Scout song

The following is a song written by James Dunne. Dunne was inspired to write this song because of a Scout's conplaint of "Do we have to sing that?" He wrote the lyrics of this song to the tune of "Ashokan Farewell", which is the music included on several of the pages of this web site. The story about this song is found in the September 1999 issue of the Scouting magazine. Dunne states in the article the young man who inspired him to write the song died of a shooting accident and this song was preformed for the first time in public at the funeral of the young man, Joshua Kilgore,14. We are honored to include it on our web site as a memorial to Joshua and all other scouts whose lives have ended at a tragic young age.

The Kinship of Scouting

The full moon is high as we gaze into the fire,
The trails of the forest know soon we will part.
There's a whisper in the wind and our souls have been inspired,
There's a bond that may always remain in our hearts.

Our thoughts will return to the sounds of our laughter,
and the kindship of feeling as one.
this time will remain, long ever after,
The moonlight, the music and stories are done.

Will we climb the hills once more?
Will we walk the woods together?
Will the same feelings be by the fire once again?
Will every song we've sung stay with us forever?
Will this bond be remembered in our hearts until then?

Under the moon the mountains lie sleeping,
Over the lakes the stars shine,
they wonder if you and I will be keeping,
The kinship of Scouting or leave it behind.

The tune "Ashokan Farewell," by Jay Ungar and lyrics by Grian MacGregor, 1983 and 1994 by Swinging Door Music. Adapted for Boy Scouts by James Dunne, Troop 27, Salem, Ore., 1998 in memory of Joshua James Kilgore, 1984-1998.

To hear the midi file of the melody, go to www.ashokan.org. The shong "The kinship of Scouting" is scheduled to be a part of a new CD, "Songs for Scouts." For CD information, contact: scoutsongs@aol.com.
Scouting, September 1999