The constellation of Orion dominates the winter sky, and is one of the few that can be reliably seen in a modern, light-polluted world.
A recording of this from the 2020 North American Distributed Chorus is available.
There's also a recording from the DC Solstice 2022 band.
When the days are gettin' shorter, and the nights are growin' long,
And the north wind puts a tear into your eye,
If you're out about 'round midnight and you look off to the east,
There you may see bold Orion on the rise.
You may know him by his stance or the starry shield he holds,
As he rises silent in a clear cold sky.
Young Jack Frost and Old Man Winter, they both beckon to the call
Of their master bold Orion on the rise.
CHORUS: Bold Orion, mighty hunter, rising in a clear cold sky,
See the summer fall before him. Bold Orion's on the rise.
For seven starry ages, he has ruled the winter skies
With the fires of lost eons in his eyes.
He has seen the rise and fall of kings and continents and all,
Rising silent, bold Orion on the rise.
When he ascends, no hesitation; when he moves, no turnin' round,
Like a soul been called to glory, earthly born but heavenly bound.
Now the bird is on the wing, and it's southward that she flies,
Hastened on by bold Orion on the rise. CHORUS
Orion had a lover. She's the goddess of the hunt,
And of the forest and the golden moon.
Artemis they called her, the fair sister of the sun,
But their time together ended all too soon.
Apollo took his vengeance on the man his sister loved.
An arrow sped him to a painful death;
But once a month she visits him, a moon among the stars,
Looking down with whispered love upon her breath. CHORUS
Summer comes on all too slowly, and it passes far too fast,
And you wonder, is there nothin' that can last?
Here today and gone tomorrow as the green leaves turn to red,
As the present quickly turns into the past.
Cut the wood and stack it high now. Stoke the fires in your home.
Burnin' nightly send the smoke up to the sky.
Keep the winter at your door and keep the summer in your heart.
Drink a toast to bold Orion on the rise. CHORUS 2X
