Jacob's Ladder Productions
  • Home
  • Makaton
    • What is Makaton?
    • Makaton Courses
  • Hummingbirds Music
    • Music & Drama Education Expo
    • Creature Cantata 3
    • Creature Cantata 2 >
      • Animal Videos with songs
    • Folk Music Adventure
    • Olympic Torch Relay
    • Trailblazers Cantata
    • Planet Blue >
      • Lyric Booklet, Lead Sheets & Lesson Resources
      • 1. Planet Blue
      • 2. Tread Lightly
      • 3. Da Da Darwin
      • 4. I cannot change the world
      • 5. Thief of time
      • 6. You and me
      • 7. Water into wine
      • 8. Bug Sushi
      • 9. Palomita
      • 10. Back on track
    • Creature Cantata >
      • Creature Cantata Resources >
        • Song Lyrics
        • Instrumental Parts
        • A-Z Collective Nouns
        • Creature Poems
        • Creature Caricatures
        • Glossary
        • Makaton Signing
        • Artwork
      • Butterflies and ladybirds
      • Gorillas and monkeys
      • Rattlesnake rumba!
      • Crocs basking
      • Flambo of flamingos
      • Giraffes and lions
      • Iguanas in a mess
      • Hummingbirds and parrots
      • Spiders!
      • Shiver of Sharks!
    • Coventry Cultural Cantata >
      • Cuca Resources
    • Accidental Scientific Breakthrough
  • Kevin Stannard Music
    • Berkswell Music Festival
    • Live Music - Film
    • TGBXS
    • Blue Coat School Choir Spring 2024 >
      • Blossomise 2024
    • Blue Coat School Choir Autumn 2023
    • Come and sing Vivaldi
    • Lady Godiva Musical
    • FLW
    • Piano Tuition >
      • Piano Tuition Pieces
      • Vocal Tuition Pieces
      • Piano music composers A-Z
      • Music Theory >
        • Theory Grade 1
        • Theory Grade 2
        • Theory Grade 3
        • Theory Grade 4
        • Theory Grade 5
        • Theory composers A-Z
  • Resources
    • Nativity Musicals with Makaton Signing
    • Junior Voiceworks Songbooks
    • Songs
    • Hymns & Prayers
    • World Down Syndrome Day
    • Coming soon....
  • Online Shop
Welcome to Creature Cantata 2

A second collection of original songs, featuring all sorts of creatures great and small, written by Kevin and Rebecca designed to inspire and ​delight children and young people.             

Song list

​1. World of Wonder 
2. 
The Turf-eating Toothless Tortoise
3. Murder of Crows   

4. Megaphone Magpie 
​5. 
Showstoppers
6. Golden Eagle  
7. 
Tritsch Tratsch Polka ​
8. Toucan Tango
9. Rita the Cheetah 
​10. Ba-ba Baboon
Picture

1. World of Wonder

Lead sheet
Vocal track - World of Wonder
Vocal Track - Amazing Place
Lyrics & Backing Track
World of Wonder with Makaton
Amazing Place with Makaton
Voice 1:
​A world of wonder
A world we share                              

All creatures great and small
​Need a world that cares

[Repeat]


​
All:​​
Sing cantata [x6]
Sing cantata NOW!


Voice 1:
​Sing cantata                                        Sing cantata
                
Sing cantata
Sing cantata                                       

Sing cantata
Sing cantata                                        S
ing cantata 
NOW!    
                                                                                                    
Voice 2:
​Amazing place that we call home
Its beauty knows no bounds
Creation sings and nature smiles
​Sweet songs of joy resound



​
All:
​Sing cantata [x6]

Sing cantata NOW!


​Voice 2:
Kookaburra
Caterpillar 

​
Anaconda
Salamander 

Alligator
Capybara 

​Armadillo, penguin
Goose!​













​
​Voice 3:  
(Sing as an echo to voice 2)
Kookaburra
Caterpillar 

​Anaconda
Salamander 

Alligator
Capybara 

​Armadillo, penguin
Goose!
Picture

2. The Turf-eating Toothless Tortoise

Lead sheet
Lyrics & Vocal Track
​
Lyrics & Backing Track
All:
​Eggs snap, crackle, pop 

Tortoise crawling to the top
Dig, climb, burrow, bore
Tortoise ready to explore!


