Let’s Pretend It Never Happened

Lyrics and Music by Bobby Angel, his pre-drainage Everglades Song, Spring 2021

Let’s pretend it never happened x3 We’ll go there in our dreams The Lake is bursting at its seams Going south in a skiff with Hugh Willoughby Through a wall of sawgrass thick as can be Until at the edge finally we break free Into a maze of braids an unending freshwater sea On my face the good feel of a sunny breeze And in the distance tiny islands of trees Below pumping up a subterranean freshet Teeming with fish, alligators and flocks of egrets And then we get swept west into the Big Cypress Towering trees all around like looking up at a cliff An ivorybilled woodpecker landing on a branch Underneath the shaded grove with many orchids And finally to the mangroves where saltwater I sniff When around turns Hugh to suddenly interrupt To say nothing is real it’s time to wake up

Let’s pretend it never happened x3 We’ll go there in our dreams A wanted poster on the wall offering a big reward Wanted dead or alive, the new outlaw An scourge to paradise, it’s only flaw And so began the hunt for water Disston with his dredge he blew up the falls And tore into her marsh with his iron claws To drain it away at any cost With no concern or care for what might be lost Or anything other than greed might be served Turn the Garden of Eden into a trucking farm Nature would succumb and soon enough learn Draining it so hard it all started to burn The flame and the smoke filling sky at every turn Until we came to a ghostly face filling the air It was Disston saying welcome to my nightmare

Listen to the song and interview (after song)

Let’s pretend it never happened x3 We’ll go there in our dreams First came the waves and then came the storm Awakening the Lake and causing it to roar Sending its water over the levee in a big waterfall Flooding many people across the southern shore A nation aimed at settling the score By defeating water and declaring war And so they sent in the the Army Corp To box it in this time for sure Control the water with concrete doors So when it rains it no longer pours Pave over the coast with more and more Until there’s nothing left to do just stay indoors Nature left hanging on life support As tourists click their drinks in a big beach resort That’s when I close my eyes and I hear a shout It’s Hugh on his skiff telling me its time to go back out

Let’s pretend it never happened x3 We’ll go there in our dreams First thing we did was rip out the gates And let the water flow back to its natural state And slowly start to fill back the lake And overflow back into glades Forming new channels in the shape of a maze With all the animals returning as if to give praise After losing every battle turning a new page Welcoming in a new geologic age The clouds formed up in the sky Sending new water down from up high New springs forming down below So many new places for the water to go How did we even do it, we didn’t know Other than it was an incredible show We sat and watched content as could be Nature completely restored a sanctuary When something startled me and I opened my eyes A dim light in the distance a new sunrise

Pretend It Never Happened is the opening song (on Side A) of Bobby Angel’s album Listen to Big Cypress Bound (2022)