Johnny Appleseed's Lament

They knocked over all the trees with big bulldozers
Pushed 'em up into piles to watch 'em burn
Scraped off all the topsoil
Left it flatter than tabletop
Started plantin' houses
Looks like a bumper crop
Plowed under everything left worth saving
Came along and hammered in wooden stakes
Little orange flags
Now there's blacktop on the prairie
Where the deer and the antelope stood
For another Super Walmart
And a gated neighborhood
But old Johnny Appleseed had it all figured out
Live a simple life 'til your time runs out
Try to make this world a better place
But Johnny, there's no room for apple trees, anyway
These days
There's no room for apple trees, anyway
There were people livin' here before Columbus
They'd been here a thousand years when he arrived
They took only what they needed
From the bounty of the fruited plain
'Til they met the pale-skinned stranger
And it's never been the same.
Big promises were made and forsaken
By the ones whose vision had been blinded by their greed
But when they slaughtered all the buffalo
That was the final straw
You know some folks are never happy
'Til they have it all
But old Johnny Appleseed had it all figured out
Live a simple life 'til your time runs out
Try to make this world a better place
But Johnny, there's no room for apple trees anyway
These days
There's no room for apple trees, anyway
These days
There's no room for apple trees, anyway
Anyway