Voice 1:
Hatchlings, creeping from their nest (nest)
Have to pass the test (test)
Go and find a patch of scratchy cactus (cactus)
Hatchlings, creeping from their nest (nest)
Have to pass the test (test)
Find a patch of scratchy cactus. (Ouch!)

Voice 2:
Old bones sometimes need a rest
(rest)
Laziness is best (best)
Tortoises can live a hundred years or longer
Old bones sometimes need a rest (rest)
Laziness is best (best)
Tortoises can live a century

All:
Huge shell carried on their back
(back)
Really need a jetpack!
Tortoises move very, very, very slowly
Huge shell carried on their back (back)
Really need a jetpack!
Tortoises are very, very, slow


Voice 1:
Scaly legs and scrawny neck
(neck) [stick your neck out]
Face that looks Jurassic
Stretching out his neck to reach the higher branches
Scaly legs and scrawny neck (neck) [stick your neck out]
Face that looks Jurassic
Stretching out his tongue to reach the food

Voice 2:
Toothless but he likes to munch
(munch)
Tortoise turf for lunch (lunch)
Grazing on a mix of tasty herbs and grasses
Toothless but he likes to munch (munch)
Tortoise turf for lunch (lunch)
Grazing on a mix of herbs and grass

All:
Huge shell carried on their back 
(back)
Really need a jetpack!
Tortoises move very, very, very slowly
Huge shell carried on their back (back)
Really need a jetpack!

Tortoises are very, very, slow
[Giant sigh]
Picture
Picture
Picture

3. Murder of Crows

Lead Sheet
Lyrics & Vocal Track
Lyrics & Backing Track
Voice 1:
There once was a murder of crows [clap clap]
 Went out in the snow

 All:
​
Got stuck ‘cos their feathers all… froze!
Picture
Voice 2:
Jet black from their beaks to their toes [clap clap]

 And wouldn’t you know?
​



Voice 1:        
There once was a budgerigar [clap clap]
One day he broke free

All:
​
To puff on his owner’s ci-... gar!
Voice 2:       
Who lived all his life in a jar [clap clap]

And sat in a tree 
​

 
Picture
Voice 1:        
There once was a gaggle of geese [clap clap]
Their noise was so loud

All:
​
And somebody yelled ‘Call the… police!’
Voice 2:       
Whose honking would shatter the peace [clap clap]

It gathered a crowd
 
​
Picture
Voice 1:         
There once was a whisper of bats [clap clap]
Do tricks in the sky

 All:
​
And now they’re all trained acro-… bats!
Picture
Voice 2:        
Who liked to dress up in top hats [clap clap]

And dart as they fly

​

Voice 1:         
In the deepest and dankest of bogs [clap clap]
The bats couldn't hack it

All:
And so did an army of ... frogs!
Picture
Voice 2:        
It constantly rained cats and dogs [clap clap]

The geese made a racket

​

Voice 1:         
So now it is over to you [clap clap]
It must be in time

 All:           
A limerick's what you must ...do!
Voice 2:        
To fashion a lyric or two [clap clap]

With rhythm and rhyme

​
Picture

4. Megaphone Magpie

Lead Sheet
Lyrics & Vocal Track
Lyrics & Backing track
All:
One for sorrow, two for joy
Three for a girl and four for a boy 
Five for silver, six for gold 
Seven for a secret never to be told
Eight for a wish, nine for a kiss
Ten for a bird you must not miss
Eleven for health, twelve for wealth 
Thirteen beware it's the Devil himself
Picture
Voice 1:
​There's a magpie in my garden 
She flaps about the tree tops
And every morning lately
She sits outside my window

There's a magpie in my garden 
As others flock to join her 
Their tidings tell of riches
Their song belies the mischief 

