1. WAKULLA SPRINGS
(lyrics: Collin Johnson) 2:30
I wanna tell you about a place
Wakulla Springs!
We’ve got Suwannee Cooters sittin’ on logs
Alligators in the swamp
Anhingas spreading their wings
Listen to the moorhen and pied-billed grebe
CHORUS
Here in Wakulla Springs!
It’s so pretty, it’ll make you sing
Here in Wakulla Springs
Ridin’ down the river feels just like a dream
It’s the world’s biggest spring
120 ft deep it’s amazing
We’ve got manatees big and round
Look at that osprey flyin’ around!
CHORUS
Watch out for the Creature From The Black Lagoon!
Back in the jungle Tarzan wailing like a loon!
Step into the Lodge from 1937
You might feel like you walked into heaven!
CHORUS
2. ALLIGATOR DRAG
(lyrics: Collin Johnson, Phil Pouliot, Scott Roylance, Ethan Whaley) 3:02
I drag my belly across the vegetation
I’m looking for a little visitation
It’s been awhile since I ate
My little reptile brain starts to contemplate
CHORUS
So come on down to my alligator drag
If you feel like your day’s getting bad
Things will become clear after awhile
Just look at my toothy alligator smile
We’ve got fried swamp chicken and buzzard BBQ
Possum on the half shell and Cooter stew
Fresh spring water, crisp and cool
This river’s full of fish from many schools
CHORUS
If you come from a place that posts a different flag
You better know how to spot an alligator drag
Bennie Chapman was a brown pelican
He flew up river because he lost his friends
He landed on a path along Wakulla River
Ended up in the belly of an alligator
CHORUS
3. WE EAT THE DEAD THINGS
(lyrics: Kat Wilson, Collin Johnson, Maria Wilhelmy) 2:50
I’m a vulture, flying high in the sky
The wind carries, my kettle high
We glide in circles, scanning the ground
On the highways, is where it can be found
WE EAT THE DEAD THINGS
My face is red, my feathers are brown
We build our nests, on the ground
From Canada to Chile we ride
My wingspan is 6ft wide
I’m a turkey vulture
Vultures are nature’s cleanup crew
We do the things people wouldn’t do
WE EAT THE DEAD THINGS
I’m a black vulture, my wingtips are white
I bully my kin, I have keen eyesight
I hiss at the ladies, as I walk on by
I’ve got bad table manners, but I’m such a cool guy
I’m a vulture
Vultures are nature’s cleanup crew
We do the things people wouldn’t do
WE EAT THE DEAD THINGS
4. WITHOUT HANDS
(lyrics: Kat Wilson, Collin Johnson) 3:19
I spent the morning laying under a tree
Camouflaged beneath the leaves
I shake the rattles in my tail
For some squirrel the day will be hell
SNAKES
High in the branches, I slither around
Legs would only slow me down
In my coils I squeeze my prey
I’ll find a tasty frog today
SNAKES
The rats and mice are out of hand!
Snakes do all that they can
WITHOUT HANDS, WITHOUT HANDS
The sun is getting high in the sky
I need a nice warm place to lie
Because in the water I’ll find my meal
My strike is fast, you may not heal
SNAKES
Some lay eggs or give live birth
Live in the water, or on the dirt
From every corner, every color and size
For pest control is all that they strive
SNAKES
Lizards and frogs are out of hand
Snakes do all that they can
WITHOUT HANDS, WITHOUT HANDS
OR FEET, BECAUSE THEY’RE SNAKES!
5. MANATEES
(lyrics: Maria Wilhelmy, Collin Johnson, Kat Wilson) 2:37
From the Gulf of Mexico to Apalachicola
From the Port of St. Joe to Pensacola
They’re moving!
Some people call them sea cows
Some people call them mermaids
But I’m here to tell y’all that they’re
MANATEES!
They happen to be mammals just like you and me
But they live in the water, they live under the sea
Oh they’re swimming!
From the Suwannee River to Homosassa
From Lake Okeechobee, from Tampa and Miami
Oh they’re moving!
In the summer, they’re cruising the coast
But in the winter, they move in close
They’re aggregating!
They’re ten feet long, 1200 hundred pounds
Gray like an elephant they don’t make a sound
They’re MANATEES!
6. MASTODON
(lyrics: Collin Johnson) 3:12
MASTODON, was ten feet tall
MASTODON, weighed eleven tons
MASTODON, with a powerful jaw
Chewed on conifers twenty feet tall
CHORUS
MASTODON! It’s not a mammoth
MASTODON! They had a smaller head and legs
MASTODON! Chased by Indians
MASTODON! Sometimes right off a cliff
MASTODON, Mammut Americus
MASTODON, no longer among us
MASTODON, like an Asian elephant
Indians followed their scent
CHORUS
For thousands of years they roamed this continent
Grazing on trees, minding their business
But Indians overhunted them to extinction
CHORUS
7. A LITTLE QUIRKY
(lyrics: Collin Johnson) 4:00
I want to tell you about
What I’ve been doing throughout the day
I’ve been hanging out
Four feet up in a willow tree
I’ve been watching the fish
Like the mullet, the pickerel beneath me
I’m gonna dive
Swim with my special feathers and webbed feet
CHORUS
Anhinga! I’m an Anhinga!
