Billy’s New Cicada Song
originally published on Monday, Jun 14, 2004
Once every seventeen years an amazing emergence happens in the Mid-Alantic States of America. Billions of black and orange cicadas come up from the ground, transform into their adult stage, reproduce and die. This group of cicadas is know as Brood X. Their intense experience all happens in a few weeks.
In 1987, the last time Brood X had emerged from the ground, Billy and Paul Seydewitz wrote “The Cicada Song”. Although there were some recordings of the original song, Billy was unable to find them due to his recent move to Brooklyn, New York. Many of his possesions are still in boxes.
Billy remembered the part he wrote, the chorus, but he couldn’t remember the verses that Paul had written. Being unable to contact Paul, Billy rewrote the verses with a little help from Steve Murphy.
Steve and Billy produced and recorded the new version and performed it as a music video. Steve put in the many hours of video editing it took to capture and document this amazing natural event.
Billy would like to thank Will Cosby and Micah Baskir for their camera work and Micah for his effective directorial ideas. Also, Billy would like to thank Michael and Kathy Moore for the use of their home for the video shoot.