There's a magpie in my garden 
While most birds sing so sweetly
I'd rather sit and listen
Than start the day in silence
​Voice 2:
with a built-in megaphone   
and calls this place her home
as the day begins to dawn
and blasts out like a horn [beep beep]

who is learning how to yell
the sound begins to swell
talk of silver and of gold
of secrets never told

who is learning how to shriek
her sound is quite unique
to her loud and raucous call

with no bird song at all [GP]

5. Showstoppers

Lead sheet
Lyrics & Vocal Track
Lyrics & Backing track
Group 1:
​These beautiful bugs 
In summer they swarm

These powerful bugs
They shoot through the air

Grasshoppers
Grasshoppers


These ravenous bugs
They nibble and munch

These musical bugs
But call to their friends

​Grasshoppers
Grasshoppers
All:
Oh yeah!

Group 2:
​have lived on this earth 
round gardens and farms
with catapult legs
leave danger behind

Showstoppers
Showstoppers


do nothing but eat
whatever they find
with ears on their tum
with noises they make


Showstoppers
Showstoppers
​
All:
​for millions and millions of years
in winter they all disappear
can fire themselves into the sky [boom boom]
​and fly like a cloud way up high

jumpers of highest acclaim
hoppers by nature and name...na na na name


and don't really know when to stop!
destroying the farmer's whole crop
they don't really know how to sing
by rubbing their legs on their wings


jumpers of highest acclaim
hoppers by nature and name...na na na name
Picture

6. Golden Eagle

Lead Sheet
​
Lyrics & Vocal Track
Lyrics and Backing track
Voice 1:
​Majestically poised on a mountainous ledge
He’s watching and waiting as still as a stone

This vantage point offers a view of his kingdom.
To know where to hunt and be ready for flight;

All:
A truly formidable sight


Voice 1:
​His beady brown eyes scan the ground from on high

One beat of his wings he tears through the sky
He strikes without warning he snatches his prey
All:
Then carries his quarry away


Voice 1:
Returns to his ancestral eyrie to feast
Tomorrow he’ll rise, on the currents he’ll soar

All:
​
Formidable hunter once more

Golden eagle...
​[Repeat and fade]
Voice 2:
His terrible talons grip hard to the edge
He sits like a king on his throne

Instinct and practice have given him wisdom
A truly formidable sight
​All:
A truly formidable sight


Voice 2: (sing as an echo)
His beady brown eyes scan the ground from on high
One beat of his wings he tears through the sky
He strikes without warning he snatches his prey

All:
Then carries his quarry away


Voice 2:
Then settles to rest, this magnificent beast

Formidable hunter once more
All:
​
Formidable hunter once more

Golden eagle... 
[Repeat and fade]
Picture

7. Tritsch Tratsch Polka

Lead sheet
Lyrics & Vocal Track
Lyrics & Backing Track
Voice 1:
​An itch

A scratch
A flea
A fly
So jump up high 
Up and down
​
It's sink or swim 
Inside out
A bug
A
 bug  
A
 bug that likes to bite 
A bite
A
 bite 
A
 bite that likes to bug  ​
A tritsch
A tratsch
You can’t say yes 
Push and pull
We chit and chat 
Upside down
Seek him here
​In your hair
​

Heads
Knees
Eyes
Mouth 
​
Voice 1:
​An itch

A scratch
A flea
A fly
So jump up high 
Up and down
​
It's sink or swim 
Inside out
All:
​Like a little Spanish flea. Hey!
Voice 2:
​An itch

A scratch
A flea
A fly

​and then crouch down low
fast and slow
and it's lose or win
outside in
Ugh!
Ugh!
O
uch!
Ouch!
Ouch!
Ugh!
A tritsch
A tratsch
but you can’t say no
to and fro
about this and that
downside up
seek him there
​everywhere 
​

shoulders
toes
ears
​nose 
​
Voice 2:
​An itch

A scratch
A flea
A fly

​and then crouch down low
fast and slow
and its lose or win
outside in
Picture
All:
​An itch you cannot scratch

