The Green Hills of
Earth
Words: Robert A.
Heinlein -- writing as “Rhysling”
Additional words:
Frank Gasperik
ttto: Gilligan's
Island theme (slowed down)
Frank wrote
additional words to add to those that Robert had written. He played them for
Robert at a Los Angeles Science-Fiction Society meeting. Robert said: "That's
exactly what I had in mind."
The
[Am]harsh
bright soil of [G]Luna,
silent [Am]and
still as the [G]grave,
Is [C]not
a place for [G]Earth-folk
whose [Am]landings
there were [G]made.
And
[Am]Venus
is a [G]Hellish
place. We [Am]retch
at her tainted [G]breath.
It’s [C]not
for a race of [G]Earthfolk,
we must [Am]travel
further [G]yet.
The [Am]quiet
Martian [G]desert; her [Am]shifting,
whispering [G]sands,
Is [C]not home to the [G]Earth-man,
who [Am]on her surface [G]stands.
[chorus]
And the
[Am]spinning
little [G]space
motes be-[Am]tween
Ares and [G]Jove;
Are [C]but
a simple [G]starfield
for the [Am]Earthmen
who will [G]Rove
Jove [Am]roams
through the [G]heavens, his at- [Am]tendants
come in [G]style;
Four [C]major planets [G]just
as moons. A [Am]place to stop a [G]while.
Then the [Am]gaudy
rings of [G]Saturn, cold as [Am]ice
a-[G]bove,
It’s a [C]beautiful place, a [G]beautiful
sight; but it’s [Am]not the home we [G]love.
[chorus]
Then it’s[Am]out
through the [G]gas giants, Past [Am]Pluto
and the Oort cloud [G]far.
[C]That’s the road Earth [G]folk
will take that [Am]leads us to the [G]stars.
The
[Am]stars
that shine a-[G]round
us are just [Am]torches
on the [G]road
To the [C]ebon
night for-[G]ever
that we [Am]with
great peril [G]sowed.
But
[Am]we
must travel [G]onward,
outward, [Am]and
then out a-[G]gain,
Ex-[C]ploring
further [G]reaches
far be-[Am]yond
the realm of [G]men.
[chorus]
But my
[Am]heart
turns home in [G]longing
far a-[Am]cross
the voids be-[G]tween,
To [C]know
beyond the [G]spaceship
that the [Am]hills
of Earth stay [G]green.
But we’ll [Am]check
each spinning [G]space-mote and we’ll[Am]reckon
its true [G]worth
‘Til we [C]come again to the [G]home
of men, and the [Am]cool green hills of [G]Earth.
Let the
[Am]sweet
fresh breezes [G]heal
me as they [Am]rove
around the [G]girth
Of our [C]lovely
mother [G]planet
and the [Am]cool
green hills of [G]Earth.