Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW

EBENEZER’S MAKE OVER A Feature-length Musical Video by Peter Alsop Suitable for: Gender & Women’s Studies • Social Work • Psychology • Counseling • Literature • Human Services • Ethics • Theatre • Political Science My audiences told me, “This will help save the world!” They said, “You have to get this video to as many people as possible!” “Okay,” I said, “Here we go!” In 2003 there were bunches of...

It’s St. Patrick’s day again! How wonderful that stories we learn growing up can change and inform us as we grow older. The Irish myth about St. Patrick, ‘ridding Ireland of all the snakes’ is a wonderful place to start this discussion. We humans have taken over most of the world by eliminating any other creatures who threaten us or our expansion. It’s ‘fear’ that drives us to completely wipe out...

This true story was made into a song by an old friend, The Reverend Fred Small . He’s a wonderful singer-songwriter, performer; an activist and pastor dedicated to healing the earth, seeking justice, and tending our wounded spirits. His song’s about a therapist named Dan Murrow, who was fired for hugging his patients. He was convinced that hugging between consenting adults was therapeutically help...

I BELIEVE YOU When you tell me you are scared A-F#m I will listen ‘cause I care F#m-A I remember bein’ scared too Bm-F#m So when you tell me, I believe you E-A When you’re angry or you’re sad Even if you’re feeling bad I remember feelin’ bad too So when you tell me, I believe you Maybe I can help you with an idea D-C#m Maybe I know something that’ll make things clear Bm-A Maybe I won’t know what t...

LIFELINE You carried me, home in your arms G-C-D,G-C-D You loved me so much, and you kept me from harm You washed me and fed me, the years how they flew And now you need my help, and I’ll care for you! There’s a lifeline that ties me to you, Am-C-G Life rolls like a wheel through whatever we do Through all of the hard times and anger we feel G-D9-C-G The love that we have, well it helps us to heal...

While we think we’re just watching, we’re also being shaped by the stories and images we see. We watch how others live their lives and we see the values they hold. Our brains notice everything, even if we’re not paying much attention, and we compare what we do, with what ‘they’ do. Here’s a live concert video from 1990 when Pete Seeger invited me to join him on stage at the Theatricum Botanicum in...

It’s the end of October again, and I’ve noticed scatterings of children test-driving their Halloween costumes in the super-market aisles, making sure they work! Hidden inside their new identity, they are no longer just a ‘child-in-a-supermarket’! They’ve been transformed by their costume and they want to be sure that they’re all set for the big night. It’s delicious fun to become someone or someth...

I wrote “Gotta Lotta Livin’ To Do” in the midst of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980’s, which was spreading like wildfire through the Gay community. My daughters Megan and Willow joined me when I went to perform at a California Men’s Gathering back then, ... and the men kept coming up to ‘thank me’ for coming to sing and bringing my daughters along. There was so much fear back then about contracting...

THE LETTER TO MR. BROWN Dear Mr. Brown, from the kids in Room Two G-C-G We’re writing you a letter, like you taught us to do C-G-C-D We all got together at lunch this noon G-Em-C And we decided we’d better do something soon. G-C-D9-G ‘Cause lately you’ve been diff’rent, and we don’t know why G-A-Am-G Did we do something wrong? Am7-G We’re sorry and we’ll try C-D9 To act a little better, if we’ve b...

As a psychologist and songwriter, I’ve made my living lecturing, consulting, writing songs and doing concerts for kids, parents and human service professionals. I’ve presented at conferences and concerts all over the world for more than 50 years. I wrote ‘Baby Needs A Parent’ in 1980, when most single parent families were headed by Moms. These days there are more Dads heading single-parent familie...

Have you ever laughed, cried or sung-along with one of my songs? If so, I’m guessing you’ll like this full length feature video of my new play-concert “Ebenezer’s Make Over”! It’s about a modern-day Ebenezer Scrooge who is visited by three spirits in the night. They shake him awake with passionate and humorous songs written by Holly Near, Geof Morgan, Charlie Murphy, myself and other cultural work...

Here’s an anthem I wrote from one of the Twelve-Step sayings. We sang this on the main stage with the audience at the 1986 Philadelphia Folk Festival, along with my friends Kim and Reggie Harris. Join us! WHEN ONE IS TOO MANY One drink, one smoke, one snort of coke A-D A sugar slip, hey, a mainline trip A-E-E7 Are you sick and tired of feeling sick and tired? A-D My friend, I know you know what’s...

WHEN JESUS WAS A KID It’s Christmas time again D And the mall is really weird. Everyone gets stressed out Christmas shopping every year. D-A7 I have to stop and wonder, Looking at my Christmas list When Jesus was a kid, Would He be doing this? A7-D I know He was a baby, But did He ever cry? Did Jesus wet His diapers, Or were they always dry? Did He use a bottle Before He used a cup? Did Jesus thro...

