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Discussion: Orienteering songs

in: Orienteering; General;

#  Posted 2006-03-04 10:02:55
jjcote: 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.)

#  Posted 2006-03-04 18:31:59
tonyf: 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.

#  Posted 2006-03-04 18:38:21
jjcote: 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.

#  Posted 2006-03-04 18:44:21
lizk: 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.

#  Posted 2006-03-04 19:44:13
Hammer: "I will follow" U2

which links nicely to

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

#  Posted 2006-03-04 20:00:11
Boojums: 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...

#  Posted 2006-03-04 20:01:28
Boojums: Oh, and then there's "Get Out the Map" by the Indigo Girls, which needs no explanation.

#  Posted 2006-03-04 20:37:20
EricW: 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.

#  Posted 2006-03-04 20:54:09
jeffw: 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.

#  Posted 2006-03-04 22:54:21
jjcote: Immigrant Song is kind of Nordic, I guess. An obscure Grateful Dead reference is Uncle John's Band, simply because it mentions Silvermine.

#  Posted 2006-03-04 23:38:19
jeffw: 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.

#  Posted 2006-03-04 23:40:43
BorisGr: The Immigrant Song is very Nordic, and is commonly used by OK Linne as one of the tracks played during the strength training circuits.

#  Posted 2006-03-06 00:22:47
ebuckley: "Roam" by the B-52's.

#  Posted 2006-03-06 02:00:38
JHen: "I musta got lost" J. Geils

#  Posted 2006-03-06 03:19:06
randy: "No Control" -- Bad Religion

#  Posted 2006-03-06 16:44:58
ndobbs: 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

#  Posted 2006-03-06 22:46:48
jjcote: John Prine is great, and that one even has a fine cover version by Nanci Griffith.

#  Posted 2006-03-08 06:48:48
SteveN: Supertramp's lament on a lifetime of bad route choices:

"Oh, calamity, is there no way out?

Does it feel that your lifes 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 youd had more time.

So, when the day comes to settle down,
Whos to blame if youre not around?
You took the long way home
You took the long way home..........."

#  Posted 2006-03-08 07:53:24
charm: Check out the Barebones 2006 song contest here.

#  Posted 2006-03-09 01:04:09
jwolff: "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.

#  Posted 2006-03-09 04:21:49
khall: 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 ..."

#  Posted 2007-07-10 14:16:51
Jagge: "Running" by Stefano Zarfati.

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


#  Posted 2007-07-10 17:53:08
kwilliams: 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

#  Posted 2007-07-10 18:39:39
Eoin: "I'm lost in a forest All alone" - The Cure "A Forest"

#  Posted 2007-07-10 21:32:02
jeffw: 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

#  Posted 2007-07-11 00:32:05
mal11: 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...

#  Posted 2007-07-11 00:34:54
mal11: 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....

#  Posted 2007-07-11 00:38:55
mal11: 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

#  Posted 2007-07-11 03:13:25
Hammer: WOC'97
"We are Bushmen"
by Havard something-or-other

#  Posted 2007-07-11 04:18:03
barb: Jagge, what are the words to "Running"?

#  Posted 2007-07-11 05:17:22
chitownclark: Mentioned before on these pages, but too good not to link to again: NTNUI....Norweigian orienteering students singing falsetto......Orienteering is My Life!

#  Posted 2007-07-11 06:33:14
peggyd: 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

#  Posted 2007-07-11 07:55:52
backwoods: 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

#  Posted 2007-07-11 08:17:34
johncrowther: 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.

#  Posted 2007-07-11 08:40:41
Barbie: Oh God, do I need to point all of you to the "Why are orienteers so strange?" link again? Scary, very scary.

#  Posted 2007-07-11 20:55:12
levitin: 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."

#  Posted 2007-07-12 05:32:52
EricW: 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?

#  Posted 2008-05-06 02:48:01
EricW: How did we overlook " Lost in the O Zone" by Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen? You mean its not actually about orienteering?

#  Posted 2008-05-06 18:42:02
AZ: 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!

#  Posted 2008-05-06 20:38:25
sherpes: 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...

#  Posted 2008-05-07 15:35:43
birdman: 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!

#  Posted 2008-05-08 12:57:51
birdman: 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....

#  Posted 2008-05-09 19:26:18
jingo6390: I Can't Find My Way Home by Blind Faith "I'm wasted and I can't find my way home"

#  Posted 2008-05-13 06:02:51
johncrowther: 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

#  Posted 2008-05-13 17:05:00
Jagge: O coaching song. King Crimson: I Talk to The Wind.

#  Posted 2008-05-14 07:29:51
EricW: 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.

#  Posted 2008-05-14 08:28:04
jjcote: Dave Flett?

#  Posted 2008-05-14 09:21:54
boyle: 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.

#  Posted 2008-05-14 11:53:48
acejase: 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

#  Posted 2008-05-14 18:06:18
SuvalineLohh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQbvli2brSk

#  Posted 2008-05-14 18:06:48
Boojums: 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.

#  Posted 2008-05-15 03:00:43
EricW: 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.

#  Posted 2008-07-22 21:48:43
danf:

Nicola Manfredi - YOU AND ME (lyrics)

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