It was early in the morning
The ocean still asleep
Nothing more than ripples on the sea
As the sun awakened
Mother Nature knew
Truly she had built a world pristine
Underneath the waves
Out there in the mist
Surely the devil sprung a leak
His unopposed attack
Turned the ocean black
Now as I struggled to breathe
If you can hear me
Tell the truth
Who is the beast, Valdez
He said we would recover
We're stuck to one another
Don't listen to what he says
If you can hear me
Face the truth
And stop the beast, Valdez
You know that he is hiding
While scores of us are dying
We try but we can't forget
If you can hear me
Eleven million gallons
A hundred thousand birds
Washed up on a thousand miles of beach
Eleven thousand workers
In the suffocating crude
Could hear the cries of those they couldn't reach
In the silence of the dawn
The breath of life was gone
The ocean couldn't swallow anymore
And when the rivers choked
All hope went up in smoke
Now as I lie on the shore
If you can hear me
Tell the truth
Who is the beast, Valdez
He said we would recover
We're stuck to one another
Don't listen to what he says
If you can hear me
Face the truth
And stop the beast, Valdez
You know that he is hiding
While scores of us are dying
We try but we can't forget
If you can hear me
I will remember you
Good Friday, '89
The blind ones can't forget
Who they were blinded by
If you can hear me
Tell the truth
Who is the beast, Valdez
He said we would recover
We're stuck to one another
Don't listen to what he says
If you can hear me
Face the truth
And stop the beast, Valdez
We never saw it comin'
The risk that you were runnin'
We try but we can't forget
If you can hear me
Tell the truth
Who is the beast, Valdez
He said we would recover
We're stuck to one another
Don't listen to what he says
If you can hear me
If you can hear me