Album Notes

Around the world a movement is growing as communities declare themselves to be genetically-engineered crop-free zones. GE Free - the song, is offered as inspiration for the continuing fight against corporate control of agriculture, for bio-diversity and food sovereignty, and for the rights of farmers everywhere.

CD Single Produced by Bill Henderson
Music & lyrics by Phil Vernon © 2005 SOCAN

Phil Vernon has been writing songs for over thirty years, performing at benefits, on picket lines and in union halls. A founding member of the Vancouver cultural festival Mayworks, Phil has contributed to numerous benefit recordings over the years.

In April 2004 Phil released of the CD Single The Ballad of Percy Schmeiser to coincide with the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling on the Monsanto vs Schmeiser case. The immediate success of the song, telling the story of the Saskatchewan canola farmer’s battle with the agrochemical giant – including airplay on CBC and other radio stations – led to numerous performances in 2004 including the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. Subsequently The Ballad of Percy Schmeiser was featured in the film, The Genetic Matrix: The Schmeiser Case.

Following up on the release of GE Free, Phil's most recent recording project is Something's In The Garden, a song about the Terminator gene. Look for it on-line soon!

Phil currently lives on Salt Spring Island.


ÆTHM MUSIC
971 Isabella Pt. Rd. Salt Spring Is.
B.C. CANADA V8K 1T7
pvernon@saltspring.com

Bass - Bob Delion
Drums - Jay Johnson
Guitars - Bill Henderson
Lead vocal - Phil Vernon
Backing vocal - Mary Applegate
Violin - Jamie Rokeby-Thomas

Special thanks to Christian Stonehouse and Jamie Sitar for their donations of time and technical expertise, to Randy Bachman for donating studio time, and above all to Bill Henderson, whose skill and generosity made this project possible.


GE Free Phil Vernon © 2005

Well it started in Ukiah
Just a little northern California town
With just a few determined people
And you know they brought the whole county ‘round
Going door to door with their petition
Holding meetings and talking on the phone
That’s how the County of Mendecino
Became the USA’s first GE-free zone! …and now they’re

Chorus:
GE-free – safe food and strong community
GE-free – that’s the way… that’s the way it should be!

Now those farmers ‘way Down Under
From what I hear, they’re clear on what to do
They know they’d lose international markets
If genetic seed technology goes through

Put to the test in West Australia
The biggest farm state in that southern land
They got their government to pass a law
And now commercial GE crops have been banned
… and now they’re

Chorus

Peasant farmers in Venezuela
Fight the pressure from Monsanto
This is our land – they tell their presidente
Now Monsanto’s plan is terminado

From Powell River out to Brooklin, Maine
We’re gonna be GE-free from coast to coast!
From the farm field to the kitchen table
Let’s work together to protect what matters most

All the power behind technology
Cannot surpass what our grassroots can do!
And when we say “No!” to GMOs
Then our vision for the future’s that much
closer to coming true! …and we’ll be

Chorus (2X)
…that’s the way, Mendecino…
that’s the way, West Australia…
that’s the way, Venezuela…
that’s the way, Powell River… that’s the way it should be!

ÆTHM MUSIC
971 Isabella Point Road
Salt Spring Island BC V8K 1T7
Ph/Fax 250-653-9485
pvernon@saltspring.com

"I do not allow myself to be overcome by hopelessness, no matter how tough the situation. I believe that if you just do your little bit without thinking of the bigness of what you stand against, if you turn to the enlargement of your own capacities, just that in itself creates new potential."
Vandana Shiva, Indian activist and author