Discussion: Orienteering songs

Related to the orienteernig quotes thread, I've occasionally mused on what songs would be appropriate for an orienteering mix tape. "Stand" by REM is the most obvious to me, because the entire song seems to be about orienteering. I also know of several that mention compasses. What would your pick be for a good orienteering related song? (I'm expecting a good SRV or Jimi suggestion from Swampfox.)

What about various as yet unrecorded O songs sung by NEOCers in earlier years. I have words to If You Miss Control Point One, We Three Kings of Orienteer, Sunday's Woods are Full of Holly, and The Quabbin Hill Map. I know there were more.

I've also seen lyrics to Show Me The Way To The Control, and from other sources, The Allamuchy Chorus and Rootstock. But that's not what I had in mind.

How about Coldplay's "Square One"?

Under the surface trying to break through
Deciphering the codes in you
I need a compass, draw me a map
I'm on the top, I can't get back


Fyi, "Stand" lyrics are at www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rem/stand.html.

"I will follow" U2

which links nicely to

"Still haven't found what I'm looking for" U2

The NIelds sing "Keys to the Kingdom" which starts with:

"I was making my way through the desert
I was making my way to the sea"

And the last verse starts with:
"I picked up my map and my compass"

And I had never thought of Stand as an orienteering song, but now that explains why it was my favorite song in 4th grade...

Oh, and then there's "Get Out the Map" by the Indigo Girls, which needs no explanation.

Cristina just named the prime song I was waiting for.

The first song striking me as an "O" song was "The Battle of New Orleans" perhaps by fiddler Doug Kershaw, including the refrain- "We ran through the briars and we ran through the brambles, ran back where the horses wouldn't go, ran so fast the hounds couldn't catch us, down the Missippi to the Gulf of Mexicoooo", or something like that.

For a US O celebrity reference, there's Chuck Berry's "Promised Land" mention of Mikell Platt's home town "... bypassed Rock Hill(SC) and we never was a minute late..." which fits the rest of the geography in the song.

There's a bunch of loose and insider references in Grateful Dead songs, some of which JJ has in mind, but the closest song is probably "Fire on the Mountain"- "Long distance runner, what you standing there for, get up, get off, get out of the door..." which is good advice for getting away from the computer on a nice Saturday morning.

Another U2 song that makes me think of orienteering or rather urban orienteering is "Where the Streets Have No Name". The rest of the lyrics breakdown on the orienteering theme, but the first line fits, "I want to run...blah blah blah blah blah...where the streets have no name"

I think it would be cool to start a relay off with Led Zeppelin's "The Immigrant Song". I like the wail and driving beat. I have no idea what the words are.

Immigrant Song is kind of Nordic, I guess. An obscure Grateful Dead reference is Uncle John's Band, simply because it mentions Silvermine.

Paula came up behind me while I was reading this thread and started singing, "I Will Follow You", as done by Whoopie Goldberg in Sister Act. So of course it was stuck in my head the whole time we were running today.

The Immigrant Song is very Nordic, and is commonly used by OK Linne as one of the tracks played during the strength training circuits.

"Roam" by the B-52's.

"I musta got lost" J. Geils

"No Control" -- Bad Religion

You come home late and you come home early
You come on big when you're feeling small
You come home straight and you come home curly
Sometimes you don't come home at all

Chorus:
So what in the world's come over you
And what in heaven's name have you done
You've broken the speed of the sound of loneliness
You're out there running just to be on the run

Well I got a heart that burns with a fever
And I got a worried and a jealous mind
How can a love that'll last forever
Get left so far behind

Repeat Chorus:

It's a mighty mean and a dreadful sorrow
It's crossed the evil line today
Well, how can you ask about tomorrow
We ain't got one word to say

Repeat Chorus:

Ending:
You're out there running just to be on the run
You're out there running just to be on the run
You're out there running just to be on the run

John Prine is great, and that one even has a fine cover version by Nanci Griffith.

Supertramp's lament on a lifetime of bad route choices:

"Oh, calamity, is there no way out?

Does it feel that your life’s become a catastrophe?
Oh, it has to be for you to grow, boy.
When you look through the years and see what you could have been oh, what might have been,
If you’d had more time.

So, when the day comes to settle down,
Who’s to blame if you’re not around?
You took the long way home
You took the long way home..........."

Check out the Barebones 2006 song contest here.

