A night of ballads, comedy to benefit community radio
You’ve heard of grunge rock?
Now hear about grange rock.
Dana Lyons is an animal lover who went nationwide, then worldwide when he recorded “Cows With Guns.” The song, which told the story of armed cows bolting for freedom, became “the anthem for the much-feared possibility of a bovine revolution,” says Lyons, a Bellingham singer-songwriter.
The song became a classic, with playful names like Cow Tse Tongue and such lyrics as these:
“He was a scrawny calf, who looked rather woozy
No one suspected he was packing an Uzi.”
And:
“The order was given to turn cows to whoppers
Enforced by the might of ten thousand coppers
But on the horizon surrounding the shoppers
Came the deafening roar of chickens in choppers
We will fight for bovine freedom
And hold our large heads high
We will run free with the buffalo, or die.”
When Dr. Demento sent the song to the top of the charts in 1996, it went around the globe, taking the No. 2 spot on the Australian charts and spending six months on the top-40 list in Ireland.
It was that year’s independent-label success story, and Lyons, who has been making a living at music since 1987, found himself hailed as one of the freshest voices on behalf of animals, the environment and quality-of-life issues.
Saturday night at the Snohomish County PUD Auditorium, Lyons performs “Cows With Guns” and “Circle the World,” the title track of a CD he recorded with primatologist Jane Goodall, along with “comedy, ballads, singalongs,” he said. “I tell stories and jokes. I try to make the concert enjoyable for both adults and children.”
The benefit for KSER (90.7 FM) radio, co-presented by the city of Everett’s Cultural Arts, is close to his heart. “Community radio is one of the last bastions of free speech left to us,” Lyons said.
Lyons estimates two-thirds of the 100 or so concerts he does a year are benefits, from Farm Aid to grange halls all over Washington.
“Music is one of the most ancient forms of communication and songs have a way of touching our emotions more easily than words,” Lyons said. “Songs can unify a culture around a project or a cause.”
Lyons cites such songs as the civil-rights-era “We Shall Overcome” and the songs of Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie as examples of how music can spur social change.
Lyons sailed with Seeger on his sloop the Clearwater during Seeger’s efforts with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to clean up the Hudson River, and he raised money for the water-keeper movement around the country, including Puget Soundkeeper Alliance.
He’s also an animal lover who puts all kinds of species into his songs: cows, reptiles, dogs, birds.
On his CD “Circle the World,” Jane Goodall tells stories about world peace and chimpanzees, along with six related songs by Lyons.
“Jane was made a messenger of peace by the United Nations, and she developed a celebration [International Day of Peace] on Sept. 21, where people all over the world carry these giant peace puppets,” said Lyons. “She has a vision that one day there will be so many carrying the puppets, that there’ll be a ring of white around the Earth you’ll be able to see by space satellite. She asked me to write a song about that.”
Kids have taken to Lyons’ songs, two of which have been adapted into illustrated books, “Cows With Guns” and “The Tree,” an adaptation of Lyons’ song about an 800-year-old Douglas fir facing the chain saw - and being saved by children.
“The Tree” is published by Bellevue’s Illumination Arts Publishing, and at the concert, Lyons will sign a sampling of his books and CDs, along with posters and animal T-shirts.
In most of his songs, “The music comes out first,” Lyons said. “The story comes out of the music, and then the challenge is finding a compelling and interesting story that fits with the mood of the music.
“When I write a song, I want it to be interesting, entertaining and hold the possibility of touching someone. So when I’m singing about issues, it’s best to do it through a storytelling or comedy medium.”
One of his toughest tasks as a songwriter is to “alert and inspire people in an apocalyptic era without shutting them down. The best way to do that is by telling stories in songs about one person’s inspiring struggle.”
At 47, Lyons is an optimist. “I believe we have everything we need to create a sustainable culture now,” he says. “The projects are all sitting there.”
Lyons is working on a Web site he believes will be of use in churches, schools and other places, showing specific sustainable-culture projects that can be easily repeated.
His belief is that “local people can take control. These are projects done by people. I want to create a menu of projects that people can choose from.”
Diane Wright: 425-745-7815 or dwright@seattletimes.com