The Green Hills of Earth

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The Green Hills of Earth is a science fiction short story by Robert A. Heinlein. This story has been anthologized in The Green Hills of Earth, a collection of a number of Heinlein's short stories, as well as in The Past Through Tomorrow, another anthology which collects a number of Heinlein's "Future History" stories.

1 Plot
2 The Songs
3 References in Other Heinlein Works
4 Adaptations
5 Real Life

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Plot

This is the poignant story of "Noisy" Rhysling, the blind space-going songwriter whose poetic skills rival Rudyard Kipling's. Heinlein (himself a retired naval officer) spins a yarn about a radation-blinded spaceship engineer criscrossing the solar system writing and singing some of the best lyrics in science fiction. In a fine display of writing skill, the spaceship and crew feel as real to the reader as a contemporary tramp steamer.

Henilein credited the title of the song to the short story Shambleau by C. L. Moore. In the story Moore's character, a spacefaring smuggler named Northwest Smith hums the tune of The Green Hills of Earth.

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The Songs

Henilein wrote several fragments and one full stanza for the song.

--- the harsh bright soil of Luna ---
--- Out ride the sons of Terra; Far drives the thundering jet ---
--- Saturn's rainbow rings ---
--- the frozen night of Titan --- ]
We pray for one last landing; On the globe that gave us birth; Let us rest our eyes on the fleecy skies; And the cool, green hills of Earth.

The fragments have been filled out and additional stanzas added by the filk community. The song's meter allows it to be sung to a number of popular tunes including; Amazing Grace, The House of the Rising Sun, Ode to Joy, Clementine, and The Marine Corps Hymn. The most popular tune used at conventions is the theme from Gilligan's Island.

The story features several other partial songe and a number of titles attributed to Rhysling. These are:

The Grand Canal(10 lines)
Jet Song (14 lines)
Since the Pusher Met My Cousin (title only)
That Red-Headed Venusburg Gal (title only)
Keep Your Pants On, Skipper (title only)
A Space Suit Built for Two (title only)

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References in Other Heinlein Works

Both the song "The Green Hills of Earth" and the character of Rhysling are mentioned in the novel Time Enough for Love. At an early point in the novel, Lazarus Long bemoans the fact that he cannot "pray for one last landing" because the "Green Hills of Earth" have deteriorated and the planet is uninhabitable. Later, Lazarus tells the story of a very blind accordian player who temporarily takes residence in a bordello that he owned on Mars almost two thousand years ago. Although Heinlein readers can easily recognize the character, Lazarus himself does not "recall his right name, if he had one."

The song "The Green Hills of Earth" is referenced thrice in Farmer in the Sky as a piece that Bill Lermer plays on his own accordian. Later in that same novel, Lermer is trying to identify a quote ("I have lived and worked with men") and guesses that it was written by Rhysling or Kipling.

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Adaptations

The story was adapted for the Dimension X radio series (episode 10). It also appeared on X Minus One and CBS Radio Workshop. The song The Green Hills of Earth which appears in the story was also used in the British radio series, Journey into Space. The television series Out There (1950s) had a version of the story.

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