CAST:
SINGER: Eric D. Snider
GUITAR/BACK-UP VOCALS: Mike Massé
BASS/BACK-UP VOCALS: Lincoln Hoppe
DRUMS: Randy Tayler
When I wake up, well you know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be out on the prairie on the ground.
When I'm looking for my wife and for my kids, I'll find them in the covered wagon safe and sound.
While we're walking, well you know I'm gonna pull, I'm gonna pull that stinkin' handcart all the way.
When we get there, the first thing I'm gonna do, I'm gonna go out and invent the Chevrolet.
But I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more
Just to be the pioneer who reached Salt Lake on July twenty-four.
When we make it to the river, well you know, we're gonna hope the ice is thick enough to cross.
We get filthy, we get dirty while we're out here on the plains, no time to wash or brush or floss.
When it's night-time (when it's night-time) I get scared and I get frightened, 'cause the plains are full of death and treachery.
It's not glam'rous, it's not cool, it's not romantic -- no, it's not the way it seems in "Legacy."
But I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more
Just to be the pioneer who reached Salt Lake on July twenty-four.
Pioneer! Children! Sang as! They walked!
And walked and walked and walked and walked and walked!
Pioneer! Children! Sang as! They walked!
And walked and walked and walked and walked and walked!
Brother Brigham, he is strong and he is brave, he is our leader, and I'm glad that that's the case.
I look forward to the day he finally says, "Wake up the kids, put on your shoes, this is the place."
We're excited (we're excited) for the day that we arrive, when will we get there? I'm not sure, I just don't know.
And I'm glad (I am glad) that we're gonna settle Utah, 'cause I sure don't wanna live in Idaho.
No, I won't be growin' spuds... in Idaho.
And I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more
Just to be the pioneer who reached Salt Lake on July twenty-four.
Pioneer! Children! Sang as! They walked!
And walked and walked and walked and walked and walked!
Pioneer! Children! Sang as! They walked!
And walked and walked and walked and walked and walked!
Pioneer! Children! Sang as! They walked!
And walked and walked and walked and walked and walked!
Pioneer! Children! Sang as! They walked!
And walked and walked and walked and walked and walked!
And I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more
Just to be the pioneer who reached Salt Lake on July twenty-fou-our-our.
Copyright © Eric D. Snider.
This work may not be transmitted via the Internet, nor reproduced in any other way, without written consent from Eric D. Snider.
Comments & Reaction:
This was the only full-fledged, full-band, rock and roll song I ever wrote for the Garrens, and it was so much fun to jump around and be a rock star. It was also a perfect parody -- I'm just glad I was the one lucky enough to think of it. The song it's a parody of met all the requirements for the quintessential Garrens parody: upbeat and fun (gets the audience's energy going), and extremely well-known and popular. Furthermore, the timing was perfect because 1997 was the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Mormon pioneers arriving in Salt Lake City. Add to that the reference to a Primary song everyone remembers ("Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked..."), and you've got a great song. Again, someone else would have thought of it eventually; I'm just glad it was me.
The song was met with immediate success, and we did it several more times before the July 24 celebration (we actually did it on July 25 as well). It showed up again in a Garrens all-music show several months later (sung by Dallen Gettling; I had left the cast by then), and then again in the Garrens 5th Anniversary Show in January 1998, which I performed in.
For the CD and all subsequent performances, I finally got the bright idea to change "wife" to "wives" in the second line. Much funnier that way.