Fresh Fossils Songtext
von Loudon Wainwright III

When I went walking on the beach,
I came to understand.
With each step I left a footprint;
A fresh fossil in the sand.
Looking over my left shoulder,
Behind lay my own track.
And I would be my own man Friday,
Or whenever I came back.
Up ahead I saw the future,
A stretch of barron beach.
I knew that I was headed nowhere,
The horizon out of reach.


So I turned and headed back,
I was present in my past.
Now and then mere twin directions,
The next intersecting the last.
There was proof that I had been there,
And proof I′ve come and gone.
Imprinted in the sands of time,
So why should I walk on?
Now and then identical,
Though they are not the same.
And future waves will erase both,
As if I'd never came.