My Roots Go Down
Words and music by Sarah Pirtle, written in 1979, © 1984, 1989 Discovery Center Music, BMI
Lyrics
Chorus:
My roots go down, down to the earth.
My roots go down, down to the earth.
My roots go down, down to the earth.
My roots go down.
I am a pine tree on a mountainside. (3x)
My roots go down.
I am a wild flower pushing through stones. (3x)
My roots go down.
I am a willow swaying through the storm. (3x)
My roots go down.
I am an ancient redwood tree. (3x)
My roots go down.
I am a mountain reaching for the sun.
I rise with the voice of every living thing.
The Story of the Song
In 1979 I was attending a workshop with Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb. On a January evening we stood outside under a full moon for a ceremony, and afterwards as I was walking back, I heard the song arrive in my mind. I kept singing it on hikes but I didn't know if others would like to learn it, until I shared it first with my affinity group at the Seneca Women's Encampment in 1983. A Gentle Wind recorded it in 1984 on "Two Hands Hold the Earth." The wonder of a song is that today it is sung in schools, at nature centers, at herbal trainings, and by performers including Annie Patterson, Bruce O'Brien, and the Seedy Seeds.
What I love to do is ask people about a favorite tree or flower or other part of nature that they love and encourage them to make up their own new verses -- "I am a sunflower jumping up high." You can also delve into other directions like, "I am a voice healing life."
It's such a joy to find out how it has traveled. Most recently, a four-year-old girl and her father (called The Rookies) sing this song with great vitality on youtube, watched by a million and a quarter people.