The Greatest Show

1.) Four Point Six Archaean horizon The first sunrise On a pristine Gaea Opus perfectum Somewhere there, us sleeping After sleeping through a hundred million centuries We have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet Sparkling with color, bountiful with life Within decades we must close our eyes again Isn't it a noble An enlightened way of spending our brief time in the sun To work on understanding the universe And how we have come to wake up in it? 2.) Life The cosmic law of gravity Pulled the newborns around a fire A careless, cold infinity in every vast direction Lonely farer in the Goldilocks zone She has a tale to tell From the stellar nursery into a carbon feast Enter LUCA The tapestry of chemistry There's a writing in the garden Leading us to the Mother of all We are one We are a universe Forbears of what will be Scions of the Devonian sea Aeons pass Writing the tale of us all A day-to-day new opening For the greatest show on Earth Ion channels welcoming the outside world To the stuff of stars Bedding the tree of a biological holy Enter life The tapestry of chemistry There's a writing in the garden Leading us to the Mother of all We are one We are a universe Forbears of what will be Scions of the Devonian sea Aeons pass Writing the tale of us all A day-to-day new opening For the greatest show on Earth We are here to care for the garden The wonder of birth Of every form most beautiful Every form most beautiful We are one We are a universe Forbears of what will be Scions of the Devonian sea Aeons pass Writing the tale of us all A day-to-day new opening For the greatest show on Earth 3.) The Toolmaker After a billion years The show is still here Not a single one of your fathers died young The handy travelers Out of Africa Little Lucy of the Afar Gave birth to fantasy To idolatry To self-destructive weaponry Enter the god of gaps Deep within the past Atavistic dread of the hunted Enter Ionia, the cradle of thought The architecture of understanding The human lust to feel so exceptional To rule the Earth Hunger for shiny rocks For giant mushroom clouds The will to do just as you'd be done by Enter history, the grand finale Enter Ratkind Man, he took his time in the sun Had a dream to understand A single grain of sand He gave birth to poetry But one day'll cease to be Greet the last light of the library Man, he took his time in the sun Had a dream to understand A single grain of sand He gave birth to poetry But one day'll cease to be Greet the last light of the library Man, he took his time in the sun Had a dream to understand A single grain of sand He gave birth to poetry But one day'll cease to be Greet the last light of the library We were here! We were here! We were here! We were here! 4.) The Understanding We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones Most people are never going to die Because they are never going to be born The potential people who could have been here in my place But who will in fact never see the light of day Outnumber the sand grains of Sahara Certainly those unborn ghosts include Greater poets than Keats Scientists greater than Newton We know this Because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA So massively exceeds the set of actual people In the teeth of these stupefying odds It is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here We privileged few Who won the lottery of birth against all odds How dare we whine at our inevitable return To that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred? 5.) Sea-Worn Driftwood There is grandeur in this view of life With its several powers Having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one And that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on According to the fixed law of gravity From so simple a beginning Endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been And are being, evolved

I'm a pour it out A big block 4x4 I'm a billboard A buckshot that can't be ignored I'm a drift store I was built to invade I'm the realest motherfucker and I'm coming with age I'm rib-cage Broke down, battered, and bruised I was space age Cowboy shooting the moon I'm a full blown Down home rolling stone I'm a cyclone I'll shit wherever I roam Welcome to the greatest Love you when you hate us Welcome to the greatest fuckin' show on earth Welcome to the greatest Love you when you hate us Welcome to the greatest fuckin' show on earth I'm a full blown Freak show somethin' to see Got'em lined up And waiting taking bullets from me I'm a Mack truck I'm trucking down a one-way street You better move bitch My fuck tank's on E Baby come and see me shine I'm a mountain Of fame, the last of my kind Don't test me, oppress me Arrest me or fine me You best bring it on me if you're dying to try me Welcome to the greatest Love you when you hate us Welcome to the greatest fuckin' show on earth Welcome to the greatest Love you when you hate us Welcome to the greatest fuckin' show on earth Welcome to the greatest Love you when you hate us Welcome to the greatest fuckin' show on earth Welcome to the greatest Love you when you hate us Welcome to the greatest fuckin' show on earth Welcome to the greatest Love you when you hate us Welcome to the greatest fuckin' show on earth Welcome to the greatest Love you when you hate us Welcome to the greatest fuckin' show on earth Welcome to the greatest Love you when you hate us Welcome to the greatest fuckin' show on earth

I know the taste of my tears when they run down my face, yeah Reminds me of all of the ill and the dreams I've been chasing Fueling the fire inside so they feel I could fade soon 'Cause Mama never told me nothing 'bout being complacent So you can knock me down But I won't stay on the ground Can't stop believing I'm the greatest Heart's breaking 'til I know I made it I'll never know what second place is No pain, no doubt 'Til the lights go out Just a little more, makes it worth it all When I hear the call, will I rise or fall? I know all my roads lead to something gold So I'ma walk them all, I will walk them all You can knock me down But I won't stay on the ground Can't stop believing I'm the greatest Heart's breaking 'til I know I made it I'll never know what second place is No pain, no doubt 'Til the lights go out Ahh, 'til the lights go out, yeah yeah Some days it feels like I don't wanna go any farther The only way I know to keep on is keep pushing harder (Can't) Can't stop believing I'm the greatest Heart's breaking 'til I know I made it I'll never know what second place is No pain, no doubt 'Til the lights go out Can't stop believing I'm the greatest Heart's breaking 'til I know I made it I'll never know what second place is No pain, no doubt 'Til the lights go out

I'm back up on my feet Back up never saw defeat Battled every part of me Shattered every scar ye see I was born a king You were born to bleed Better take a seat Before ye bend a knee No apology Never get out of me Tapping as ye count to three Doubted when I couldn't' breathe Now ye beg and plead Sowing then ye reap Ye, I'm coming for ye This is Return of the greatest Oh oh oh Legend making Oh oh oh I can taste it My kingdom My crown Return of the greatest Oh oh oh Beast awakened Oh oh oh Can't be shaken Oh oh oh My kingdom My crown My crown Swore I'd never leave Come back of the century Legend and a legacy Reaching for my destiny The time has come Your time is done Can only be one Know my enemy Never been a friend to me Never get the best of me Now ye just a memory Sitting on the throne I'm coming home It's your time to go This is Return of the greatest Oh oh oh Legend making Oh oh oh I can taste it My kingdom My crown Return of the greatest Oh oh oh Beast awakened Oh oh oh Can't be shaken Oh oh oh My kingdom My crown My crown My crown Return of the greatest Legend making Return of the greatest Oh oh oh Legend making Oh oh oh I can taste it My kingdom My crown Return of the greatest Oh oh oh Beast awakened Oh oh oh Can't be shaken Oh oh oh My kingdom My crown My crown Return of the greatest Return of the greatest