C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G7
Now Charlie was a youngster when he went to sea
C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G7
He sailed on the Beagle and re-wrote history
C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F
Wherever Charlie went, he collected and observed
C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G7 . . . . . . . . C
The fishes and the frogs and the birds
C . . . . . . . . . . . G7
Charlie Darwin sat in his room
C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .G7
Thought about the turtles and about baboons
C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F
He leaned back slowly and scratched his head
D7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G
When all became clear, this is what he said:
C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G7
The … turtles and the myrtles and the surtles and the nurtles
C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .G7
The birds and the firds and the mirds and the sirds
C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F
Even the monkeys and the apes in the trees
C . . . . . . . . . . . . G7 . . . . . . . . . . . C
Came from the sea with you and me
One thing he noticed that he couldn’t quite explain
When an animal changed its home it didn’t stay the same
Some were red and some were green and some were polka dot
But, it always seemed to help them a lot
Each generation had more than could survive
Those that were the fittest seemed to stay alive
When they had their children in the sea or in the den
They’d pass their advantage on to them
Pretty soon their kids would push the others away
And so the species change, even to this day
And man in all his brilliance with the apes was born
From fishes in the forest warm
Now all this talk of man and the apes
Made the preachers mad and their followers irate
God created man and woman from his rib
They believe Charlie Darwin told a fib
They fought him hard with the bible they held near
They ridiculed his book and laughed at his ideas
But anyone willing to open up their eyes
Saw Charlie spoke the truth, not lies
So evolution became a revolution
For the mystery of life man found a solution
And all his furry pets and all his finny friends
Became blood cousins to him
Today, we look in the sky and see mechanical birds
But old Charlie Darwin still can be heard
He and Newton and the lowly worm
Grew together and helped us learn
James K. Richardson