How Could Anything Go Wrong?
Copyright David Rhees 2021
I was inspired to write this piece after reading Karen Thompson Walker’s novel "The Age of Miracles" (not "World of Wonders", as I mistakenly say in the intro), which imagines what happens to society when the earth’s rotation slows down. (The Age of COVID was also lurking in the back of my mind, and global warming, and January 6, and ….) Many thanks to Mr. Gary Rue for his savvy songcraft advice.
Lyrics
Intro:
The world is such a mess
We suffer from the stress
And wonder how much worse it all can get
So why not yield to gloom
And contemplate our doom?
‘Cause you can bet we ain’t seen nothing yet
V. 1: Perhaps, we might suppose,
The earth’s rotation slows
And daily life begins to lose its zip
If time gets out of line
The sun may lose its shine
And gravity may start to lose its grip
V. 2: A crashing meteorite
Could ruin our whole night
The twinkling of the stars may start to fade
The moon would cease to glow
The tides would fail to flow
And New Year’s would forever be … delayed
Chorus:
But damn me if the sun don’t come and rise up one more time
To break the spell of sadness, grief and strife
I waken with the dewy dawn
And join the birds in morning song
‘Cause all it takes is one blue sky
And suddenly I’m feeling high
So how could anything go wrong?
V. 3: Another thing I’m dreadin’
Is climate Armageddon
When hell hits home there’s nowhere left to hide
We know from Chicken Little
That Mother Earth is brittle
Like hotcakes on a griddle we’ll get fried
V. 4: Plagues may sucker punch us
While locusts eat our lunches
Top it off with famine, floods and war
We find out what would happen
When mortality comes tappin’
Rappin’, slappin’, lappin’ at our door
Chorus
Outro:
And so we may conclude
That we could all get screwed
By dozens of disasters, more or less
But no need to feel down
Just take a look around
The simple joys of life are still the best
Chorus (repeat last 3 lines)