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Piping Plovers

from Pigeons and Purgatory by Thomas Clarke

/

about

This unusual satirical track was composed in late January 2014. The song is about piping plovers, cute and adorable shore birds that nest off the beaches of Rockaway, Queens. Thomas Clarke wrote the song after reading a “Wave of Long Island” article on how these cute endangered birds were causing multi-year delays in rebuilding the hurricane-destroyed Rockaway Boardwalk.

He used plover and seagull sounds with overlapping computerized vocals warped and re-dubbed to sound like a chorus of sinister plovers who use seagulls and the EPA to harass locals and who extort tribute money (and a Jacuzzi) from local pigeons.

lyrics

we fly across the waves without much ease
we look cute when we strut and when we feed
we look cute, but don't mess with us
we're the piping plovers

we migrate west, we like the upper crust
we trot across the beach so cute and so free
we look cute, but don't misjudge us
we milk "endangered" for all it's worth
we look cute, but don't mess with us
we'll get our gull goons after you
we look cute, but don't mess with us
we're the piping plovers

we left our nests on the ghetto beach
we claimed it was because of Sandy
we look cute, but don't misjudge us
Don't think you're getting your new boardwalk anytime soon
Not until you pay for our new beachfront property!
we look cute, but don't mess with us
we're the piping plovers

don't mess with us
we'll get our EPA lawyers after you
we're the piping plovers

think we should press FEMA for a new jacuzzi?
no, let the pigeons pay for it from their tributes

credits

from Pigeons and Purgatory, track released January 30, 2014
Composed and produced by Thomas Clarke in Rockaway Park, NY

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Thomas Clarke Colorado Springs, Colorado

Thomas Clarke was born in Abilene, TX, and raised in Colorado Springs. In the early 1990s, he first met producer Steve Peak (Speak Online), who introduced him to songwriting. He attended Brooklyn College in the late 1990s. He was one of the co-stars and contributed music to a 2014 art production about homelessness in Austin called “Am I Invisible”. ... more

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