Once there were trees and a river,
Once there was grass where you stand;
Once there were songs about rights instead of wrongs,
Once was the time of man.
We heard the drumming like thunder
We saw the cloud rise at dawn.
Then came the rain, while we watched and prayed in vain;
Then all was still, all was gone
Once there were trees and a river,
Once there was grass where you stand;
Once there were songs about rights instead of wrongs,
Once was the time of man.
Grass doesn't grow on the hillside
The trees shrink and die in the sun
There's no place to hide my little baby's eyes
From the damage that the dead have done.
Once there were trees and a river,
Once there was grass where you stand;
Once there were songs about rights instead of wrongs,
Once was the time of man.
They didn't know in the old time
The earth and the seas were to share;
They didn't know in the old times
Or care.
Once there were trees and a river,
Once there was grass where you stand;
Once there were songs about rights instead of wrongs,
Once was the time of man.
Once there was grass where you stand;
Once there were songs about rights instead of wrongs,
Once was the time of man.
We heard the drumming like thunder
We saw the cloud rise at dawn.
Then came the rain, while we watched and prayed in vain;
Then all was still, all was gone
Once there were trees and a river,
Once there was grass where you stand;
Once there were songs about rights instead of wrongs,
Once was the time of man.
Grass doesn't grow on the hillside
The trees shrink and die in the sun
There's no place to hide my little baby's eyes
From the damage that the dead have done.
Once there were trees and a river,
Once there was grass where you stand;
Once there were songs about rights instead of wrongs,
Once was the time of man.
They didn't know in the old time
The earth and the seas were to share;
They didn't know in the old times
Or care.
Once there were trees and a river,
Once there was grass where you stand;
Once there were songs about rights instead of wrongs,
Once was the time of man.
Contributed by Alessandro - 2009/9/23 - 22:07
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Travis Edmonson's explicit juxtaposition of a natural world in harmony against one where life no longer existed was a warning against nuclear proliferation which could not fail to reach anyone alive. The lyrics were written into The Congressional Record after he and Bud Dashiell unprecedentedly performed the piece before a joint session of the U.S. Congress.