Click to listen to episode (4:46)
Sections below are the following:
Transcript of Audio
Audio Notes and Acknowledgments
Sources
Related Water Radio Episodes
For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.)
Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 10-16-20.
TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO
From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of October 19, 2020.
MUSIC – ~ 11 sec – instrumental
This week, music by a Richmond, Va.-based band opens an episode on water expressions in language. Have a listen for about 50 more seconds.
MUSIC - ~49 sec
Lyrics:
“Effortless,
she showers down
Down from every single cloud
Like the rain, she likes to soak
When you don't have it, nothing grows
When the last word on love falls upon the ground
If the last ray of sun don't ever shine
Well, I can't say that I was ever ready
But I can sure say it was time
That
I let love rain down
Yeah, I let love rain down....”
You’ve been listening to part of “Love Rain Down,” by Carbon Leaf, from the 2013 album “Constellation Prize.” Since forming in the early 1990s at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Va., Carbon Leaf has produced 20 albums and done thousands of live shows with music that, according to the band’s Web site, “drifts in and out of Americana, bluegrass, rock, folk, Celtic, and pop traditions with ease, using an arsenal of instruments.” As in the selection you heard, the band has used water words and images in a number of its songs. That made a Carbon Leaf song just right to launch a cruise through some water-related expressions.
We start with some water-related proverbs, that is, common sayings or adages, from a list compiled by Utah State Extension.
When it rains it pours;
Still waters run deep;
Don’t change horses in mid-stream; and
With too many rowers, the ship will crash into the mountain.
Next, also from the Utah State list, here are a few water metaphors, that is, expressions where a word or phrase is used for another to suggest something similar or comparable.
When your ship comes in;
Tip of the iceberg;
Feeling swamped;
Get your feet wet; and
Something smells fishy.
Last, from students at Otley All Saints Primary School in England, here are several water similes, that is, expressions comparing things using the words “like” or “as.”
The river is like a
silver ribbon, laid across the land.
The rapids crash
from side to side like a lion trying to get out of its cage.
The rapids zoom like
footballers trying to score goals.
And
The waterfall is like a diver, reaching for the waters that
await it.
This is, of course, only a drop in the bucket of water-related expressions, because humans’ language creativity is a deep well that never runs dry.
Thanks to Carbon Leaf for permission to use this week’s music, and we close with about 20 more seconds of their “Love Rain Down.”
MUSIC - ~17 sec
Lyrics:
“That I let love rain
down.”
SHIP’S BELL
Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment. For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624. Thanks to Ben Cosgrove for his version of “Shenandoah” to open and close the show. In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.
AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
“Love Rain Down,” from the 2013 album “Constellation Prize,” is copyright by Carbon Leaf, used with permission. More information about Carbon Leaf is available online at https://www.carbonleaf.com/. Lyrics for Carbon Leaf’s songs are available online at https://www.azlyrics.com/c/carbonleaf.html.
Some other water-imagery/metaphor songs by Carbon Leaf are
the following:
“A Song for the Sea,” from the 2013 album “Ghost Dragon”
(this music was used in Virginia Water Radio Episode
538, 8-17-20, on Chesapeake Bay “smart” buoys);
“Drops of Rain,” from the 2010 album “Nothing Rhymes with
Woman, 2010”;
“Flood,” from the 1997 album “Shadows in the Banquet Hall”;
“Lake of Silver Bells,” from the 2010 album “Nothing Rhymes
with Woman”;
“Shellfish,” from the 1995 album “Meander”;
“The Sea,” from the 2004 album “Indian Summer.”
Click here if you’d like to hear the full version (2 min./22 sec.) of the “Shenandoah” arrangement/performance by Ben Cosgrove that opens and closes this episode. More information about Mr. Cosgrove is available online at http://www.bencosgrove.com.
SOURCES
Used for Audio
Carbon Leaf, “About,” online at https://www.carbonleaf.com/band-bio. This is the source of the quote used in this episode’s audio script.
Mike Holtzclaw, “Carbon Leaf still going strong after 26 years,” [Newport News] Daily Press, March 14, 2019, online at https://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-fea-carbon-leaf-0315-story.html.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “Metaphor,” online at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metaphor; “Proverb,” online at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/proverb; and “Simile,” online at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/simile.
Otley All Saints C of E Primary School blog, “River Metaphors and Similes,” online at https://otleyallsaints.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/river-metaphors-and-similes/, September 12, 2011. The school is in Otley, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom; online at https://otleyallsaints.schooljotter2.com/.
Utah State University Extension, “Water Sayings,” online at https://extension.usu.edu/waterquality/kidspage/watersayings.
For More Information about Water in Metaphors
Anna Ojalahti, “The physical and metaphorical power of water is a universal human concern,” October 5, 2017, University in Tampere, Finland, “Research and Study” blog.
RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES
All Water Radio episodes are listed by category at the Index link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html). See particularly the “Overall Importance of Water” subject category.
Following are links to some other water expressions and imagery in language.
Episode 142, 12-31-12 – John McCutcheon’s “Water from Another
Time.”
Episode 200, 2-10-14 – “River Runs
Dry” by Kat Mills.
Episode 296, 12-28-15 – Setting a
Course for 2016 with “On a Ship” by Kat Mills.
Episode 401, 1-1-18 – Diving
into 2018 with “Driving Rain” by Chamomile and Whiskey.
FOR VIRGINIA TEACHERS – RELATED STANDARDS OF LEARNING (SOLs) AND OTHER INFORMATION
Following are some Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) that may be supported by this episode’s audio/transcript, sources, or other information included in this post.
2013 Music SOLs
SOLs at various grade levels that call for “examining the relationship of music to the other fine arts and other fields of knowledge.”
2017 English SOLs
5.4, 6.5, 7.4, 8.4, 8.5, 9.3, 9.4, 10.3, 10.4, 11.4 – symbols, imagery,
figurative language, and other literary devices.
Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department of Education, online at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/.
Following are links to Water Radio episodes (various topics) designed especially for certain K-12 grade levels.
Episode
250, 1-26-15 – on boiling, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode
255, 3-2-15 – on density, for 5th and 6th grade.
Episode 282, 9-21-15 – on living
vs. non-living, for kindergarten.
Episode 309, 3-28-16 – on
temperature regulation in animals, for kindergarten through 12th
grade.
Episode
333, 9-12-16 – on dissolved gases,
especially dissolved oxygen in aquatic habitats, for 5th grade.
Episode 403, 1-15-18 – on freezing
and ice, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode
404, 1-22-18 – on ice on ponds and lakes, for 4th through 8th
grade.
Episode
406, 2-5-18 – on ice on rivers, for middle school.
Episode
407, 2-12-18 – on snow chemistry and physics, for high school.
Episode
483, 7-29-19 – on buoyancy and drag, for middle school and high school.
Episode
524, 5-11-20 – on sounds by water-related animals, for elementary school
through high school.
Episode
531, 6-29-20 – on various ways that animals get water, for 3rd
and 4th grade.
Episode
539, 8-24-20 – on basic numbers and facts about Virginia’s water resources,
for 4th and 6th grade.
