Songbook Cover Competition

This anthemic Australian song was featured previously in the 2004 Festival of Music at the Festival Theatre. Australian singer John Farnham released You’re the Voice in 1986, and it became an immediate hit in Australia as well as several European countries, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.  Can you hear a choir of 1200 students singing it at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, accompanied by the Festival of Music orchestra? We can – how awesome it will be!! 

The bagpipes, Scotland’s national instrument, feature in John Farnham’s version… AND they will be part of our performance in 2025.

https://youtu.be/6m2m_9Uijso?si=hQGuDsZ3r0SSDTYD - John Farnham with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Come Together is a song encouraging us to continue together for a better future. The chorus lyrics are “come together, been dreaming of a better day. Sing the song, tell the story of this land, everybody come together.” A united Australia!!

Eurovision 2017 Grand Finalist Isaiah Firebrace, Australia Decides’ 2020 artist Mitch Tambo and Australian country singer Lee Kernaghan helped write this song, along with Colin Buchanan, Garth Porter and Nicholas Wolfe.  They recently performed it at the Australian Open First Nations Day. https://youtu.be/NEbzwtDb4r4

This is a beautiful piece written for piano and choir. The text is a ‘dreamy’ poem written by Kathleen Nicely and describes watching a sleeping child under the moon and stars, seeing the child as celestial and not of the earth but of the stars. It says the moon and north star gaze upon the sleeping child's face and that in dreaming the child returns to the stars.

The piano accompaniment has a pretty left-hand part, offering support and contrast to the flowing melodies of the singers. We will add a string section accompaniment too.

Lunar Lullaby - Vancouver Youth Choir Kids

Lunar Lullaby - Jacob Narverud (Treble Choir)

Yes you ‘read’ right!!  This cute little song from Sesame Street is in our choral program next year. 

Our good friend Annie Kwok arranged a funky jazz version for a choir of secondary boys, and now she has arranged it for our treble voices. What fun!

Rubber Duckie first appeared in 1970. Ernie, from Sesame Street sings about the bathtub toy, a rubber duck, which he affectionately names Rubber Duckie. It was so popular they released it on a vinyl single. It peaked at number 10 in Australia. 

Rubber Duckie - Ernie from Sesame Street

Rubber Duckie - National Boys Choir of Australia

J’entends le Moulin is a French-Canadian folk song from the province of Quebec in Canada. Windmills have been used for centuries to grind corn and wheat. Windmills can also produce electric power by pumping water. In this song, the French words “tique tique taque” imitate the sound of the turning sails of an old windmill when the wind blows. 

So, polish up your French accents and prepare to learn some lyrics in French too!

J'entends le Moulin (French Canadian Song; arr. Emily Crocker)

The Aussie pop music group Sheppard released Learning to Fly as their 12th single in 12 months at the end of 2020.

George Sheppard explained, Learning to Fly is a song that appeals to the inner child in all of us.

“[It’s about] remembering that sense of wonder that we used to feel when the world was new, and figuring out how to get it back,” he said “When does it happen? When did fun and excitement turn into fear and stress? Learning to Fly is all about throwing away the rule book on what life expects of you and to let that inner child inside of you fly. We wanted to give fans a triumphant anthem to close out 2020.”

Learning To Fly - Sheppard

Put a Little Love in Your Heart is a song originally performed in 1969 by Jackie DeShannon, who composed it with her brother Randy Myers and Jimmy Holiday. 

It reminds us to share our love around to improve the world we live in – the world will become a better place for us all.

Jackie’s mum used to say to her ‘put a little love in your heart’… 

How the world would change if everyone woke up thinking this! Do you think it might become a better place?

In 1988, Annie Lennox and Al Green released a cover version of Put a Little Love in Your Heart which reached number 9 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Jackie also sang the song What the World Needs Now is Love.

Jackie turns 82 in 2025.

Put a little love in your heart - Jackie DeShannon (1969)

Put A Little Love In Your Heart - Annie Lennox and Al Green, 1988

What a Feelin’…. is a song from the 1983 film Flashdance with music by Giorgio Moroder and lyrics by Keith Forsey and the song's performer, Irene Cara. 

