They say he didn't have an enemy
  his was a greatness to behold
  He was the last surviving progeny
  the last one on this side of the world
  
  He measured a half mile from tip to tail
  silver and black with powerful fins
  They say he could split a mountain in two
  that's how we got the Grand Canyon
  
  Last great American whale
  last great American whale
  Last great American whale
  last great American whale
  
  Some say they saw him at the Great Lakes
  some say they saw him off of Florida
  My mother said she saw him in Chinatown
  but you can't always trust your mother
  
  Off the Carolinas the sun shines brightly in the day
  the lighthouse glows ghostly there at night
  The chief of a local tribe had killed a racist mayor's son
  and he'd been on death row since 1958
  
  The mayor's kid was a rowdy pig
  spit on Indians and lots worse
  The old chief buried a hatchet in his head
  life compared to death for him seemed worse
  
  The tribal brothers gathered in the lighthouse to sing
  and tried to conjure up a storm or rain
  The harbor parted, the great whale sprang full up
  and caused a hugh tidal wave
  
  The wave crushed the jail and freed the chief
  the tribe let out a roar
  The whites were drowned, the browns and reds set free
  but sadly one thing more
  
  Some local yokel member of the NRA
  kept a bazooka in his living room
  And thinking he had the chief in his sight
  blew the whale's brains out with a lead harpoon
  
  Last great American whale
  last great American whale
  Last great American whale
  last great American whale
  
  Well Americans don't care for much of anything
  land and water the least
  And animal life is low on the totem pole
  with human life not worth more than infected yeast
  
  Americans don't care too much for beauty
  they'll shit in a river, dump battery acid in a stream
  They'll watch dead rats wash up on the beach
  and complain if they can't swim
  
  They say things are done for the majority
  don't believe half of what you see and none of what you hear
  It's like what my painter friend Donald said to me
  "Stick a fork in their ass and turn them over, they're done"