"Budapest" by Jethro Tull

I think she was a middle-distance runner...
(the translation wasn't clear).
Could be a budding stately hero.
International competition in a year.
She was a good enough reason for a party...
(well, you couldn't keep up on a hard track mile)
while she ran a perfect circle.
And she wore a perfect smile
in Budapest... hot night in Budapest.

Following My Compass by Kristen Hall (not quite the same spelling, but she has a great name....)

If you listen to the lyrics, you'll find it is actually a Night-O song: "Following my compass in the dark ..."

"Running" by Stefano Zarfati.

EDIT: Stefano Zarfati (Corsa Orientamento Club Roma) performing his O song live at Folgaria:

And we could venture into all the "made for the World Championships or what ever else event" songs that are out there - like everyone's favorite "Spring Cup". I think Hammer started a collection of them? At least he has the WOC04 soundtrack.

Then there is one part of Jewel's song "Cleveland"
From the air things look so ridiculous
Our fears so small, our fights so vain
I want to pilot a plane with you
So all our problems look small too
It's just an inch from me to you
Depending on what map you use

And of course, "Go West" by the Pet Shop Boys
"Wide open spaces" - Dixie Chicks

"I'm lost in a forest All alone" - The Cure "A Forest"

I made it through the wilderness
Somehow I made it through
Didn't know how lost I was
Until I found you

"Like a Virgin" - Madonna

the Cure song (especially the Mixed Up version) is the best....
but I'll add

"There's no map
And a compass
Wouldn't help at all"

Bjork - Human Behavior
classic Gondry video can be seen on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOepheinkCM
tasty moths...

come to think of it, Bjork could be orienteering in the video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOepheinkCM
must be a canadian meet, since she runs into a bear....

probably the most recent o-song on mtv was:
Maps by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Wait.
They don't love you like I love you
Wait.
They don't love you like I love you
Maps...........
Wait.
They don't love you like I love you

enjoyable song, but the lyrics make absolutely NO sense..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8z2AmZL-_Y

WOC'97
"We are Bushmen"
by Havard something-or-other

Jagge, what are the words to "Running"?

Mentioned before on these pages, but too good not to link to again: NTNUI ....Norweigian orienteering students singing falsetto......Orienteering is My Life!

One of my favorites (along with the above-mentioned "Following My Compass", with the classic line "I'm the Ferdinand Magellan of these parts..."), John Hiatt's "You Must Go" ... has rumbled through my head many times. The chorus is pretty apt:

You must go and you must ramble
Through every briar and bramble
Till your life is in a shambles
Maybe then you will know
You were born to blunder
Born to wander, born to wonder
Even when you're six feet under
There's place
That you must go

ok...so this doesn't really count. My daughters love the tv show Backyardigans (it actually is a great kids show.) They have a good song on one episode. I actually sang this song multiple times while racing the North American Rogaine champs last year.

Into the thick of it. Into the thick of it.
Into the thick of it. Ugh!

We're tramping through the bush.
On and on we push. Into the thick of it,
But we can?t see where we?re going.

We?ve made a stellar start.
To find the jungle's heart.
But all we'll find is nothing,
If we can?t see where we?re going!

The jungle's kind of tricky,
The path is never straight,
And sometimes there's no path at all
Which makes it hard to navigate.

Although the jungle's thick,
We're moving through it quick.
But that won't do us any good
If we're going around in circles.

These trees look so familiar,
We've been here once before.
You're right, except it wasn't once
It was three times, or four.

Stuck in the thick of it!
Stuck in the thick of it!
Stuck in the thick of it!
We?ve gone around in circles

I always used to think of "The Battle of Epping Forest" by Genesis whenever I used to go orienteering there. There's nothing about orienteering at all in the song, but Epping Forest does contain some of the best orienteering terrain in SE England.

Oh God, do I need to point all of you to the "Why are orienteers so strange?" link again? Scary, very scary.

Peter Frampton, "Show Me the Way"

Supertramp, "Take the Long Way Home"

and the one that came to mind first, is the one JHen wrote up, J. Geils "Musta got Lost", but I insist on the live version with the free-associating Peter Wolf intro, "This is Wuffa Guffa with the green teeth, saying let me down your hair, let me climb up the ladder of your love."

Unless I am mixing up British pop idols, I believe Peter Frampton has another O connection. I believe he bought one of Bjorn Kjellstrom's homes, which are on the Ward Pound Ridge O map, technically across the street from the park but included on the O map nonetheless, at Bjorn's request. Confirm Chris Cassone?

