I will survive (Ode to a fossil)

I Will Survive (Ode To A Fossil) from Liam Herringshaw on Vimeo.

As a Liverpool GPG undergrad I used to spend a lot of my spare (and much of my non-spare, e.g. lecture) time changing the words to popular songs, turning them geological.

There was Permian Rhapsody, Paranoid Echinoid and a variety of Madness hits honouring/insulting my lecturers. However, I must apologize most sincerely to Gloria Gaynor and the writers of her Number One hit single of 1979, as the only one that really worked well was this one...

I Will Survive (Ode to a fossil)

At first I just decayed,

then I petrified.

Kept thinking I would never

crop out on some mountainside.

But then I spent 10 million years

Sinking down till I was gone

And I grew strong

And I turned into silicon
(dioxide).

So now you hack

Me out this face.

You just walked up to find me here,

Began to hammer at my space.

I should have sabotaged your log,

I should have made you change the key

If I’d have known for just one second

You’d be back to bother me.

Go on now go!

Your map is flawed!

Just turn around now,
'cause you're not welcome anymore!
Yes you’re the one

who spied the chert I tried to hide,
But I won’t crumble
Even though I've laid down and died!
I’m a goniatite!

I will survive!
For as long as these rocks still exist

I know I'll stay alive!
I've got all my strike and dip
And you've got all this rock to chip,
so I'll survive!
I will survive! (hey hey)

It took all the strength I had
not to fall apart.
You’re trying hard to mend
the pieces of your grain-size chart.

And I spent oh so many nights
just in this quarry by myself.
I used to cry,
But now I’m on a bed up high.

You will see me,
high above you.
I'm not a way-up indicator
Though I’m in situ.
And so you felt like dropping in
And just expect to prise me free?
Well now I pray you’ll do your logging
on some new lithology.

Oh can’t you see

the quarry floor?
Fossils abound there!

Yes, you can find so many more!

Don’t be the one

To try and break me with your file!

Don’t think I'll crumble
Even though I’ve laid down and died!

I’m a goniatite!
I will survive!
For as long as these rocks still exist,

I know I'll stay alive!
I've got all my strike and dip
And you've got all this rock to chip,
so I'll survive!
I will survive! (oh)

Oh boy now go!

Go study core!

Go to the core shed,
where logging rocks is such a bore!
Yes you’re the one

Who spied the chert I tried to hide!

D'you think I'd crumble
Just ‘cause I’ve laid down and died?
I’m a goniatite!
I will survive!
For as long as these rocks still exist,

I know I'll stay alive!
I've got all my strike and dip
And you've got all this rock to chip,
so I'll survive!
I will survive!
I will survive...!