When my buddy Utah Phillips recorded my song, ‘It’s Only A Wee-Wee, So What’s The Big Deal?’, he introduced it by saying, “Now here’s my idea of a kids’ song folks! Full bore, overhead cam, spoke wire-wheels, no holds barred damn kids’ song! None of that ‘knicky-knacky-nu’ stuff we were stuck with when we were kids. When’s the last time you actually said ‘wee-wee’ in public? ‘It’s only a wee-wee,...

    Today's 'Song To Chew' is YECCH! from my “Wha'D'Ya Wanna Do?" album.  I play this song at almost every family concert because almost veryone loves screaming "Yecch!" at the top of their lungs!  It's a 'scream-along' so you can join in with us!  It's full of make-believe and playfulness, and it's an example of how story and oral tradition grab our attention and engage us. There is an air of dan...

    Today's 'Song To Chew' is LET'S FACE IT! from my “In The Hospital" album.  It addresses facial disfigurement, and all the unsettling emotions that we go through when we feel that we're different than others around us.  It's difficult emotionally, whether we're an adult or a child, to figure out how we're going to behave when others stare at us and feel uncomfortable. We have to cope with our o...

    Today's 'Song To Chew' is INSPECTION.  I wrote it with Penny Pefley, one of the pediatric nurses who helped us make our “In The Hospital"album.  My buddy Bill Harley and I 'rap' this one.  Our personal privacy is challenged regularly in a hospital by doctors, nurses and assistants who want to make sure we're okay.  They even wake us up at night to make sure we're sleeping soundly!  Today's kid...

    Today's 'Song To Chew' is JUICE, from my “Stayin Over" album.  It's an uncomplicated song, about the complicated concepts of 'love' and 'energy'.  When we feel we’re not loved, we feel empty, and we search for any kind of 'juice' to fill us up, like booze, sex, drugs, money, food or approval from others.  But when we’re actually filled up with 'love', we don't have to go on that search.  We ca...

    Today we'll 'Chew' on the title song from my STAYIN' OVER album.  Do you remember the first night you went to 'stay over' at a friend's house?  Maybe it was a camping trip with other families.  These adventures are loaded with memories and lessons we learned from our social interactions with others.  It's a big step in independence for most kids.  When we do it, we face separation from our own...

    Today's 'Song To Chew' is WIGGLE.  It's a song about freedom!  We all “wiggle” when someone won’t let us do what we want to do.  'Being alive!" means that in one form or another, we just need to "wiggle"!  Some of us wiggle emotionally because we don't want to be 'pinned down'.  Some wiggle physically because we'll jump out of our skin if we can't get down and run around and chase the kitty ca...

Today's 'Song To Chew' is THE PRIZE from my “Did You Walk?" album.  It's song lyrics without any music, so actually, it's a poem.  We're constantly being taught that it's important to 'come in first', to 'win the game', to 'win the race!'  Some of us do it to get approval from others.  Some think we have to do it so we can become financially independent and better able to care for ourselves and ou...

    Today's 'Song To Chew', SANDWICHES, was written by Bob King.  One of the subjects that kids love to sing about is food!!  We'll 'chew on' ideas about kids and food and the interconnectedness of all the human things we do in our lives.  There's 'enjoyment' and 'sharing'.  There's 'mooching', which is trying to get something that someone else has, but not wanting to 'share' what we have.  'Mooch...

    Today's 'Song To Chew' is NEEDLE-EE NOODLE-EE.  I wrote it with Penny Pefley, one of the two pediatric nurses who initiated our "In The Hospital" album!  "Pokes" or "shots" are probably the number one fear children have about being in the hospital. Few children escape this experience, whether as an injection, an IV start, or a blood test.  It may be impossible for a child to understand why the...

    Our Song To Chew today is MY DAD'S A JUNGLE GYM from my “Uh-Oh!" album.  I used to carry my daughters around on my shoulders, or under my arms when they were little.  Sometimes they'd get tired on a walk, and I'd carry them on my back.  Eventually they'd wiggle free, hop down and run around again.  Dads are generally less 'risk-adverse' than Moms, which means that we let our kids take more ris...

   Today's 'Song To Chew' is MY BODY RUNS, from my “Did You Walk?" album.  I wrote this song at the request of two women who were marketing their Digi-Walker Pedometer, a small device for one's belt or pocket that counts the steps we take to be sure we get enough exercise every day.  Kids have lots of questions about their own bodies and how they seem to work sort of automatically.  "My body runs,...