Rounds – Bret Hesla

Jaw Breaking Potholes

Jaw-breaking pot-holes!
You’re on the rapid road to dentures,
If you don’t pay attention,
When driving in the springtime.
‘Cause the puddles may be harboring:

[or biking in the springtime]

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2023 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Thanks to Rebekah Fergus for great singing, as usual!

Wet Heavy Snow

Wet heavy snow.
It breaks your back
‘Cause it won’t fall off the shovel
When it’s thrown. I hate that!

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 1991 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

It’s a fun little four-part round. I wrote it right after the big Halloween snowstorm in 1991, Minneapolis, MN. The melody covers a great big range, meaning that it’s easiest to sing with a big group, where some folks can shovel out those low notes, and others can sweep off the high notes.

Humid alternative: By the way, if you’re from a non-snow climate, maybe you can make up your own text. How about starting, “Wet heavy air….”? Let me know what you come up with, I’ll add it to the webpage!

When It Snows (round)

When It Snows
(a 2-part round)

1. 2.
When it snows
Though you’re froze
To your toes in
Minnesota
Strike a pose
One that shows
You have chosen to be frozen!

Words by Bret Hesla. Tune: unknown.
© 2015 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

This is a very cool 2-part round, with only one beat separating the two parts. Anna and Marie, my niece and niece-in-law, brought the tune to the lake this summer. It was so fun to sing it on la-la, it seemed like a good thing to add some words. So … here’s a little cold northern pride to celebrate the outdoors. Now can someone add in a frosty, “Strike a Pose” slide show of ski/snowboard/skate/slide/football-in-the-snow?

My Dame Had a Lame Tame Crane

Two traditional rounds:

My Dame Had a Lame Tame Crane

Why Shouldn’t My Goose?

One Bottle of Pop

One Bottle of Pop
Traditional round
New verse and arrangement Bret Hesla © 1991

One bottle of pop, two bottle of pop, three bottle of pop, four bottle of pop
Five bottle of pop, six bottle of pop, seven bottle of pop, STOP!

Don’t put your trash in my backyard, my backyard, my backyard.
Don’t put your trash in my backyard, my backyard’s full…HEY!

Everyone recycling, -cycling, -cycling.
Everyone recycling. Once ain’t enough….NO!

Make New Friends

Make New Friends
Round: Words and music: Traditional,
Adapted and arranged: Larry Dittberner © 1992

Make new friends but keep the old.
Those are silver, these are gold.
New made friendships like new wine
Age will mellow and refine.

Friendships that have stood the test
Time and change are surely best.
Brow may wrinkle, hair turn gray
Friendship never knows decay.

For ‘mid old friends, tried and true,
Once more we our youth renew.
But old friends alas may die.
New friends must their place supply.

Cherish friendship in your breast.
New is good but old is best.

From the recording, Big Fat Tape of Songs for Kids.

Yea O God

3-part round

Yea, O God, you are our mother.
You are our mother and father.

We are the clay. We are the clay.
We are the clay. You are the potter.

We are all the work of your hands.
The work of your hands, the work of your hands.

Juntos creamos espiritu

Juntos creamos espiritu

1. Juntos creamos espiritu.
Juntos creamos espiritu.
Bailando, llorando,
Bailando, llorando.
Duradero, duradero, duradero.

2. We’re building spirit together.
We’re building spirit together.
With dancing and crying.
With dancing and crying.
Never turning,
Never turning,
Never turning back.

3. We bind our hearts to each other
And weave our spirits together.
With threads of joy and sorrow,
We spin hope for tomorrow.
Never turning,
Never turning,
Never turning back.

Words: Al Hage, Jorge Flores, Bret Hesla & Bill Dexheimer-Pharris, Music by Bret Hesla.
© 1995 Bret Hesla. Admin GIA Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please. Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Jorge Flores and Al Hage met at the St. Paul Cathedral in 1989, during a hunger strike protesting the US support of the repressive government in El Salvador. Although they came from completely different backgrounds — a Third World campesino living under brutal dictatorship and a first world activist in a culture of greed, militarism and abundance — they quickly discovered that they shared a very similar understanding of the power of people working together to counter oppression, create change and build a better world. At one point, Al (a strike supporter) asked Jorge (a striker), “In Spanish, how do you say ‘We’re building the spirit together’?” They painted Jorge’s answer on a banner to lift over the strikers. Al called me that night to see if a song might emerge as well.

May we all keep working with each other as we make it through, and make it better.

Download Tag: Rounds

Jaw Breaking Potholes

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2023 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Wet Heavy Snow

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 1991 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

When It Snows (round)

Words by Bret Hesla. Tune: unknown.
© 2015 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

My Dame Had a Lame Tame Crane

One Bottle of Pop

Make New Friends

Yea O God

Juntos creamos espiritu

Words: Al Hage, Jorge Flores, Bret Hesla & Bill Dexheimer-Pharris, Music by Bret Hesla.
© 1995 Bret Hesla. Admin GIA Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please. Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

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Download Tag: Rounds

Words and music by Bret Hesla.© 2023 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.© 1991 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words by Bret Hesla. Tune: unknown.© 2015 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words: Al Hage, Jorge Flores, Bret Hesla & Bill Dexheimer-Pharris, Music by Bret Hesla.© 1995 Bret Hesla. Admin GIA Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please. Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2023 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 1991 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words by Bret Hesla. Tune: unknown.
© 2015 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words: Al Hage, Jorge Flores, Bret Hesla & Bill Dexheimer-Pharris, Music by Bret Hesla.
© 1995 Bret Hesla. Admin GIA Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please. Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.