I’m a snakebird, a devil bird, and some people call me a water turkey
Anhinga! I’m an Anhinga!
I’m a snakebird, a devil bird, and some people call me a little quirky
I’ve picked my branch
I’ve been fishing from here for quite some years
I’m gonna sink low
Way down deep in the H20
I’m gonna stab a mullet
With my spear like bill and throw it my gullet
CHORUS
In the spring, I put on my blueliner
I’ll attract a mate, so I can spread my genetic line
Because I love Wakulla River
So much I want to live here forever
CHORUS
8. FLOATING ON A BOAT DOWNSTREAM
(lyrics and additional vocals: Kat Wilson; Harmonica: Phil Pouliot) 3:21
Rolling down the river
Floating on a boat downstream
The sun is high in the sky
Can you hear the osprey scream
The grass is growing up tall
Listen to the bullfrog call
Alligators on the riverside
A turtle swims right on by
The birds are nesting in the trees
The flowers call the honeybees
Blue heron thinks he’s mighty fine
Strutting on the shoreline
Do you see that big ole bass
Sliding through the eel grass
As the otters in the river play
On this beautiful sunny day
Over there’s a manatee
Bobbing along easily
An anhinga sits to dry
Stretching out its wings wide
The cypress in the water grows
It grows a little taller
As we roll on down the river
Floating on a boat downstream
9. THE WATER CYCLE
(lyrics and vocals: Kat Wilson) 2:47
The water filters through the earth
Two hundred feet beneath the dirt
It gathers, building, pushing, flowing up and outward through the cracks
It builds the rivers, lakes and sea
It makes up plants and you and me
Rises high into the sky
It forms the clouds above our head
The clouds will clash
The rain will fall
Whatever’s on the earth
Water washes through it all, it all
From this cycle we can’t hide
This is what we take inside
If it’s on the ground it ends up in our pipes and our homes
The water in the sea is a part of you and me
What we need to survive, clean water’s how we thrive
It’s what we drink and what we eat
So we can move to the beat
In the plants and the trees that make air we can breathe
10. THE CHIMNEY SWIFT
(lyrics: Collin Johnson, Jeff Hugo) 4:15
I’ve been traveling so long now it’s time to rest
I’ve been searching for a place to bed down and nest
Where the cool water flows and the trees touch the sky
There’s a tall chimney, deep and dark where I can lie
This is home now, for a little while
The sun is sinking, the air is heavy
Hundreds dancing, the chimney beckons
And we dance again, we whirl again and then descend
This is home now, for a little while
The starlight shimmers and the night caresses
We’re feathered specters on a mission
And we dance again, we whirl again and then descend
11. CRY OF THE LIMPKIN
(lyrics: Collin Johnson, Limpkin call: Jackie Turner) 2:31
Mysterious waters, river of the crying bird
I hear you calling, we hear you from around the world
CHORUS
On Wakulla River
We don’t even know where your story begins
On Wakulla River
The cry of the limpkin sounds like a long-lost friend
Alligators sunning
Mullet fish jumping
Manatees coming up for air
Look at the red-eyed stare of the night heron
CHORUS
12. THE BALLAD OF AN ANCIENT TREE
(lyrics: Collin Johnson) 4:53
I am three thousand years old
I have seen things that would blow your mind
I have survived centuries of storms
But I know the violence of man is nigh
I have watched you from three hundred feet
Good and evil, I have seen your deeds
You’ll bring me down because you think you wear the crown in this world
But we’re all in this together floating down this river that churns
We’re on the precipice, we’re on the edge
Staring down into the abyss
It’s time to change, but we ain’t changing
This is serious but we keep playing
You’ll bring me down because you think you wear the crown in this world
But we’re all in this together floating down this river that churns
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All music written and arranged by Collin Johnson.
Collin Johnson(vocals, guitars, drums, bass, keyboard)
Album produced, mixed and mastered by Rick Ott in Sopchoppy, FL.
The support and enthusiasm of the Friends of Wakulla Springs was pivotal in the creation of this album. Proceeds from the sale and streaming of this album will support the Friends of Wakulla Springs State Park, a 501(c)3 organization. Your purchase will help support their mission and enhance the natural, historical, cultural and recreational resources of Wakulla Springs State Park for present and future generations.