A scratch you cannot itch
A flea that cannot fly
A fly that cannot flee

​
​








​

Picture
All:
​
A tritsch you cannot tratsch

A tratsch you cannot tritsch












​

All:
​An itch you cannot scratch

A scratch you cannot itch
A flea that cannot fly
A fly that cannot flee
​

8. Toucan Tango

Lead Sheet
Lyrics & Vocal Track
​
Lyrics & Backing track
Voice 1:
​Blessed with a beak of beauty no-birdy can compare
Nesting in hollow tree trunks amongst the leafy canopy


All:
Our bills are most distinctive
And so we like to show
Although our flight is shaky, shaky
We are masters of the Toucan Tango! [clap clap]


Voice 1:
Silence is not our forte! Clattering beaks resound
We skip the light fandango when we are gathered with our friends
Voice 2:
​We’re quite extr’ordinary o
ther creatures stop and stare

Gives us a height advantage, a rainy forest balcony

All:
Our bills are most distinctive
And so we like to show
Although our flight is shaky, shaky
We are masters of the Toucan Tango! [clap clap]

​
​Voice 2:
A blend of croaks and grunting, our loud chatter is renowned
Hopping along together, the fun here simply never ends!
All:
Our bills are most distinctive
And so we like to show
Although our flight is shaky, shaky
We are masters of the Toucan Tango! [clap clap]
​

Toucan tango, Toco toucan tango
​[repeat]
Picture

9. Rita the Cheetah

Lead sheet
​
Lyrics & Vocal Track
Lyrics & Backing Track
All:
Racer, chaser, stalker, mother hunter

Tracker, prowler, loner, killer sprinter


Voice 1:
​Rita the cheetah y
ou’ll never beat her
Zero to 60 in three seconds flat!
Rita the cheetah you’ll never beat her
Nothing runs faster;
​The turbo-charged cat!




​Voice 2:
Racer, chaser, stalker, mother hunter
Tracker, prowler, loner, killer sprinter
Picture
Voice 1:
African queen

Lying in wait
Eyes on the prize 
Patiently waits 
Voice 2:
surveys the savannah 
she spies on her victim
she creeps ever closer
a hungry lone ranger
All:
Spotting her prey by day
Seeking her prey by day
Tracking her prey by day
Stalking her prey by day 
​
Voice 1:
Rita the cheetah you’ll never beat her
Zero to 60 in three seconds flat!
Rita the cheetah you’ll never beat her
Nothing runs faster;
The turbo-charged cat!
​Voice 2:
Racer, chaser, stalker, mother hunter
Tracker, prowler, loner, killer sprinter
Picture
Voice 1:
Perfectly still 
Well camouflaged
Galloping fast 
There's no escape
Voice 2:
a silent assassin
​her spots keep her hidden

she tears through the long grass
impala the target
All:
Watching her prey by day
Hunting her prey by day
Chasing her prey by day
Catching her prey by day
Voice 1:
Rita the cheetah you’ll never beat her
Zero to 60 in three seconds flat!
Rita the cheetah you’ll never beat her

Nothing runs faster;
The turbo-charged cat!


​All:

Racer, chaser, stalker, mother hunter
Tracker, prowler, loner, killer sprinter

Rita! 
​Voice 2:
Racer, chaser, stalker, mother hunter
Tracker, prowler, loner, killer sprinter
Picture

10. Ba-ba Baboon

Lead sheet
Lyrics & Vocal Track
Lyrics & Backing track
​T.i.M # african drum # 2023-07-09.mp3 by Deni3 (soundcloud.com)​
Voice 1:
I'm a big baboon with a silver spoon
Can you sing my funky rhythm?
I'm a big baboon with va-va voom
​Can you sing my funky tune?
Voice 2:
Ba-ba ba-ba-boon
Ba-ba ba-ba-boon
​[repeat]

Voice 3:
​Iguana,  cicada
Canary, piranha
Mosquito, impala
Flamingo, koala
Picture
Website by Gabriel Media Limited