How did we overlook " Lost in the O Zone" by Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen? You mean its not actually about orienteering?

Whenever I start orienteering badly the following bouncy tune pops into my head. It's from the musical "Paint Your Wagon"...

Where am I goin'?
I don't know
Where am I headin'?
I ain't certain
All that I know
Is I am on my way

When will I be there?
I don't know
When will I get there?
I ain't certain
All that I know
Is I am on my way

Gotta dream boy
Gotta song
Paint your wagon
And come along

Where are we goin'?
I don't know
When will we be there?
I ain't certain
What will we get?
I ain't equipped to say
But who gives a damn?
Who gives a damn?
We're on our way!

The (unconventional) running club Hash House Harriers, whose runners look for beer caches stashed in the woods, have a long tradition of songs and music. An older runner in Pittsburgh recently completed his second degree (for fun) at the University of Pittsburgh, graduating in music, and for the graduating requirements, wrote this term paper describing the musical tradition in the Hash House Harriers.

http://pgh-hash.blogspot.com/2008/03/music-in-hash...

In honour of New Zealand Music Month (yes, there's such a thing) I'll nominate "from a to b or not to b" by SJD (with David Kilgour guesting on guitar). It's an instrumental so no relevant lyrics to point out, but doesn't that title neatly sum up orienteering? And it has this quiet pause in the middle which just has to represent someone stopping to relocate ;-)

I'm surprised none of the (older) aussies here have suggested the entire "Starfish" album by the Church which has a bit of a navigation theme running through it (song titles include "Lost", "North, South, East and West"... and the refrain of "Under the Milky Way"... "Wish I knew what you were looking for....")

And I can't do an orienteering roadtrip without Kate Bush "Running up that hill" somewhere along the way!

On the theory that Bono and co are orienteers, perhaps they should read the "Chatting during meets" thread. Came to mind when I heard "Sometimes you can't make it on your own" today....

I Can't Find My Way Home by Blind Faith "I'm wasted and I can't find my way home"

On the way to a local O meet at the weekend I was listening to Circles by Manfred Mann. I hadn't really listened to the lyrics before:

Goin' round in circles
Directions all messed up

and later in the song:

Goin' round in circles
Compass all messed up

O coaching song. King Crimson: I Talk to The Wind.

A one time member of HVO, Dave something(?) said he was a short time member of Manfred Mann's Earth Band. Dave(?) was also a member of the USA men's field hockey team if that help's anyone's memory.

Dave Flett?

According to my Hounsome and Chambre Rock Record, there was a guitarist Dave Flett on Manfred Mann's Roaring Silence (1977) and Watch (1978) albums.

A couple for ya. Darren Hanlon (http://www.darrenhanlon.com/ ) Aussie folk-rock singer has a song entitled "Not enough songs about Squash" which, not suprisingly, focuses on that there should be more songs about Squash (the sport in case it doesnt exist elsewhere). It includes the lines:

There's not enough songs about Squash,
Netball, t-ball, orienteering,
they could all do with a better hearing

Also for what its worth when I was about 13 I was travelling back from a Junior Squad camp in the back of my parents van with my friend Karen 'Squelch' Staudte when we made up what we called 'The O song'. Its sung to the tune of 'A Hard Days Night' by The Beatles. The verses below are all we came up with.

Its been a hard days o-ing
And I been running like a Swede
Its been a hard days o-ing
I should be at home, having a feed

But when I get back to the map
I just wanna do another lap
And find that last controoooolll

When I'm home
I just cant wait to get out and train, yeh,
When I'm home
I cant wait to feel some more of that pain, pain yeh!

Its been a hard days o-ing
And I been running like a Swede
Its been a hard days o-ing
I should be at home, having a feed

I think the song above (while clever and cute) demonstrates why there aren't more songs about orienteering. The verb sucks. "O-ing" just doesn't roll off the tongue.

Dave Flett?

Right time period, but "Flett" doesn't exactly ring a bell. I believe Dave(?) was also a teacher at a private school in CT.
Ed Hicks ought to remember.

here is a collection of o-songs:
http://ol-wiki.de/index.php?title=O-Songs

I vote for Cake's "The Distance" as it mentions flags, plotting courses and is obviously talking about night O.

Walking is Still Honest - Against Me!
Out of Control - Rancid.
Lyrics may have nothing to do with O, but the titles do. A bit...

Hung Up by Madonna could be applied to O

Those who run
seem to have all the fun
Hung up...