Moroder had been asked to compose the music for the film, and Cara and Forsey wrote most of the lyrics after they were shown the last scene from it in which the main character dances at an audition for a group of judges. The story is of a young woman who dreams of becoming a ballerina and must overcome her fear of auditioning before a panel of judges. They felt that the dancer's ambition to succeed was a great message of hope for achieving any dream a person has and wrote lyrics describing what it feels like when music inspires someone to dance. The song is also used for the opening scene credits as the main character is shown working as a welder.

Flashdance - What A Feeling - Soundtrack

Flashdance - What A Feeling - Live in Australia 2006 MCG

Dance Craze Crazy (That’s Rock ‘n’ Roll), from 2005, “Dance Crazy” - Words and Music by Glyn Lehmann.

Music and dance go hand in hand. This song takes us back to the 1950s and 60s – the ‘hey day’ of rock ‘n’ roll. The rock band had electric guitars, bass guitars and drums. Young people were dancing the twist, the stroll, the monkey, Boney Maroney, the swim, mashed potato, Boogaloo, the Fish, the stomp, etc… The roots of rock ‘n’ roll were in the blues (this song has a blues structure). Musicians such as Chuck Berry and Little Richard were the pioneers, then along came Bill Haley and Elvis Presley, and then the Beatles. How many dances can YOU do?

Life Without Sport, from 2007 “Have a Go” - Words and Music by Glyn Lehmann.

This is like an Aussie anthem – can you imagine not having any sport played in the world at all?

Here in Australia, we are lucky enough to have such a variety to choose from – and many of us live (and love) to play sport (and sing!!).  Being active is an important way to maintain good health and positive wellbeing. Teamwork in sport is like teamwork in choir – when everyone works together amazing goals can be achieved. 

Won’t Look Down, from 2009 “Remember Me” - Words and Music by John Schumann.

Have you ever wondered how the explorers survived as they tracked through the middle of Australia? Who was the first person to successfully travel from the south to the north of our continent?

John McDouall Stuart sailed out from England and landed in Australia in 1839. He was a skinny little kid who only grew in height to 5 foot 6 inches. He demonstrated his strength and hardiness as one of Australia’s well-known explorers. He was a good mapper and went on many expeditions into the ‘outback’ with others. He always treated his men equally regardless of their backgrounds, referring to them as his ‘companions’. Stuart also had an uncanny knack of finding water by following the direction of the flying birds. He loved the wandering life of an explorer and surveyor, achieved his ambitions of reaching the ‘very heart’ of Australia and finding the route from the south of the continent to the north.

“My eyes are on the horizon, and I won’t look down…I’ll be the first to reach the centre, the first to find the path…”

Bee Bop – from 2016 “Mission Possible” Bee Bop - Words and Music by Robyn Habel.

Bees are Unbeeeeelievable!  They are EXTREMELY important to us and to our planet. One in three mouthfuls that we eat are due to the pollination of plants performed by bees. 

In Australia our bees are now under threat from the Varroa mite – it has been found in NSW, and Victoria but NOT YET in South Australia. 

We all need to think and act in ways that will protect the environment. The golden rule of sustainability, according to the famous environmentalist Paul Hawken is, “leave the world better than you found it, take no more than you need, try not to harm life or the environment, make amends if you do.” 

Did you know… the oldest bee sanctuary on the planet is on Kangaroo Island where you’ll find the purest strain of Ligurian bees in the world!

How can we help? Grow a flower and save a bee today!

Jetman - Take to the Sky – from 2014 “Flight” - Words and Music by Paul Jarman.

Jetman - Take to the Sky have been ‘merged’ together to capture the excitement and fun of both tracks from 2014.  Yves Rossy, the Jetman, made history in 2006 being the first and only man in the history of aviation to fly with a jet-propelled wing, not in an aeroplane, just a wing!!

Take to the Sky honours the entire history of flight. Today flying is part of everyday life – people fly all over the world for work and holidays. Yet it wasn’t that long ago that humans only dreamed of flying. What an amazing development in the history of the world – to take to the sky in flight.