Animal Nations Or A History Of The World In 504 Words Poem by Dr Ian Inkster

Animal Nations or A History of the World in 504 Words.


Words and Music by Dr Ian Inkster.

First came the Bull, expansive with Power
Steel from Toledo and death by the Hour
Inventing Inquisitions and Conquistadors
Snatching the Americas by disease and by force.

But too many priests and directives from Rome
Disabled the strength of the Empire at home,
Crushed peasants blinded by cruel hopeless faith
Wasted the silver, aimed Spain at its fate.

So then came the Bear the great one to the East
A ponderous mystical mountain of beast
Providing the food for the richer ones West
Earning roubles for landlords who failed to invest

Now serfdom could not equal wealth from the sea
That came to the west from drugs, coffee and tea
And so Russia was beaten, dogs tore at her throat
As France went spinning a revolutionary coat

Leaving space for a Lion protected by sail
Firing cannon broadsides, making all sailors quail
Machinery, skills, things that no-one else owned
Now Britain could roar whilst these others all groaned

Factories, mill-towns and their workers grew fast
The owners made fortunes but it all could not last
As Birmingham guns created a global arms race
Two bloody World Wars laid the whole earth to waste.

Chorus I

Always one on top and the others below
Power brokered for money, religion a-fire all a-glow
Trades and missions served to conquer the slow;
And time watched on as it followed the flow.
Oh Civilization - the worst and the best
Just one as the topmost then damn all the rest.


The fourth beast an Eagle rose fast and rose high
Replaced the Lion and soon owned the Sky
Born amidst terror this bird created still more
Freezing into Cold War as it continued to soar.

But below it America found new tongues speaking out
Its own workers demanding, the world poverty's shout.
All Presidents hamstrung by welfare and arms
The Eagle fell slowly caught in no-body's charms.

The next one in line was a more mystical Beast
Waiting to return from the far distant East
A Dragon of fortune, of hugeness and Brain
An ancient empire now back, its past to regain.

Using tools from the West whilst Europe stalled from within
As the US-of-A tried to make sense of the din
China replied with investing in their strength you see
Confucius and Communism merged for a new century.

Chorus I

Always one on top and the others below
Power brokered for money, religion a-fire all a-glow
Trades and missions served to conquer the slow;
And time watched on as it followed the flow.
Oh Civilization - the worst and the best
Just one as the topmost then damn all the rest.

Chorus II

Its one by one by one by one by
One by one by one by one by
Ain't no two by two by two not here folks
rescue operation here no
Seen Noah nowhere around here, if so buy the man a beer.
This is just going on forever
Can we not now endeavour ….
Hey once we had two by two by two by two by
No man, that was the Cold War
No sense in that at all.

Well maybe the Dragon will be the better deal
In a few years time see how we feel
Well maybe the Dragon will be the better deal
In a few years time see how we feel …

Ian Inkster 2014.