There was an adaption of a famous Rugby song that started with the line:
"Four and Twenty Orienteers went up to this event...."

I've been working on an AR mix tape and was happy to come across this thread. I don't have much patience for songs that digress from our favorite topic to ponder love or some such thing. Songs where the lyrics stay mostly true to topic include "Road to Nowhere" (Talking Heads), "You're Lost Little Girl" (The Doors), and Roam (The B-52's, previously mentioned above.) My kids recommend "Sneakers" (Tickle Tune Typhoon). To explain why we like the sport look to "Only Happy When it Rains" (Garbage). And an absolute must for a long swampy Rogaine, "Keep Going" (Boozoo Bajou featuring Tony Joe White).

for anyone who was at JWOC last year, classic o-songs are Walking in a straight line by Silverchair
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCjtcrAO5ws&feature...
and the Pers Forsberg Breakout aka the Hanny Allston song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3xhAvbLWAc

Neil Young has a number of songs that touch on O-like themes or have some relevant lines - "journey through life/finding oneself" type stuff:
No Hidden Path
Everybody Knows this is Nowhere
Spirit Road
And perhaps the most relevant after a bad run: F*!#In Up
Given his output over 45 years or so there's probably more I can't think of right now.

CCR
Run Through the Jungle "...don't look back..."
Green River

Another one for the U2 fans:

"And I have no compass
And I have no map
And I have no reasons
No reasons to get back"

Zooropa, 1993

just want to say that QLD senior girls poem for Simme could be turned into a interesting O song.................

Slightly off topic but what about orienteering "related" movies?

North by Northwest (1959) - Classic Hitchcock
Map of the Human Heart (1992) - a little known gem
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) - cause they want to pack up already
Gone in 60 seconds (2000) - the guy starting before you
Catch Me if You Can (2002) - a sledge aimed at the guy starting behind you
Into the Wild (2007) - didn't he die out there?
No Country for Old Men (2007) - not popular at WMOC
The Golden Compass (2008) - another competitor for Silva?
Run Fat Boy, Run (2008) - encouragement I get from my O-friends

then there's......
Lost (TV Series)

And then there's The Blair Witch Project (1999), which actually includes navigating through a forest using a map and compass (and then getting hopelessly lost).

State Park. (I think that's the movie I'm remembering, but I'm not positive.) Includes a reasonably complete explanation of what orienteering is, and the climactic chase scene takes place on a course. I think. It's been a long time since I've seen it.

Um, how did you enjoy the occassion to see this film?

Don't remember. Didn't see the whole thing.

>>And then there's The Blair Witch Project (1999), which actually includes navigating through a forest using a map and compass (and then getting hopelessly lost).

And which was at least partially shot on a QOC orienteering map. I believe one of the maps being used in the spring A meet.

Yeah, sunday's map apparently includes the house/ruins from the movie.

Stand by REM

Stand in the place where you live
Now face north
Think about direction
Wonder why you havent before
Now stand in the place where you work
Now face west
Think about the place where you live
Wonder why you havent before

If you are confused check with the sun
Carry a compass to help you along
Your feet are going to be on the ground
Your head is there to move you around

(repeat 1st verse)

Your feet are going to be on the ground
Your head is there to move you around
If wishes were trees the trees would be falling
Listen to reason
Season is calling

(repeat 1st verse)

If wishes were trees the trees would be falling
Listen to reason
Reason is calling
Your feet are going to be on the ground
Your head is there to move you around

So stand (stand)
Now face north
Think about direction, wonder why you havent before
Now stand (stand)
Now face west
Think about the place where you live
Wonder why you havent

(repeat 1st verse)

Stand in the place where you are (now face north)
Stand in the place where you are (now face west)
Your feet are going to be on the ground (stand in the place where you are)
Your head is there to move you around, so stand.

Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
Merry Men: [singing] We're men / We're men in tights / We roam around the forest looking for fights / We're men / We're men in tights / We rob from the rich and give to the poor / That's right! / We may look like sissies / But watch what you say / Or else we'll put out your lights / We're men / We're men in tights / Always on guard / Defending the people's rights / We're men / Manly men! / We're men in tights / Yes! / We roam around the forest looking for fights / We're men / We're men in tights / We rob from the rich and give to the poor / That's right! / We may look like pansies / But don't get us wrong / Or else we'll put out your lights / We're men / We're men in tights / *Tight tights* / Always on guard / Defending the people's rights / When you're in a fix / Just call for the men in tights!

