My Copper Country Song

I heard James Taylor's "Carolina In My Mind" on the speakers at work today and I could not get it out of my head.  He sings about being homesick for his North Carolina home.  If you are not familiar with it, here is a link to a video of a recent version.  It made me sort of homesick for the Copper Country/Keweenaw Peninsula where we still own our house.

It occurred to me that "Copper Country" and "Carolina" are similar syllable-wise, etc.  So I wondered if I could write Copper Country themed lyrics based on J.T.'s work.  I've never written lyrics before, but hey, I never Tweeted before a few weeks ago either.  So, why not?

My apologies to Mr. Taylor and I hope I have not violated some copyright law or something.  I don't at this time intend to make any money on this and would pursue getting permission if I did.  Technically this whole blog site is a school project, so maybe I won't have storm troopers busting down my door tomorrow morning.

Let me know what you think and if you have any change suggestions.  If you are a singer and want to do a cover of this I would really like to hear it.  You *really* don't want *me* to sing it.

Anyway, here it is:

Copper Country In My Mind

Lyrics by Jim Curtis

Based on “Carolina In My Mind” by James Taylor

In my mind I’m gone to Copper Country
Can’t you see the sunshine?
Can’t you just feel the moonshine?
That Keweenaw’s a friend of mine
Her voice is wild and kind
Oh I’m gone to Copper Country in my mind

Quincy she’s a copper mine
The sun comes out and watch her shine
Watch her watch the towns below
A silver tear appearing now I’m crying ain’t I?
I’m gone to Copper Country in my mind

There ain’t no doubt in no-one’s mind
That land’s the finest land around
Whispering wind in the pines
Northern Lights the sky’s on fire and I’m dying, ain’t I?
I’m gone to Copper Country in my mind

In my mind I’m gone to Copper Country
Can’t you see the Big Lake?
Can’t you just feel your toes ache?
The white water waves break
Rock art left behind
And I’m gone to Copper Country in my mind

Dark and silent late last night
Think I might have heard the owls a’calling
Geese that honk and hawks in flight.
And signs that might be omens say I’m goin’, I’m goin’
I’m gone to Copper Country in my mind

Now with crowds of people bustlin’ all around me
Feelin’ stuck on the dark side of the moon
And it looks like it goes on like this forever
You must forgive me

If I’m up and gone to Copper Country in my mind

In my mind I’m gone to Copper Country
Can’t you see the snow fall?
Can’t you just feel the wind howl?
And ain’t the drifts ten feet tall?
You gaze until you’re blind
Oh I’m gone to Copper Country in my mind

Oh I’m gone to Copper Country in my mind

I’m already gone

I’m gone

Say nice things about me

I’m gone

You’ll have to carry on without me

I’m gone
Oh I’m gone to Copper Country in my mind

I’m gone

Yes, I’m gone to Copper Country in my mind.

Yooper Critters!

"...we got some of da best hunting and fishing in da whole world.  Bear as tall as Norway Pines!  We got wolf, moose, beaver, wild turkey, quail, rabbit, fox and, ah course: da bucks.  Holy Wah do we got bucks - big as Buicks!  You can slice da venison off a one Superior State buck and feed da whole state of Wisconsin!"
- Albert Soady (played by Harve Presnell) in "Escanaba in da Moonlight" (2001)

Yes, as Albert says in the Jeff Daniels mystical off the wall comedy film, the Upper Peninsula sure does have critters.  All kinds of critters.

I was thinking about that this morning after I saw a pair of bald eagles while driving to school.  No, I wasn't in the U.P., I was in the Lowp, as I call the Lower Peninsula.  I was not even in the northern part of the Lowp.  I was at the intersection of Tittabawasee Road and and M-47 near Freeland, MI just after the bridge over the Tittabawasee River.  As I crossed M-47 a bird with a huge wingspan leaped off a branch of a tree and flew off.  As I sped by I could clearly see the second massive bird with the distinctive white head sitting on a nearby branch.  I was surprised because I usually don't see many bald eagles in the Saginaw area, although I do know a few are around.  They must have been attracted by the open water on the river.

This eagle was photographed at the Seney National Wildlife Refuge in the central U.P.

Well, the U.P. sure has eagles.  Tons of them.  I love 'em.  They are one of my totem creatures.  My heart jumps a little every time I see them.  On the Keweenaw Peninsula in the northwest of Upper Michigan, there are raptor migrations in the spring where you can see hundreds of bald eagles, golden eagles and thousands of other birds as they travel north.  I almost need a heart defibrillator when I see that many in one area.

Albert left out a few critters besides eagles: sandhill cranes; owls; canada geese; hawks of all kinds; trout; salmon; whitefish (my favorite),.....

Usually what I picture whitefish as looking like.  I hear they are a silver fish.

...pike and many other water breathers; moose; mink; weasels; porcupines; fishers (they eat porcupines); bobcat; lynx; coyotes; and many miscellaneous little critters the predators love to eat.

And yes, we have cougars.  After hundreds of sightings and tracks reported over the years, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has finally admitted that there are cougars in the Upper Peninsula.  Well, we Yoopers are used to Lansing taking its time when it comes to things regarding the U.P.

I'm sure I may have left off a few from Yooper critter list.  There are so many, I lose track.  Remind me, please.

You don't have to be a hunter or fisher (the non-porkie eating kind) to appreciate Yooper critters.  Lots of folks from the U.P. or just visiting love to wander around the two tracks through the woods just to look at critters.  You don't have to eat them and/or put them on your wall to appreciate them.

What's your favorite Yooper critter?  Why?  Which Yooper critter would you like to see but have not yet?  Drop me a line and let me know.

Well, Here Goes......

Hello and Welcome to Yearning for the Yoop!

This blog is for people who love the Upper Peninsula of Michigan - da Yoop- and for one reason or another aren't there right now.  Call us Yooper Exiles, Yooper Ex-Pats, Yooper Fans, whatever.

This blog can also be for people who are currently in the U.P. and perhaps want to be in another part of the U.P.  Maybe you had to move from your Yooper home to another place in the Yoop for work.  Maybe you are traveling around the Yoop.  Maybe the law in your end of the Yoop is looking for you and you're hiding out in the other end (if so, I recommend that you don't post anything on this blog, eh?).

Or, maybe you'd just like to learn more about Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  The Yoop??? What's that?  Why do they call it that? I give you some edumacation on the Yoop in later posts.  For now you can go to this Wikipedia link about the U.P.

I'd like to use Yearning for the Yoop to find out why people leave the U.P., where they went and what plans, dreams, or schemes they have to get back there.

What do you love about the Yoop?  What do you hate about the Yoop?  Why do you want to go back there despite what you don't like about it?

I'd also like us to share what parts of the Yoop are your favorites and why.  Let's share stories, recommendations, photos, links, etc.  The Yoop is a huge chunk of territory with many very different places in it.  What one person calls the best part of the U.P. may be different than the next person's.

Myself, I am a big fan of the Copper Country on the Keweenaw Peninsula.  My home is there.  I've spent the most time there.  However, I know there are some other great places around the Yoop and I'd like to learn about more places.

So, grab a pasty and a KBC and sit with your computer and let's have a chat about da Yoop.  I'll try to keep my homesick sobbing as quiet as I can dere, eh?