Lyrics to "Hooray for Hetch Hetchy" (Kirchen)

Words and music by Bill Oliver © 2005 & 2018 Bill Oliver, Texas Deck Music, BMI

The effort to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park is continuing to swell. The song invites you to visit a restored Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park:

Did you know there’s a second Yosemite?
One without all the cars
A breathtaking wonder of nature
Now drowned by a reservoir 

Imagine yourself in Hetch Hetchy
On a sunny day in June
Standing waist deep in grasses and flowers
As John Muir often stood 

The mighty pines sway with scarcely a motion
Up where the great hawks soar
The water falls from high canyon walls
Down to our valley floor 

Picture yourself in Hetch Hetchy
Hiking up Kolana Rock
Two thousand feet over the Valley
Named by the ancient Miwok 

Their spirits are here with the bear and the deer
If only this granite could talk
It can if you listen to what you’ve been missin’
When time slows down to a walk 

Yosemite - make it whole once again
The Tuolumne River - set it free
With damage undone our park then becomes
What it was intended to be 

Imagine restoring Hetch Hetchy
With a will there is always a way
Gather up all of your loved ones
And promise you’ll walk there one day 

Hooray for Hetch Hetchy
Yosemite’s twin
We can all help get its freedom again
Hooray for Hetch Hetchy
Soon to be seen
A grand landscape garden
An American dream

Original words and music by Bill Oliver, © 2005 & 2018 Bill Oliver, Texas Deck Music, BMI; Some lyrics are adapted from John Muir’s book, The Yosemite.
Adapted 2018 by Bill & Louise Kirchen, and Spreck Rosekrans

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