Kosheen - 'Catch'.
and
Chase and Status - 'Running'

depends how down with the kids you want to be :P

"one step behind" by the Living end.
For if you're being chased down, or you're a bit younger and being shadowed...

or "one step beyond" by Madness. Overshooting the control and using a catching feature?

for some reason i associate disturbia by rihanna with O. i think its because someone was playing it at one of my first O events

Apparently most parents (myself included) don't have time to read threads like this, as the first example that came to my mind is this song from Dora the Explorer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILrwQG5Typ8

Timo Saarinen - It´s so groove, The song was written for WOC 2001 in Tampere:
Found my self in a disco
sweeting dancing on the floor
it was a place called "S Fransico"
I just thought beeter llok for door

there I was just standing outside
everything seemed so strange
it was like not from my life
what was the dramatic change

through the woods and fields of green
towards the shores of lakes
and we run across this scene
which part the winner takes

we will break all chains
going to show our power
living up our dreams
have to shout out louder
these are harder games
gotta take it higher
takes you makes you win
Baby this is so Groovy
Baby det ar sa groovi
Beibi taa on niin grouvii..

I feel from the pine tree
always landet running
never went to darkened shadoes
finally found right turning

through the woods and fields of green
towards the shores of lakes
and we run across this scene
which part the winner takes

we will break all chains
going to show our power
living up our dreams
gotta take it higher
takes you makes you win
Baby this is so Groovy
Baby det ar sa groovi
Beibi taa on niin grouvii..

WOC songs are amazing. Only contemporary Hungarian folk songs can compare.

Cat Stevens - Miles from nowhere
Cat Stevens - On the ride to find out.

Cat Stevens' original name: Steven Demetre Georgiou
(check Wikipedia) Not quite "Gueorgiou", but close. Same pronounciation?

Did you mean this thread?

Old song of climbers by Vladimir Vysotsky (in Russian). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unSHMxMDtTE

And lyrics in English. I am not sure in the quality of translation.
http://www.kulichki.com/vv/eng/songs/xrabrov.html#...
These aren't the plains...

http://ol-wiki.de/index.php?title=OL-Lieder
German page of "Lieder über den Orientierungslauf" - Songs about Orienteering.

For us marathoners, "Running On Empty" by Jackson Brown.

Follow you, follow me, by Phil Collins
ha ha ha ha ha

Dead and Gone by TI and Justin Timberlake. It goes:

Ooooooo(Hey)
I've been travelin
On this road too long (Too long)
Just trying to find
My way back home(Back home)
The old me
Is dead and gone
Dead and gone

Ever had one of dem days
You wish woulda stayed home...

run into a group of haters who gettin ther hate on..

That song by Vladimir Vysotsky perhaps explains the low survival rates in the Parmirs during the Soviet Era.

Where can I download or by the song Running by Stefano Zarfati? It's the best!

In Swedish:
Leif - Orienterarlåten
...about an old man called Leif who is a really bad orienteer. "Get´s lost in a room and needs a compass to find the way to the toilet ..."

PS. Not about me (I hope) even if it is done by a local group here in Dalarna.

"Halving Compass" by Helios
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj55nG2tkKw

"BC Orienteering" by Said the Whale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pS6d8_TM2g

Maybe it can be the theme song for NAOCs this year.

I like the "We've got rocks and trees and trees and rocks..." theme on the Whistler Barebones site, myself. :-)

It's hard to hear the singer on the video you linked. I can't understand what he's saying.

I think this one should have appeared already, because plenty of DVOA/ HVO orienteers have lived it.

"I'm stuck in the mud somewhere in the swamps of Jersey"
-from Bruce Springsteen's "Rosalita".

>JanetT
I know sorry about that. They wouldn't let me copy and paste them in but you can read the lyrics here

i've found two another orienteeringsongs:

little name - orienteering
http://abmp3.com/download/2449452-orienteering.htm...

That's the Spirit - Orienteering
http://abmp3.com/download/4381062-orienteering.htm...

http://o-wiki.net/index.php?title=Music

here is a new orienteeringsong: "We are Bushmen" (WOC Song 2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orAQjvhirow&feature...

lyrics:
Well, what are we doing in the kingdom of the moose
There's twigs inside our trousers
there's mud inside our shoes
The temperature is rising
We pant and sweat and I sing a tune

Something really really strange is happening this year
In Trondheim, that is Norway on the middle, if you care
The woods are overflowing
with people to-and-fro-ing, my oh my!
And that's all we'll do this season,
I'll tell you all the reason why

We are bushmen
All we wanna do
is sweat our way through the woods
we are bushmen, now isn't it good,
the famous Norwegian wood

Well some might say we're crazy, 'cause we're always on the run
while everybody else is lazing in the hazing summer sun
but we are only happy with smelly clothes and maps in our hands
And if you think that it stinks
Then you ain't got the instincts
and you'll never understand!

