Cetology

[ISHMAEL]
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep
But soon we shall be lost in its harborless, unshored immensities
So ere that come to pass
Let us get into the famous long and boring whaling chapters
I shall start by classifying all the whales
But this is a ponderous task
And I should not pretend to be exhaustive, for who am I
That I should try to hook Levaithan's nose?
Though I have sailed and swum through vast oceans and libraries
Still I'm sometimes dumb about things outside my mind
Everything I read might be wrong, sometimes libraries lie
Though I never mean to steer you wrong, I just might be unreliable

I am on my own; it's just me and my heart broke head
And the ocean is too deep for me to fathom
Life is just too big for me to bear
But who am I to compare my despair with the shaking of the sea?
Who am I to give voice to voices I can never be?

But though I'm bound to fail
Let's define a whale:
A whale is a spouting fish with a horizontal tail
There you have him
And we may classify him thus:

Finback whale
Humpback whale
Razorback whale
Blackfish whale
Sperm whale
Right whale
Sulfur bottom whale
And blue whale
Grampus whale
Thrasher whale
Elephant whale
Iceberg whale
Cape whale
Narwhale
Pudding-headed whale
And junk whale
Cannon whale
Leading whale
Bottlenose whale
Coppered whale
Scragg whale
Quog whale
Killer whale, and of course
White whale

[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]

[ALL]
Shake what your momma gave ya!

[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK CONTINUES]

[ISHMAEL]
And porpoises, porpoises
Huzza, Algerine, Mealy-Mouthed porpoises
Yes porpoises are whales too
Ooh

But these are just some words classified in a guidebook on a dusty shelf
Who knows what they feel inside, who knows what they name themselves
And there are other ones that I don't know
There's so much that I don't know
Who am I?

Sometimes I wish these whales could swim
In an ocean that's free of men like me

Their aquatic paradise
Devoid of slack-jawed hunters and the poison of our wake
'Cuz men like me try anything and most everything we try turns out to be some big mistake

Like this could be an amazing song, tying each type of whale to bigger themes:
God
Determinism
Ecology
Capitalism
Race
Monomaniacism
And America

But it was stated at the outset that this system would not be here perfected
As you cannot but plainly see I've kept my word
For who am I?
This book is but a draught of a draught
God keep me from ever completing anything

[ALL]
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience
Time, cash, strength, patience