The Oil Song Lyrics

"Oh the engine's gone dead," cried the men who work there
And she pa*sed up the dock on the wide Delaware
Then the ship ran aground and the oil got away
And they penned that report, "The big spill" on that day

It was hundreds of thousands of gallons galore
Stretching thirty-two miles down the Delaware shore
There were geese in the marshes out looking for food
They got stuck where they stood in the oncoming crude

And it's oil, oil
Ah, drifting to the sea
Oil, oil

Don't buy it at the station
You can have it now for free
Just come on down to the shoreline
Where the water used to be

In the well-charted waters of the Nantucket shoals
Was a ship run aground full of oil, we were told
In a week's worth of rough winter weather and waves
The boat started cracking and it could not be saved

It was seven-point-six million gallons this time
Consider the danger and think of the crime
As it poured out a slick stretching into the tide
Over one hundred-miles and yes, it came deep, it came wide

And it's oil, oil
Oil pouring in the sea
Oil, oil

Oh, don't buy it at the station
You can have it now for free
Just come on down to the shoreline
Where the water used to be

There's talk of some writing found in the ship's log
Saying one of the helmsmen's unfit for his job
And the ship's gyro compa*s was six degrees shy
Their charts were outdated but they, they tried to get by

And you know it's oil, oil
Yeah, pouring in the sea
Oil, oil

Don't buy it at the station
You can have it now for free
Just come on down to the shoreline
Where the water used to be, yeah

Now both of these ships, like a great many more
Got registered in through Liberian doors
Inspections are quick and regulations are few
Just sign on the line and go find you a crew, yes

One of these ships was the Olympic Games
The Argo Merchant was the other one's name
Well, it's sad, but it's true, things got worse for the seas
'Cause I ain't even mentioned Amoco Cadiz

Amoco Cadiz, between England and France
The big super tanker out there taking it's chance
Within one hundred thousand black tons of the slime
Amoco Cadiz spilled the most of all time

Yes, you know it's oil, oil
Man, it's creepin' in the sea
Oil, oil

Oh, don't buy it at the station
You can have it now for free
Just come on down to the shoreline
Where the water used to be

Now down in the Gulf east of Mexico way
There's something gone wrong, so the papers all say
A Mexican oil well is leaking it's goo
They say it's the worse that things have ever come to

Yes, it's gallons of sludge, sixty million and more
It's cruising and oozing towards many a shore
Yes, things have got bad but they will probably get worse
If you can't drink the oil, oh, you might, you might die of thirst

Because it's oil, it's oil
And it's creeping in the sea
Oil, oil

Don't buy it at the station
You can have it now for free
Just come on down to the shoreline
Where the water used to be, yeah

Steve Forbert - The Best of Steve Forbert: What Kinda Guy?

Apr 1993

1. Romeo's Tune
2. Ya Ya (Next To Me)
3. Cellophane City
4. Song For Katrina
5. The Sweet Love That You Give (Sure Goes A Long Long Way)
6. I'm In Love With You
7. Complications
8. January 23-30, 1978
9. Get Well Soon
10. Schoolgirl
11. Samson And Delilah's Beauty Shop
12. The Oil Song
13. Listen To Me