We are bushmen
All we wanna do
is sweat our way through the woods
we are bushmen, now isn't it good,
the famous Norwegian wood

don't you want to come along

we are bushmen, now isn't it good,
the famous Norwegian wood
we are bushmen
All we wanna do
is sweat our way through the woods

And we don't know why, don't know why
no we don't know why

We are bushmen
All we wanna do
is sweat our way through the woods
la la la laa, la la la la la la laa, la la la la la la laa, la la laaaa
la la la laa, la la la la la la laa, la la la la la la laa, la la laaaa/we are bushmen
la la la laa, la la la la la la laa, la la la la la la laa, la la laaaa/we are bushmen
la la la laa, la la la la la la laa, la la la la la la laa, la la laaaa/we are bushmen

They just substituted Grimstad for Trondheim from the 1997 WOC song. You would would think with all those great Norwegian bands that they could have been more original 13 years later. ;-)

i found a nice song on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP2Y-AsMG88

does anybody understand something?

Draw Me a Map - by Dierks Bentley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFGPYR5mdFM

I once taught an O-Class to my local recreation association; and on the last (of 4) classes, I asked them whether they wanted to hear the world's only O joke OR the world's only O song. They contrived a tie, so I had to do both (the joke you've heard - long, but punch line about yes, they have O in heaven, but your start time is now). I chose this song, and interpreted the lyrics to represent an O-bum, who'd lost everything due to his/her obsession. The "keeping distance" relates to "following" and so forth. Any way, Richard Thompson is one of my guitar heros, so: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/r/richard_thompso...
I was rewarded with a number of "don't quit your day jobs" and zero converts to O.

For the younger set, perhaps...

You put your first leg up,
You put your start point down;
You put your first leg up,
And you move your map about.
You do the Hokey-O-key,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your next leg up,
You put your next point out;
You put your next leg up,
And you move your map about.
You do the Hokey-O-key,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

Origin is here.

Rise by Eddie Vedder:

Such is the way of the world
You can never know
Just where to put all your faith
And how will it grow

Gonna rise up
Burning back holes in dark memories
Gonna rise up
Turning mistakes into gold

Such is the passage of time
Too fast to fold
And suddenly swallowed by signs
Low and behold

Gonna rise up
Find my direction magnetically
Gonna rise up
Throw down my ace in the hole

David Crosby wrote a song called Compass (recorded by CSNY); but my understanding is that it is his commentary on his years wasted due to drugs etc. rather than any theme of particular interest to orienteers.

Chorus:
But like a compass seeking north, (seeking north).
There lives in me a still, sure, spirit part.
Clouds of doubt are cut asunder (clouds of doubt).
By the lightning and the thunder
Shining from the compass of my heart (shining from my heart).

A better sounding recording of 'BC Orienteering' by Said the Whale than what Brent posted earlier this year is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb1J0Bt4z90

video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXhxGXJlHzE
sound track... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8ROihWNNC0&feature...
Stuck here for Days - By Kiwi rockers The Datsuns
"I'll be back soon"
"not a second to lose"

I always liked this theme song from one of our Wiatangi Orienteering carnivals a few years back... it always gets the blood pumping pre race

another orienteering song by chumbawamba: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZexQASeKqtU

"i once was lost, but now i'm found" - a nice line to sing to yourself in the woods

also--watching sound of music last night:

climb every mountain,
ford every stream
follow every rainbow
until you find your dream...

watching sound of music last night

Sing-along at the Regent?

wish i had known about that! just watching on tv with family.

This thread is not closed!

Have anyone already posted this one ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmLHQZ9Op-E

I was seriously tempted to suggest that a bonus point be awarded in the evaluation of WOC 2015 bids to whichever one of the bidders first promised not to have an event song.

One of my favourite songs about cartography: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ2RvSHK_B8

jwoc song 2011: http://vimeo.com/25861363

wmoc 2008: http://vimeo.com/14622556

"If my heart was a house" by Owl city:

Circle me and the needle moves gracefully back and forth,
if my heart was a compass you'd be north...

