A plea for sanity and against the extinction of our rich natural heritage - "Gone, gone, extinction is forever!"
A bright light in these dark times
The Magic Ox Band were a spin off of the Magic Ox Theatre Group - a zany bunch of performers who used to do wild things at the old Albion Fayres.
Although the Band split up long ago, I feel the songs we did back then still deserve a listening today. Folk never goes out of fashion - it just matures nicely :-)
Story behind the song
One of a number of songs I wrote for a "Friends of the Earth" Benefit Gig we played in London in 1985.
Lyrics
Endangered Species
Everyone knows the fate of the dodo,
Living in peace till the white sailors came.
Hunted for food and hunted for pleasure,
Till all that remained was the dodo’s name.
And did we learn from that bird’s sad story?
Did we agree it won’t happen again?
Look out at nature fast disappearing,
Testament to the folly of men.
CHORUS
Gone, gone, extinction’s forever.
Gone, gone, what we cannot replace.
Gone, gone, such vast potential,
Lost to the greed of the human race,
Short-sighted greed of the human race.
Without a thought, we chop down a forest,
Home to a million creatures and plants.
Without a thought, we drain the wetlands,
Or pave over vital habitats.
Must we remain believers in progress,
Blind to defects in the methods employed?
Can we not see the Earth is in danger?
The balance of nature is being destroyed.
CHORUS
Caspian tigers and gila monsters,
Koala bears and the bowhead whale
Are but a few who are close to extinction,
But there are thousands we’ve never named.
I’ve heard it said, by the close of the century,
Half of the wildlife on Earth will be gone.
Now is the time to act to forestall it,
No use then crying “What have we done?”
CHORUS
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