One By One (Copyright 1999 Harvey-Fowler-Cooley-Richardson)

One By One
Somewhere deep beneath the earth
Where the blackest coal is found
Some poor hard working miners are
Listening for that sound
The sweetest song they ever heard
The Caged canary cries
For when her song is ended
Then everybody dies

Stop and look around you
Hear the singing birds
The truth is in their music
For lies are made from words
His eye is on the sparrow
That's fallen from the sky
And when the song is over
Then everybody dies

CHORUS One By One, One By One, One By One, One By One

We rule the world by circumstance
We rule our hearts with pride
We take the 1st fruits for ouselves
And push the rest aside
Naked we came to this world
Naked we return
In between we're measured by
The lessons that we learn

So drink from this last well before
The water turns to brine
And join the broken refugees
Out searching for a sign
They sing of reaching heaven
While they damn the one who tries
And when the song is over
Then everybody dies

The Father made the fish to swim
Until they filled the seas
And then the birds filled up the sky
And the Father he was pleased
He set aside the Garden
Back when it all began
Back when the earth was paradise
Before the age of man

Now turn and look behind us
We built this mighty land
We burned the forests burned the coal
And now we've burned the land
Our children stand in judgement now
You can hear their angry cries
For when the songs are over
Then everybody dies

CHORUS One By One

Their burning towers light the sky
As bright as any sun
What does it matter who's to blame
The damage has been done
No one is the enemy
We're all victims in this war
We turn our weapons on ourselves
To even up the score

The turning point is far behind
We're into no-man's land
We're trading all our future for
a line drawn on the sand
The mighty hosts of heaven
Take wing before our eyes
And when their song is ended
Then everybody dies

CHORUS One By One