NZ Folksong * Damn the Dam

NEW ZEALAND *FO LK SONG**	Damn the Dam John Hanlon 1973

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John wrote this song as a radio commercial to promote Pink
Batts house insulation. The Save Manapouri campaign later
used it to stop the level of Lake Manapouri from being raised.

G Leaf falls to Em kiss the Bm image of a Em mountain
the G early morning Em mist has ceased to Am play C+
C Birds dancing D lightly on the G branches by a Em fountain
Of a C waterfall which D dazzles with its G spray

G Tall and strong and Em aged, con-Bm-tented and Em serene
The G kauri tree sur-Em-veys this grand do-Am-main C+
For C miles and miles D around him, a G sea of rolling Em green
To-C-morrow all this D beauty won't re-G-main

Damn the C dam cried the D fantail,
As he G flew into as he B7 flew into the E sky,
To give F power to the G people
All this C beauty C/B has to Am die

Rain falls from above and splashes on the ground
Goes running down the mountain to the sea
And leaping over pebbles makes such a joyful sound
Such as Mother Nature's meant to be

I have grave reflection, reflection of a grave
Trees that once lived green now dead and brown
The homes of tiny animals and little birds as well
For the sake of man's progression have been drowned

Damn the dam cried the fantail,
As he flew into as he flew into the sky,
To give power to the people
All this beauty has to die

Instrumental

Damn the dam cried the fantail,
As he flew into as he flew into the sky,

Damn the dam cried the fantail,
As he flew into as he flew into the sky,
To give power to the people
All this beauty has to die...

Thanks to Judith McNeil for help with these lyrics and chords

A full-length high-quality MP3 of Damn the Dam is HERE

Radio Commercial

Damn the Dam was born as a 2 minute radio commercial for New Zealand Fibreglass. John Hanlon had a day job as an advertising copywriter and art director at the time. The commercial was part of a campaign designed to lobby the government of the day to make insulation compulsory in new homes.

While this was an environmentally responsible thing to do, clearly New Zealand Fibreglass, as the manufacturer of Pink Batts, would benefit from this legislation. They did. Nonetheless, said John, it took a brave and visionary client to approve a 2 min radio commercial with only 10 secs of soft sell commercial message in the body of it.

As a result of advertising airtime bought by the client, the song/commercial became very popular and John was pressured into releasing it as a single. He agreed to do so as long as the profits were donated to environmental bodies.

Eventually the song was adopted by the opponents of the Lake Manapouri dam and the real origin of the song was lost in the mists of time.

Pink Batts

Lake Manapouri

Lake Manapouri is often described as the loveliest of all Fiordland's lakes with its array of 33 small islands, backdrop of the Cathedral Mountain range, and native bush-clad edges with a variety of sandy beaches and coves. Originally called Roto-au (the rainy lake) by early Maori and then Moturau (many islands), it has a very rainy catchment of 1400 sq km, a shoreline of 170 km and a surface area of 142 sq km.

The Save Manapouri campaign

The Public Works Department wanted to dam the outlet of the lake so it could raise the water-level of the lake by 30 metres to join it with Lake Te Anau 2.5 km to the north. This would have produced much more power. It would have also destroyed all the coves and islands and thousands of hectares of pristine World Heritage rainforest.

A strong nationwide protest lasting over a decade prevented the raising of the lake from taking place. That campaign, the Save Manapouri campaign, is regarded as a major milestone in the history of New Zealand's environmental protection. The lake levels are now carefully controlled to be close to natural fluctuations.

John Hanlon

John Hanlon was born in Malaya in 1949 to Chinese-European parents. He was raised in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, before going to boarding school in Australia, and eventually settling in Auckland with his parents in the early sixties.

John was self-taught at playing the guitar and, by the age of twenty, had developed an enormous collection of lyrics and tunes. On night in 1971 he opened his songbook and played some of his tunes to a few enthusiastic supporters at a party. Bruce Barton, of Mascot Studios, heard him and was impressed enough to record a large number of items from his songbook.

Bruce then took these songs and managed to get John a recording contract on the Family Label. He was teamed up with arranger and keyboard player, Mike Harvey. The first single was released in late 1972 called "Old Fashioned Music"/"Mickey Mouse House". This was closely followed in 1973 with his first album called "Floating".

In 1973, along with Mike Harvey, John wrote a song called "Knowing". The song was entered into the Studio One Television contest, and, sung by Steve Gilpin, it took third place.

John was always ecology conscious and wrote "Damn The Dam" for the conservation movement during the Manapouri Hydro Dam controversy. After being broadcast on radio and television, it was considered popular enough to be released commercially and reached number 5 on the National charts. Later that year, John was awarded with a RATA award for Single of the Year, with "Damn The Dam."

John has lived in Australia since the late 70s working in advertising agencies. In addition to being a creative director for agencies ranging from Mojo to McHarmon's, John has been a cartoonist and pop singer.

And in the 2000s he is still a prolific composer, winning as many awards for songwriting as he has for advertising. For more on John Hanlon and his music you can visit https://johnhanlon.co.nz

Damn the Dam on Record

1973, Damn the Dam, Family Label, 45

John's original 1973 recording has been included in several compilation CDs in the past decade.

1996, Kiwi Gold Disc. 2, 1970-1975, NZ On Air
1996, Kiwi Classics. Volume two, EMI
1997, New Zealand : Our Land, Our Music, Vol 2 EMI
1999, Very Best of the Guys, EMI
2003, Very Best of John Hanlon, EMI

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Webpage put on Folksong website October 2008. Updated Sept 2021