We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
/

about

Like many other landslides around the world, the Oso landslide last March was caused by excessive logging over many decades, as well as a tragic lack of effective government oversight going way back. The result was at least 42 dead people and a completely devastated village.

lyrics

Before the pioneers came all the way out here
To set up camp to farm, to hunt and mine
By the riverbanks others joined their ranks
And worked the land and forests, rain or shine
That's how things once were there among the Douglas Fir
That blanketed the region, far and wide
It's the story of a mountainside

Soon the situation changed, lots of lumber mills in range
And logging was the way men made their way
Such demand for wood, soon barely a tree stood
When rain fell down from skies of grey
Turns out the trees they made the hill, loose mud just won't stay still
And pretty soon it all began to slide
It's the story of a mountainside

Fertile hilltops turned to stone but the secondgrowth had grown
Decades passed and corporations came
Some people tried to tell this would not end well
But when profit rules it's always the same
There's no valley that's too deep, there's no hill that is too steep
No regulator's pockets can't be plied
It's the story of a mountainside

Once the hill was cut and flayed there were still profits to be made
By selling land to folks to live out in the country
With the river still so pretty and there just north of the city
Go raise your kids in rural harmony
It was the last place they would go, the last home they'd ever know
When the hill collapsed and half the village died
It's the story of a mountainside

credits

from All the News That's Fit to Sing, released July 1, 2014

license

tags

about

David Rovics image

David Rovics Portland, Oregon

Singer/songwriter, writer, podcaster (on Spotify, Substack & Patreon), anarchist, dad, lover of life.

shows

contact / help

Contact David Rovics

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

David Rovics recommends:

If you like David Rovics, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Beans joins the show to discuss his album release, "ZWAARD".

listen now