© 1997 Ragnar Fyri. All rights reserved.


Cetacean Chant

For those who didn't know: In the novel (and radio play and TV (?) series) "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", Earth is destroyed for some stupid reason in one of the first chapters. The dolphins, sensing the disaster before it happens, escape to some other dimension. Before leaving, they make one final attempt to convey a message to mankind. The message, as all readers/listeners/viewers of either of the versions know, is "So long, and thanks for all the fish!"

Rather poetic really, so why not write a song on that theme? The following piece is written to the tune of "Exodus" or whatever it's called.

So long -
So long -
And thanks for all the fish!
Godspeed -
is all that we can wish!
We have to leave before
this Earth shall be no more,
so hear or song:
So long -
and thanks for all the fish!

[For those who didn't know that either, godspeed has nothing to do with divine velocity. It is an ancient departure greeting - according to my dictionary "God spede you" means "God prosper you". Oh, and a cetacean is a whale or close relative (like a dolphin).]


[later] I have been playing with some ideas for another verse for a while, and here is a kind of first attempt. (Yes, I noticed the rhymes are not in the same places...)
We leave
ere dawn
and soon we will be gone
and Earth is but a memory  
We shall remember Earth
the planet of our birth
What she has been
is all
that she will ever be!


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