Win or Lose by ECG: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbrzMoBZSIQ

here are some songs that could be about orienteering. but i dont understand anything:) could sombody verify?
Sininen Ylivoima - Leimauksia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPkshp9L9-c
Sininen Ylivoima - Matkamuistoja http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEezDDrL4jA
Selittelyn Mestari - Suunnistan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSP5JIZr_8s
Sininen Ylivoima - Sininen Ylivoima http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7Odvh9J60Q

Yes, those are about orienteering.
Here is the official WOC song by same guys.
In English Sininen Ylivoima- Find Your Flow :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkM4ixfjWhw
and in Finnish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJsLbqFVF_g

Who says we don't have fun!

Whenever I get back from an Adventure Race or now more recently O-meets, my 80 y/o mom sings to me the Happy Wanderer song:

I love to go a-wandering
Along the mountain track
And as I go, I love to sing
My knapsack on my back

Chorus
Val-deri, val-dera
Val-deri, val-dera,
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
Ha
Val-dera
My knapsack on my back

I love to wander by the stream
That dances in the sun
So joyously it calls to me
Come join my happy song

Val-eri, val-dera
Val-deri, val-dera
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
Ha
Val-era
Come join my happy song

I wave my hat to all I meet
And They wave back to me
And blackbirds call so loud and sweet
From ev'ry green wood tree

Val-eri, val-dera
Val-deri, val-dera
Val-deri, val-dera

Oh, may I go a-wandering
Until the day I die
Oh, may I always laugh and sing
Beneath God's clear blue sky

Val-eri, val-dera
Val-eri, val-dera
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
Ha val-dera
Beneath the clear blue sky

Since this started with REM .. what about another song from them "Maps and legends"

He's not to be reached, he's to be reached
He's not to be reached, he's to be reached

Called the fool and the company,
On his own where he'd rather be
Where he ought to be, he sees what you can't see, can't you see that?

(chorus)
Maybe he's caught in the legend,
Maybe he's caught in the mood
Maybe these maps and legends
Have been misunderstood

Down the way the road's divided,
Paint me the places you have seen
Those who know what I don't know
Refer to the yellow, red and green

(repeat chorus)

He's not to be reached, he's to be reached
He's not to be reached, he's to be reached
He's not to be reached, he's to be reached

The map that you painted didn't seem real
He just sings whatever he's seen
Point to the legend, point to the east,
Point to the yellow, red and green

Maybe he's caught in the legend,
Maybe he's caught in the mood
Maybe these maps and legends
Have been misunderstood, been misunderstood

Is he to be reached? He's not to be reached
Is he to be reached? He's not to be reached
Is he to be reached? He's not to be reached anymore

Devo - Stuck in a Loop

…Caught in a trap and you can't walk out
It's in your mind so you can't walk out
Just when you think you've got it beat
It sets you up and knocks you down
Try to blow it off or trade it in
And you'll wind up in the lost and found
And then you're stuck
Stuck in a loop again…

311 - All Mixed Up

You've got to trust your instinct
And let go of regret
You've got to bet on yourself now star
'Cause that's your best bet ...
All mixed up, you don't know what to do
Next thing you turn around and find the person is you

Missing Persons - Destination Unknown

You ask yourself
Where do we go from here?
It seems so all too near
Just as far beyond as I can see
I still don't know what this all means to me

Vertical Horizons - Finding Me

Don't tell me
How to be
'Cause I like some suffering
Don't ask me
What I need
I'm just fine
Here finding me

The thread that keeps on giving. Here's a guitar hero of mine singing a song not so much about orienteering itself, but about the orienteering life and those of you who've followed it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlKNMBfYIe8

There are many small metaphors within the song that work for me, anyway. Here is one version of the lyrics:

If I cross your path again, who knows where, who knows when
On some morning without number, on some highway without end
Don't grasp my hand and say "Fate has brought you here today"
Oh fate is only fooling with us, friend

Keep your distance, oh keep your distance
When I feel you close to me what can I do but fall
Keep your distance, keep your distance
Ah with us it must be all or none at all

It's a desperate game we play, throw our souls, our lives, away
Wounds that can't be mended and debts that can't be paid
O I played and I got stung now I'm biting back my tongue
I'm sweeping out the footprints where I strayed

Keep your distance, keep your distance
When I feel you close to me what can I do but fall
Keep your distance, oh keep your distance
With us it must be all or none at all

Keep your distance, oh keep your distance
When I feel you close to me what can I do but fall
Keep your distance, oh keep your distance
With us it must be all or none at all
With us it must be all or none at all
With us it must be all or none at all

Anwhere is By Enya has always struck me as kind of apt (particularly if you are a beginner), particularly the last verse.......which goes;

"I cannot find the finish
It's either this or that way
It's one way or the other
It should be one direction
It could be on reflection
The turn I have just taken
The turn that I was making
I might be just beginning
I might be near the end."

