The Green Hills of Earth - The Songs

The Songs

Heinlein wrote several fragments of lyrics and six full stanzas for the song.

• — We rot in the molds of Venus, / We retch at her tainted breath. / Foul are her flooded jungles, / Crawling with unclean death. —
• — harsh bright soil of Luna —
• — Out ride the sons of Terra, / Far drives the thundering jet —
• — Saturn's rainbow rings —
• — the frozen night of Titan —
• We pray for one last landing/ On the globe that gave us birth/ Let us rest our eyes on the fleecy skies/ And the cool, green hills of Earth.

Moore and Kuttner also give fragments of lyrics in "Quest of the Starstone."

• - Across the seas of darkness / The good green Earth is bright – / Oh, Star that was my homeland / Shine down on me tonight.-
• - My heart turns home in longing/ Across the voids between, / To know beyond the spaceways/ The hills of Earth are green. –
• - - and count the losses worth / To see across the darkness/ The green hills of Earth...

The fragments have been filled out and additional stanzas added by the filk community. Some versions combine Heinlein's and Moore's lyrics. The song's meter allows it to be sung to a number of popular tunes including: "Amazing Grace"; "Greensleeves"; "The House of the Rising Sun"; "The Rising of the Moon / Wearing of the Green"; Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" (in his Ninth Symphony, fourth movement); "Oh My Darling, Clementine"; "Semper Paratus"; "The Marine Corps Hymn"; "The Yellow Rose of Texas"; "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing"; "Ghost Riders in the Sky"; "Acres of Clams", and the theme song from the TV show Gilligan's Island.

The story features several other partial songs and a number of titles attributed to Rhysling. These are:

• The Grand Canal (10 lines)
• Jet Song (14 lines, unclear if meant to be complete)
• The Skipper is a Father to His Crew (title only)
• Since the Pusher Met My Cousin (title only)
• That Red-Headed Venusburg Gal (title only)
• Keep Your Pants On, Skipper (title only)
• A Space Suit Built for Two (title only)
• Dark Star Passing (title only)
• Berenice's Hair (title only)
• Death Song of a Woods Colt (title only)

Several are described as sexually-explicit songs excluded from the official edition of Rhysling's works.

Four collections of Rhysling's works are mentioned. They are:

• Songs of the Spaceways (published the week he died)
• The Grand Canal, and other Poems
• High and Far
• UP SHIP!