"Last Great American Whale"


	They say he didn't have an enemy
	his was a greatness to behold
	He was the last surviving progeny
	the last one on this side of the world

	He measured half a mile from tip to tail
	silver and black with powerful fins
	They say he could split a mountain in two
	that's how we got the Grand Canyon

	Last Great American Whale
	last Great American Whale
	Last Great American Whale
	last Great American Whale

	Some say they saw him at the Great Lakes
	some say they saw him off the coast of Florida
	My mother said she saw him in Chinatown
	but you can't always trust your mother

	Off the Carolinas the sun shines brightly in the day
	the lighthouse glow ghostly there at night
	The chief of a local tribe had killed a racist mayor's son
	and he'd been on death row since 1958

	The mayor's kid was a rowdy pig
	spit on Indians and lots worse
	The old chief buried a hatchet in his head
	life compared to death for him seemed worse

	The tribal brothers gathered in the lighthouse to sing
	and tried to conjure up a storm or rain
	The harbor parted and the great whale sprang full up
	and caused a hugh tidal wave

	The wave crushed the jail and freed the chief
	the tribe let out a roar
	The whites were drowned, the browns and reds set free
	but sadly one thing more

	Some local yokel member of the NRA
	kept a bazooka in his living room
	And thinking he had the chief in his sight
	blew the whale's brains out with a lead harpoon

	Last Great American Whale
	last Great American Whale
	Last Great American Whale
	last Great American Whale

	Well Americans don't care for much of anything
	land and water the least
	And animal life is low on the totem pole
	with human life not worth more than infected yeast

	Americans don't care too much for beauty
	they'll shit in a river, dump battery acid in a stream
	They'll watch dead rats wash up on the beach
	and complain if they can't swim

	They say things are done for the majority
	don't believe half of what you see, and none of what you hear
	It's a lot like what my painter friend Donald said to me
	"Stick a fork in their ass and turn them over, they're done"



	{D/A}{G/G.A}{D/A}{G}	(They say he didn't have an enemy ...)
	{D/A}{G/G.A}{D/A}{G}	(He was the last surviving progeny)

	{D/A}{G/G.A}{D/A}{G}	(He measured half a mile from ...)
	{D/A}{G/G.A}{D/A}{G}	(They say he could split a mountain ...)

	{D/A}{G/G.A}{D/A}{G}	(Last Great American Whale ...)
	{D/A}{G/G.A}{D/A}{G}	(Last Great American Whale ...)

	....




* riff
  {D   / A     } {G  / G .A}  {D   / A   } {G}
[--2-2------------3----3-------2-2----------3------
[--3-3---2-3-2-2--0----0--2----3-3---2-3-2--0------
[--2-2---2-2-2-2--0----0--2----2-2---2-2-2--0------
[--0-0---2-2-2-2--0----0--2----0-0---2-2-2--0------
[--------0-0-0-0--2----2--0----------0-0-0--2------
[-----------------3----3--------------------3------


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///// transcribed by Shirou Kouchi (wildside@mtci.or.jp) ////////////////
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