[Start] [Instrumental Intro] [Male Vocal] [Verse 1] They came before the morning With ribbons, stakes and chains Painted numbers on the timber And measured out the range The old man watched them working From the shadow of the pine Then found a wooden marker Where an ancient trail had wound He pulled it from the ground And turned it in his hand There were numbers for the houses But no names for what lived there [Pre-Chorus] Then somewhere down the valley A chainsaw split the dawn The eagle left the high ridge And the morning birds were gone [Chorus] The mountain said no When the first old cedar fell The mountain said no And the sound rolled through the dell You can measure every acre You can draw your straight-line roads But before you build your houses Tell me where the wild things go [Verse 2] The wolf came through the timber To the trail he’d always known But the trees that gave him cover Lay like bones upon the ground The bear stood by the creek bed Where he’d fed through every spring Now diesel smoke hung heavy Over everything he’d known High above the broken treeline The eagle circled slow Looking for the ancient pine That once had held her home [Pre-Chorus] The old man saw them searching For a world no longer there And something in his weathered face Turned harder than despair [Chorus] The mountain said no When another hillside fell The mountain said no You could hear it in the vale You can measure every acre You can draw your straight-line roads But before you build your houses Tell me where the wild things go [Verse 3] They drew their streets across a map Where the wolf had walked for years They marked the lots and numbered homes But no one marked what disappeared Twenty-seven crossed the hillside Where the eagle built her nest Thirty-two ran through the hollow Where the old bear used to rest Every line looked clean on paper Every corner measured square But paper never showed the lives That had already settled there [Breakdown] [Male Vocal, Low] The old man walked the logging road No weapon in his hand Just forty years of knowing Every creature on that land He stood before the machines And raised one weathered hand [Male Voice] You’ve marked the ground for houses. But tell me… Where are they supposed to live? [Male Vocal] Behind him came the grizzly From the darkness of the pine The wolf stepped from the timber And stood quietly at his side The eagle crossed the clearing And turned against the sky Nobody made a movement Nobody had to [Final Chorus] The mountain said no And the old trees shook below The mountain said no For the ones who couldn’t say so You can measure every acre You can sell what you control But before you build another home Tell me where the wild things go The mountain said no Not from anger, not for war The mountain said no There was nowhere left for more The bear still needs the river The eagle needs the sky The wolf still needs the timber Just as much as you and I [outro] [Male Vocal, Low] You heard me once. Now hear the mountain. [End]
