Descent Into The Maelstrom Lyrics - Tourniquet

[Words & Music: Ted Kirkpatrick] 

[This song is dedicated to the animals we share this planet with and the people who work to protect them] 

[Solo: Aaron] 

Is it greed or is it ignorance or is it both? 

As the bulldozer trashes a thousand years growth 

Clear cutting with a clear conscience 

A burning desire to burn 

If a tree falls and no one's around 

The wildlife still hear it crashing down 

[Chorus] 

You were gone before we even knew you 

And there's no way to ever get you back 

Gorilla seven days old 

Ripped from his mothers dead arms 

Her hand now an ashtray souvenir for a tourist's charms 

[Chorus] 

Will I join the ranks of the photo gallery 

It may be the only way left to see me 

Thousand acres a day 

Burning it all away 

Extinction - the price to pay 

A ton of rhino, a pound of horn 

The Javan one cursed - the wheels of greed are born 

Medicinal myth, smuggled to Hong-Kong 

Ancient superstition - reality gone wrong 

[Chorus] 

I joined the ranks of the photo gallery 

Its the only way left to ever see me 

You were gone before we even knew you 

And there's no way to ever get you back 

The greatest land animal killed for a foot of ivory 

Will your children live to see one 

Or witness decimation by tyranny 

Passenger pigeons blackened the sky 

Never a chance we would say goodbye 

Oh how I wish I could see one fly 

[Chorus] 

You were gone before we even knew you 

And there's no way to ever get you back 

American symbol of freedom and power 

Only for target practice by the hour 

Buffalo sat on the brink of no more 

[Chorus] 

Will I join the ranks of the photo gallery? 

It may be the only way left to ever see me