.
As is discouraging putting in dairy products or any oil/fats.
Or that you should crush up egg shells.
Definitely adding nuclear waste is also bad.
But I stand by the "everything eventually turns to dirt."