Folk and Traditional Song Lyrics:
Song of the Whale

The Song of the Whale

The Song of the Whale
(Eric Bogle)

 The saddest sound I've ever heard
 Is the song of the hump-backed whale
 His moans and sighs and his eerie cries
 Sing a sad familiar tale
 For he sighs and blows as if he knows
 His race is nearly run
 And that soon with all of his kind he'll fall
 Before the whaler's gun.

 For every living thing on earth
 Nature made a space
 Each a living strand of a fragile plan
 That can never be replaced
 And not from need, but from wanton greed
 Man has torn down nature's web
 With greed possessed he will not rest
 Till the last of the whales is dead.

 In my mind's eye I can see them die
 As the whaler finds his mark
 Hear the muffled boom of the cruel harpoon
 As it blasts their lives apart
 I see the flood of their rich dark blood
 As it stains the ocean red
 And that bloody green will not wash clean
 Till the last of the whales is dead.

 The saddest sound I've ever heard
 Is the song of the hump-backed whale
 His moans and sighs and his eerie cries
 Sing a sad familiar tale
 For he sighs and blows as if he knows
 His race is nearly run
 And that soon with all of his kind he'll fall
 Before the whaler's gun.

IB
oct00