This song is based on a fable that exists in many cultures but I first encountered it in the writings of Philo of Alexandria, a 1st-century Jewish philosopher. He wrote, "Let us turn for a lesson in right conduct to the winged tribe that ranges the air. Among the storks, the old birds stay in the nests when they are unable to fly while the children fly, I might almost say, over sea and land, gathering from every quarter provision for the needs of their parents ... [so the children,] moved by piety and the expectation that the same treatment will be meted to them by their offspring, repay the debt which they may not refuse... And thus, without any teacher but their natural instinct, they gladly give to age the nurture which fostered their youth. With this example before them, may not human beings, who take no thought for their parents, deservedly hide their faces for shame?"
All proceeds go to The Jonah Maccabee Foundation (jonahmac.org) to support needed arts, social activism and Jewish life for young people.
lyrics
You've heard lots about different animals: the wolf, the goat, the chimpanzee.
But the stork is stork is one of our very favorite.
We think you'll be inclined to agree.
Just sit back and we guarantee that you'll see.
When a stork is very little, its mom and dad are always there
To feed it, clean it and protect it.
That's how they show that they care.
Anytime and everywhere, they're there.
We can learn from the storks.
They have something to teach us if we'd just let them reach us.
Watch the sky.
You will see a remarkable creature who is also a teacher.
As a stork grows bigger and bigger, its mom and dad teach it how to fly.
At first, they make it stay near the ground and take its time.
We're sure you know why.
That bird will really zoom through the sky by and by.
Then one day, the storks they do marvel at a not so little bird that's totally grown.
It's found another stork. It wants to build a nest
With little storkies all of its own,
Meaning that mom and dad will be left at home ... alone.
Now we know just exactly what you're thinkin':
This bird has said "Adieu, I'll be seein' ya!"
And mom and dad will have to do the best that they can
Even 'tho the sunset of their years is at hand.
But this is just the thing that we've been trying to say.
These birds have found what seems to us to be a much better way.
Watch the sky. You will see
A remarkable creature who is also a teacher.
Among the storks, when a bird grows older,
And it can't do all the things that it used to do,
The younger birds feed and clean and protect it
'Cuz they remember exactly who was with them on that first day that they flew.
Don't you?
Way down the road when we all are much older
And perhaps we will have added to our family trees,
We'll ask our parents, "Can we help you be happy?
'Cuz we want to be your little sweet peas even though we have P h D's.
Please? Pretty please?
We can learn from the storks.
They have something to teach us if we'd just let them reach us.
Watch the sky.
You will see a remarkable creature who is also a teacher.
Ev'ryone of us can learn from the storks.
They have something to teach us
If only we'd just let them reach us.
credits
released May 22, 2020
music by Billy Dreskin
vocals by Ellen and Billy Dreskin
sound engineering by Larry Alexander
While Billy Dreskin has spent most of his life as a rabbi, he studied music composition at Brandeis University and graduated
with a love of writing for musical theatre. Way back in 1985, his music was featured in the off-Broadway musical, "Personals," Now retired and teetering on the edge of “old manhood,” Billy still loves creating music and is eager to do more....more
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