As with most Enya songs, I'm not sure what it's about apart from stars, constellations and waves. I think it's about two people who can't be together.

No Direction Home - Bob Dylan doco.
North, South, East, West - The Church.
Out of Control - Lime Spiders.
Bizarre Start Triangle - New Order.

A song you don't want to hear :-)

"Step off the map and float" [by Library Voices, Regina Saskatchewan]

(OK, the song really isn't about orienteering... but I like the title, and I might be singing these lyrics at some point in my race "Well oh my God, There’s like a dozen things wrong with this" )

Testing to see whether this thread is closed...

Hunters and Collectors "Where do you go?"

OK. Peter Sarsted... Where do you go to my lovely...

Huh. I'm sure this thread had been posted in sometime over the past three years.

From the legendary Icelandic band FM Belfast:



'We are running down the street in our underwear
We are running up the hill, it's over there
We are running down the street in our underwear
We are running up the hill, it's over there'

Can it get better than a WOC winner singing a song about O
https://www.facebook.com/kari.sallinen.9/posts/102...

@Jagge: The Kari Sallinen link was great, thanks!

Personally my ultimate Orienteering song is the one we always played on the NTHI bus to Tiomila, "Jag trivs bäst i Öppna Landskap" by the wonderful Ulf Lundell:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuOUev9EgI8

The title translates as "I like it best in open areas", i.e. up on the open hilltops instead of down in the dense green valleys and old logged areas.

I am commissioning lyrics for Bruno Mars's Billionaire song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aRor905cCw

Payment is reasonable amounts of beer (it is a generous offer as we can use Bulgarian definition of 'reasonable amount of beer'. )

There are a few good ones here. Sam Roberts "Without a Map" is a good song but Said the Whale is dead on with "BC Orienteering" I do like Wire's "Map Ref 41N 93W". Maybe because I am a Wire Fan.


An unseen ruler defines with geometry
An unrulable expanse of geography
An aerial photographer over-exposed
To the cartologist's 2D images knows
The areas where the water flowed
So petrified, the landscape grows
Straining eyes try to understand
The works, incessantly in hand
The carving and the paring of the land
The quarter square, the graph divides
Beneath the rule, a country hides

Interrupting my train of thought
Lines of longitude and latitude
Define and refine my altitude

The curtain's undrawn
Harness fitted, no escape
Common and peaceful, duck, flat, lowland
Landscape, canal, canard, water coloured

Crystal palaces for floral kings
A well-known waving span of wings
Witness the sinking of the sun
A deep breath of submission has begun

Ski- O in Austria 2016. Local artist composed these two songs for the race!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YoxIVs_r4I (Rock The Snow) *More ski O oriented*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gtHD73t890 (We Never Give Up) *More race oriented*

I think this might have been mentioned before, but my favorite is "Stand" by REM:

Stand in the place where you live
Now face North
Think about direction, wonder why you haven't before
Now stand in the place where you work
Now face West, think about the place where you live
Wonder why you haven't before

If you are confused, check with the sun
Carry a compass to help you along
Your feet are going to be on the ground
Your head is there to move you around

...

The Bats: North by North https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC4SX4c50Ig

The Orienteers : Take Control (local band for NAOC 2014)
https://soundcloud.com/orienteers/take-control-nao...

« I don't know which way I'm supposed to spin
In this circle « 
Birds of Tokyo « Circles »

How has no one mentioned Nick Manfredi yet? https://youtu.be/YgN5C3VEUJ8

He was mentioned in this thread in 2008!

Oops missed that link, still the best orienteering song after a decade though

Interesting detail on R.E.M.'s "Stand" video I noticed:

When they sing "now face north", the dancers take a quarter turn to the west; and when they sing "now face west", the dancers take a quarter turn to the east.

I propose that this visual of a parallel error only deepens the song's relevance to the nature of orienteering.

"confusion in her eyes that says it all / she's lost control"