John Gorka in a 1999 interview about Zuly:

The character songs, those come about in odd ways. "Zuly"--that one I wrote from a sign in Anchorage that talked about the Good Friday Earthquake. And I thought, "What if Jesus was reborn at that time? He would've been the same age now as when he kicked the bucket back then." Then I met this woman at a Burger King at the Salt Lake City airport--saw her name on her badge and I really liked the name, "Zuly." There's a song.

John Gorka Home videos
28th homemade video (October 11, 2020)

On October 11, 2020 John wrote:"
The One Song Concert Home Video # 28 is Zuly, a non traditional Christmas song, written after my first trip to Alaska. I loved how wild and beautiful it was there. I saw a sign outside of Anchorage that commemorated the Good Friday Earthquake of 1964 and somehow this song came out of that experience.

- Click here for Red River Valley (April 5, 2020)
- Click here for Better times Will Come (April 12, 2020)
- Click here for Polly Wally (April 19, 2020)
- Click here for Soap Opera (April 26, 2020)
- Click here for Maya May I, (May 1, 2020)
- Click here for My Creole Belle (May 10, 2020)
- Click here for Careless Love (May 17, 2020)
- Click here for You Can Run (May 24, 2020)
- Muting the Sea (May 31,2020)
- Click here for Ignorance and Privilege (June 7, 2020)
- Click here for The Mercy of the Wheels. (June 14, 2020)
- If I Could Forget To Breathe (June 21, 2020)
- Let them in (June 28, 2020)
- Unblind The Referee (July 5, 2020)
- The Dutchman (July 12, 2020)
- Morningside (July 19, 2020)
- Cowboy Song (July 26, 2020)
- That's How Legends Are Made (August 2, 2020)
- If Not Now (August 9, 2020)
- Arroyo Seco (August 16, 2020)
- Shenandoah (August 23, 2020)
- Outside (August 30, 2020)
- Outnumbered (September 6, 2020)
- Brown shirts (September 13, 2020)
- Jack’s Crows (September 20, 2020)
- Where No Monument Stands (September 27, 2020)
- Blue Chalk (October 4, 2020)
- Zuly (October 11, 2020)
- The Sentinel (October 18, 2020)
- Where The Bottles Break (October 25 2020)
- If I Could (November 1, 2020)
- Particle & Wave (November 8, 2020)
- True in Time (November 15, 2020)
- Edgar The Party Man ( November 22, 2020)
- The Water is Wide (November 29, 2020)
- The Streets of Laredo (December 6, 2020)
- Spanish is the Loving Tongue (December 13, 2020)
- Christmas Bells (December 20, 2020)
- Riverside (December 27. 2020) Recorded earlier
- Auld Lang Syne (January 3, 2021)

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Zuly (Lyrics)

And the good earth shook the day that Jesus was reborn
In Anchorage, March the 27th, 1964
When He came back this time though it was as a baby girl
Her parents said Her mission was the same, to save the world

God looked down and said, oh the times they are a changing
I will send My only daughter as soon as I complete the staging
All the land shook and rolled and split, there was no warning
Except Gabriel had told the mom She'd arrive Good Friday morning

And so it came to pass that Her parents named Her Zuly
A bright and happy child, also willful and unruly
The birds would come and visit Her, they wished they could take Her with them
When they left their roosts for winter, She would always miss them

Zuly won a scholarship though the classes mostly bored Her
She loved the other students though and the teachers all adored Her
We learned more from Her, they said than we could ever teach Her
But there were times when we just could not reach Her

She said we are here to love each other that is all
And organized religion that's comparatively small
Not that I don't love all those so-called holy ones
But why are there so few daughters among the leaders with My sons?

Now She runs a charter boat on Resurrection Bay
She takes tourists to see the wild creatures every
summers day In fall She teaches bush kids at the boarding school in Sitka
On those long december nights She is the light of winter