The Persistence of Fish

# THE PERSISTENCE OF FISH *Shell Bound* Welcome to the landscape. Don't touch the paintings. They may touch you. Has anybody seen Salvador? --- ## Verse 1 I had a little fish who outgrew his bowl Jumped into another, got swallowed whole One fish, two fish, three, four One jumped through a donut and came back for more Was the hole in the donut Or the donut round the hole? If you cut the whole in half Do you still have a whole? Depends how you slice it. That's deep. It's a donut. ## Pre-Chorus Same water, different bowl Round and round the fishes go One jumped out to save his soul Landed in the watering hole! ## Chorus We're going nowhere But we're making excellent time! Swimming in circles On somebody else's dime! Whole hole! Half hole! **ASSHOLE!** **THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!** Well, that's hardly fair. WHO CARES? ## Verse 2 I joined a school of fish to study schools of thought One asked what they were learning, the others said, "A lot" At the watering hole they drank the Kool-Aid blue One fish asked what flavor, they said, "The same as you" The shark was serving cocktails, the duck was tending bar The fish lost his water but hadn't got far Has anybody checked the water? Why? Never mind. ## Verse 3 The Thinker sat beside the pond, his chin upon his fist A hundred years pondering what he missed I asked him what he thought, he said, "I'd rather not" The auctioneer yelled, "GOING ONCE!" and sold his final thought They slapped a SOLD sticker on his ass And all his thinking stopped I had a thought. Never mind. It's been bought. ## Chorus We're going nowhere But we're making excellent time! Reinventing wheels And selling back the design! Whole hole! Half hole! **ASSHOLE!** **THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!** ## Verse 4 The potter made a bowl, the fish developed legs The Thinker lost his marbles and Dalí scrambled eggs They reinvented the wheel and patented the spin Then charged us all admission just to go around again Tossed their thoughts in recycling, sold them as brand-new The buyer cried, "How original!" The fish said, "Déjà vu" Kiln 'em with kindness. That's pottery. Well, glaze me a donut. ## Verse 5 They duct-taped a banana to the middle of the frame Called it Comedian and changed the whole damn game The Thinker scratched his head: "What's it worth?" "Millions!" yelled the auctioneer; the fish fell off his perch The duck said, "That's bananas!" The shark said, "That's a steal!" Dalí peeled back reality and slipped upon the peel Is that original? No, but the tape is authentic! Well, that's appealing. ## Bridge We took our thoughts to Shark Tank The sharks drank Kool-Aid and placed their bets We pitched a brand-new wheel; they said, "That's been done before!" We put a donut in the middle and they offered us much more! A million dollars for ten percent of nothing. What's your valuation? The whole? Or just the hole? I'm out. I'm in. SOLD! ## Breakdown The shark demanded royalties, the fish demanded fins Dalí melted all the contracts and we started up again They sold a splash for lots of cash Till somebody drank the Kool-Aid and handed back the glass They called it innovation, they called it something posh Till the duck inspected the water and declared it... **BACKWASH!** Nobody wants your backwash. Slightly used! No refunds! ## Final Verse The sharks invested in the tank, the fish invested in the wheel The Thinker sold his final thought: "Is any of this real?" Dalí pulled the bathtub plug, the clocks began to strain The whole hole went down the rabbit hole and circled the hairy drain The duck demanded royalties, the fish demanded fame "GOING ONCE!" He sold the drain again ## Final Chorus We're going nowhere But we're making excellent time! Same water, different bowl And another paradigm! Whole hole! Half hole! **ASSHOLE!** **THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!** They sold us back our thinking And we thanked them for the thought Recycled every thought With everything we bought! ## Outro Thank you all For this beautiful surreal masterpiece. Maybe someday It'll make me more than crazy. But I wouldn't bet the whole hole on it. GOING ONCE! Put it on my tab. Quack. But we're making excellent time.