Lets get a written record of this song! Frankie, our daughter, wanted us to sing it over and over yesterday! I learned it in 4th grade music class way back in 1977-78. My sisters and i LOVED that song! I still do!
Orion is arising
Orion is arising
You can see his stars ablazing
Way out here in the middle of a deep blue country sky.
And still what is amazing
You can see his stars ablazing
Way out here where nothing hides it from my eyes.
And sleeping outside in a bag as a kid
It seems like the best thing that I ever did
And chasing the shadows
and the tracks in the snow
Don’t you know?
The world is getting older
and I really start to wonder
why we’re clouding all the country skys to gray
The world is getting colder
I can hear it in the thunder
and the rain may come and chase us all away!
And sleeping outside in a bag as a kid
It seems like the best thing that I ever did
And chasing the shadows
and the tracks in the snow
Don’t you know?
The moon is on the wane
And it looks like it might rain
Or maybe snow.
And how are we to stay here
When there’s no room left to play here
Or to grow
Don’t you know?
Don’t you know?
Speedracer adds: Google helped me find the back-story, along with reminiscences of a lot of Gen Xers.
Update: Here’s a blog post with a performance by the songwriter.
>Oh my, I do know that song. Thanks for the written rendition. Now that it’s in my mind, I feel like Frankie.
>LOL. poor dad!
>I’m the writer of “Orion”, and you have the lyrics almost right. If you’re interested, contact me at jkzim@verizon.net.
>we sang this song in choir when i was in 6th grade –either 1975 or 1976. I can’t get some of these lyircs out of my head, some 30-odd years later! thanks for posting.
>You could NOT NOT NOT be the writier!
I sang this song in music
>I think it's:
"and it's never too surprising that the sky is still amazing way out here where nothing hides it from my eyes."
I too sanf this in grade-school choir.Some things stick in your head. Even 30 years later. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
I think you’re correct. That is how we sang it.
>I sang this song in 6th grade in 1982 and I still remember the first stanza. I think about it almost every time I see Orion in the sky at night. Wow.
>I totally agree! Practicing this song in grade school and being one of the first songs you sing in front of a crowd. It's a very simple but catchy song. I will remember this tune until I am dust. (I still find myself humming this song at work. Weird!)
>I used to sing this song in the fourth grade as well. We must have all had the same songbook. But I remember the lyrics in my head as "Orion is arising, you can see his stars ablazing in the middle of a clear-eyed country sky."
>I sang this song in grade school too. I sang it to both my children when they were babies, and now as a Neonatal Intensive care nurse…I sing it to my babies when they need comforting. Thanks for the words…and the memories!
>We sang this as a kid too, I think it was about 6th grade. Then 25 years later when we couldn't agree on a name for our son. Orion was there to help us out! I sing it to him every night and he just loves it. Thanks for posting.
>I remember it from my sixth grade song book. One of the standard textbooks. But that was back when public school could afford to have one music teacher and one art teacher, so we had each class one day a week. One person's version has an extra satnza that did not get printed in our book. I always thought it was John Denver who wrote it. I sang it for entertainment at a camp once as an adult. It has a haunting fifth note (fifth of the eight notescale).
>1988 or 89, Thomas Edison Elementary, Ms. Witham. 4th grade music. She had so much confidence in us. I have never forgotten even a word to the song and the blue and white program cover.
>We sang it in chorus in high school (about 1985 or so) and I can still remember most of the words except for just a few even after all this time (wow, 26 years). This and "Billy Boy" I don't think will ever be gone from my head.
I wish I could put other stuff into that spot in my brain — maybe I could find my damn cell phone then!!
>We used to sing this to our daughters every night as a lullaby. They could not go to sleep without hearing it. I had never heard it. my husband introduced it to me and our daughters and now it's one of our all-time favorites.
>Thanks for posting!!! I am ANOTHER person that has been singing this song since the 4th grade or so. I'm now 43, but every now and then, this song just starts rolling through my head. =) Be blessed!
>Love this song! I sang it in 6th grade in 1975-76 as well! I was just singing it to my 5 year old tonight! I wish I could find a recording of it or a video on youtube!
>Also, I was telling my daughter and my husband that I loved it so much because it was a John Denver kind of song, so funny womeone else posted that they thought JD wrote it!
>And we also sang:
"Orion is arising
You can see his stars ablazing
In the middle of a clear eyed coutry sky.
And it's never too surprising that his stars are still amazing."
I too learned this song on my elementary school. Probably fourth grade. It has stuck with me all of these years and I always sang it to my daughter as a lullabye when she was a baby. She is 22 now and we sing together!!! Hoping one day to sing to my grandchildren:). Awesome song
Gosh I have been hunting this song for so long. I was probably in the 6th grade or so when I learned this song in music just like the rest of you hippie’s kids! Except I’m a soul-man’s kid and this song was like a magic potion that everyone in my class loved and wanted to sing everytime we had music! Back when girl-scouts toasted their marshmallows on twigs and all of us born in 1960-something also loved ‘This Land is Your Land’ and John Denver and Michael Row the Boat… all that folk stuff. But Orion… smh… Orion still makes me sigh… 35 years later.
Wow! I thought I was alone…obviously I’m not the only one this song stuck with 30+ yrs later. It comes to me at very unexpected times… I was a “star-gazer” (still am) and this song struck a chord in my soul so many years ago. Sigh….
It’s a touching contrast between the innocent fascination with stargazing while sleeping (or not) outside in a bag as a kid, and the later disillusionment with a world growing older & colder. However though I always felt like I should be able to relate to this song … somehow it never worked for me. I feel haunted by it and distant from it at the same time.
For what it’s worth, if he saw Orion in the middle of the sky, wou,don’t get have to have been sleeping outside in a vague as a kid …in Wintertime? BRRRR!
Anyone know the chords to this song? I am trying to find them for my daughter.
Thanks!
You can still buy this book used
Thanks so much!
Through this blog, Mr. Zimmerman reached out to me,as well.
I am grateful for this passion for music , the environment and human connection.
Nancy
Yes I agree! I learned this in middle school and want my kids to learn it but I could never remember all the words!