Sinkholes! (3:09)
(Another reason to avoid walking around in certain parts of the world. Are we meat lollipops the earth wants to eat?)
A clip from the video of “Sinkholes!” appears in Victoria K. Greene’s fine documentary film, “Forgotten Bayou.” forgottenbayou.com
I lived in Florida many years ago
a typical New Yorker
getting away from the snow
the culture and the food
and the people were great
but when I saw a bug bigger
than a dinner plate
I moved back north though I visit a lot
when the bugs aren’t so big and it’s not so hot
but now something else in Florida
has got me scared
I’m nervous when
I walk around down there
Sinkholes!
trouble beneath my feet
Sinkholes!
lookin’ for a snack to eat
Sinkholes!
swallowin’ houses and cars
Are we human caviar?
Sinkholes
caused by the karst process
turn paradise into a mess
limestone, salt deposits, carbonate rocks
they are sinkhole building blocks
Cover collapse sinkhole is the scariest kind
I know what I’m talkin’ about
I looked it up online
sinkholes are happening far and near
in New Jersey yesterday
one caused panic and fear
They’re in Laos, Venezuela, Mexico, too,
in China, Slovenia what can we do?
to Australia, South Africa sinkholes aren’t strangers
even in New Guinea there’s sinkhole dangers!
Sinkholes!
peril beneath our feet
are we meat lollipops the earth wants to eat?
Sinkholes!
swallowin’ houses and cars
am I the only one who finds it bizarre?
Sinkholes!
caused by the karst process
turning paradise into a mess
some are man-made when we make mistakes
with irresponsible mining and water main breaks
In a town in Louisiana called Bayou Corne
in August 2012 a sinkhole was born
at first an acre in size now way bigger than that
forcing alligators, snakes, even muskrats
To escape from this gurgling pool
where survival of the fittest is no longer the rule
It belches and it bubbles as it burps up debris
swallowing cypress tree after cypress tree
after cypress tree after cypress tree . . .
There’s a documentary film called “Forgotten Bayou”
explains this sinkhole and its toxic brew
“Forgotten Bayou” won’t be forgotten by me
it’s a film I hope we all will see
When I started writing this song
I thought it would be funny
but Bayou Corne changed all that, honey
the townspeople struggle with sorrow and rage
the Bayou Corne Sinkhole has a facebook page
Sinkholes!
terror beneath our feet
Sinkholes!
hungry for a snack to eat
Sinkholes!
Swallowin’ houses and cars
I asked Alan Stern*
are there sinkholes on Mars?
Sinkholes!
poppin’ up all over the place
Dr. Stern said, “Yup, there’s sinkholes in space”
Sinkholes
we can’t ignore
rvery day there are more
Sinkholes
is fracking making things worse?
If the earth could
would the earth curse?
Sinkholes
be careful where you step
oops there goes another Corvette
Credits:
CL: vocal/guitar Brian Bauers: harmony vocals
Steve Doyle: bass
Daniel Glass: percussion
Alan Stern: cameo vocal
Handclaps: Christine Lavin, Brian Bauers, Steve Doyle, Daniel Glass, Julie Gold
- S. Alan Stern is the principal investigator of The New Horizons mission to Pluto, and has been involved in 24 suborbital, orbital, and planetary space missions, including eight for which he was the mission instrument principal investigator.