Sightings
the Rev. Edmund Robinson
   
     Several of you wanted copies of “Midnight Underwater,” the song I wrote and sang in church on July 18.  The tune is an old Texas fiddle waltz called “Midnight on the Water” composed by fiddler Luke Thomason early in the 20th century; it is quite commonly played at fiddlers’ gatherings, and you can find many versions on YouTube.  Here’s the song as it stands now; if any of you has any suggestions for improvement, I’d be glad to read them.  The sentiments  are pretty much what I wrote in my newsletter column last month.

1.  Gas up at the pump, the road beckons fair,
We’re in love with our autos, the ride of the free;
Cruising down our highways with the sun in our hair
Fueled by the earth’s blood, by way of BP.

Chorus
But it’s midnight underwater, the sea is turning black
Lights out for the plankton, for the kelp and sea wrack,
Earth’s fragile egg shell has now begun to crack.
The Genie’s out the bottle and can’t be put back. 

2.  We get to our schools and our jobs and whatever,
By burning up critters from a million BC.
We’ve known for decades it won’t last forever,
But we keep buying more from the likes of BP.
Chorus

3.  We’re gluttons for oil, we’re hooked beyond hope,
And we drill ever deeper in search of our fix.
It’s a stronger addiction than whiskey or dope.
Don’t you think we’d know oil and water don’t mix?
Chorus

4.  If the whales and the dolphins and the fish had the choice,
They would send us to detox and hide all our keys,
Then on to recovery, Oilaholics Anonymous,
Till we’re rid of the shakes, and the snakes and BPs.
Chorus

5.  Big oil’s not the enemy, the enemy is us,
Fueled by old fossils, and ever fewer there be,
The oil’s running out as the sands of our glass,
Unless we learn to live on green energy.
Chorus