Lyrics & Story Behind Song #18: “Mother Earth”
“Earth, wind, fire and water—I am your spirit daughter, Mother Earth. “
The song Mother Earth was written for a women’s retreat which culminated on Earth Day. Both Elizabeth Faison and I had been singing and writing songs for consciousness retreats for several years. This time we decided to collaborate. The first time we shared the song with a women’s group, we celebrated our connection to mother earth with poetry, music, nature mandalas, and the planting of flower seeds and an apple tree. As we stood, barefoot in the dirt, wearing flowered crowns and singing together, we became new age “spirit daughters”—or at least, sisters in spirit. It was a lovely ceremony and the song was magical.
About a year later, I used the song for a “4 elements” labyrinth walk. Again, the song reminded us of our connection to earth. It inspired appreciation for earth’s beauty, bounty, and the elements essential to life that we so often take for granted—earth, air, fire and water. Shortly after that experience, Elizabeth and I were looking for a song to take into the recording studio and Mother Earth came to mind.
During the 3 months Mother Earth was in studio production, we experienced a tornado and a hurricane at the retreat center in Waller. Houston flooded. Wildfires raged in California. One day we had to shorten production due to hail and wind battering the studio. Another week, the studio lost power completely. Needless to say, this song came to life with an energy and urgency we hadn’t expected! What began as a “sing-a-long” ballad morphed into a dynamic tribute to our planet, birthed against a backdrop of wind, rain and fire. I joked that the only experience we were missing was a volcano. (I’m counting on someone, someday, standing on the edge of a caldera, playing this song for a future earth day celebration!)
Why do we think of earth as our “mother”? Early Greeks gave the name “Gaia” (earth) to their mother goddess. Her spirit personified earth. She was caring and nurturing to people, animals and plants. All-productive and all-nourishing, she brought forth life.
Why do we celebrate Earth Day? In 1969 a peace activist at a UNESCO conference proposed that humans set aside a day to honor peace on Earth. From the first Earth Day event, held April 22, 1970, to today, the idea of building global support for celebrating peace on earth and protecting our environment has spread. In 2023, annual earth day celebrations included 1 billion people in more than 193 countries. For more information on earth day celebrations, check out: www.earthday.org
When Elizabeth and I were looking for cover art for our song release, I suggested a picture of earth, surrounded by the four elements. Elizabeth’s sister Julie created a perfect composite image that reminded us of an “eye”. How fitting. The Earth Day flag uses the “blue marble” photograph of earth, taken by the crew of the Apollo 17 mission on their way to the moon. A few hours after launch an astronaut happened to “look back” and see the earth floating “like a blue marble” in the vastness of space. That swirling image became a symbol of the environmental movement, showcasing how fragile our planet looks when seen from the “god’s eye” point of view.
"Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together … all things connect." —Chief Seattle
Lyrics: Mother Earth
Chorus 1: Earth, wind, fire and water, I am your spirit daughter.
Mother, mother, mother, mother earth…
Chorus 2: Earth, wind, fire and water, I am your spirit daughter.
Mother, mother, mother, mother earth… I honor you.
Verse 1: Thanks for beauty that you bring–forestland dressed in green,
Oceans full of life; starry skies at night; and a wonderland of creatures to be seen.
Chorus 3: Earth, wind, fire and water, I am your spirit daughter.
Mother, mother, mother, mother earth… I honor you.
Verse 2: Thank you for lessons learned, about life and so much more—
How to ebb and flow, as seasons come and go; and how to keep my balance and restore.
Chorus 4: Earth, wind, fire and water, I am your spirit daughter.
Mother, mother, mother, mother earth… I honor you.
BRIDGE: Born from galaxies of stars, that’s the truth of who you are.
I drink your essence in…standing on your skin. Light surrounds and fills me from within.
Fills me from within.
Verse 3: I know, mother earth, What your precious gifts are worth.
I trust life to be, beyond what I can see. Miracles grow from every seed.
Chorus 5: Earth, wind, fire and water, I am your spirit daughter.
Mother, mother, mother, mother earth… I honor you.
Verse 4: I see, mother earth, the blessed web of life you birth
By divine design, as you spin through time. I celebrate, celebrate you now.
Chorus 6: Earth, (earth) wind, (wind) fire and water, I (I) am your spirit daughter.
Mother, mother, mother, mother earth…
Chorus 7: Earth, (earth) wind, (wind) fire and water, I (I) am your spirit daughter.
Mother, mother, mother, mother earth… I honor you.
Chorus 8: Earth, (earth) wind, (wind) fire and water. I (I) am your spirit daughter.
Mother Earth…. I honor you. I honor you,
Mother, mother, mother, mother earth…
Mother Earth.
Chorus 9: Earth, (earth) wind, (wind) fire and water. I (I) am your spirit daughter.
Mother Earth…. I honor you. I honor you,
Mother, mother, mother, mother earth… I honor you.
Mother Earth.
Chorus 10: Earth, (earth) wind, (wind) fire and water, I (I) am your spirit daughter.
I honor you…. I honor you…. I honor you…. I honor you….
Mother, mother, mother, mother earth…
I honor you…. Mother Earth.
Chorus 11: Earth, (earth) wind, (wind) fire and water, I (I) am your spirit daughter.
I honor you…. I honor you…. I honor you…. I honor you….
Mother, mother, mother, mother earth… We honor you.
I honor you…. Mother Earth Mother Earth.
© 2022 – Ann S. Bugh & Elizabeth Faison