Ben: One of my very favourite numbers. Bob's lyrics, again, are those big epic, multi-generational themes that span eons. For a fellow with crappy eyesight, Bob is remarkably sighted... I see him regularly. I arranged the drumming along a double-bass riff, with those big orchestral fills. I avoided using the hi-hats through much of the piece, because the hats can sound clausterphobic. I wanted big and ambient, so I used the 22" Paiste 2002 Medium for most of the song.

Bob: This is about as 'green' or 'environmental' as I get. I'm not a fanatic recycler or vegan or anything. [Actually, I'm almost strictly carnivorous... I have fantasies of chasing down vegans on the serengeti... What else are herbivores for? I mean, I didn't claw my way to the top of the food chain for nothing!] I'm all in favor of space exploration, exploitation and/or colonization. I know we've done a fair amount of damage to the planet, especially in the last hundred years or so, but I think the planet will recover, and that we've learned enough to prevent similar environmental crises on newly colonized worlds. What I worry about nowadays are the social ills prevalent in modern society, specifically the dehumanization of the populous by the impersonal governments, and the multi-national corporations they unwittingly represent, which give lip service to 'human rights,' while lining the pockets of the elite management and legislators at the expense of the masses. Hats off to Bruce Cockburn... 'They Call it Democracy' indeed!

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Out of the stone age and into the bronze,
Constant struggle to survive,
Taming of fire pushed back the night,
And it spread from tribe to tribe,
Climbing new mountains, breaking new trails,
Trying to explore the world,
Travel the rivers and oceans with sails,
Out into the void we hurled...

One by one, man by man,
Stake our claim without any plan,
Pushing at boundaries and pulling at chains,
What we call the ascent of man.
Out of the fire and into the pan,
Then back to where we began,
Spread through the forests, mountains and plains,
This is all the ascent of man.

We know too much and not at all,
Can't escape the wasteland,
We advance, yet we hold still,
We both run and make a stand.

Solo

Out of the new age and on into space,
As we leave the planet.
What have we learned, oh what have we gained?
We fight the fire and fan it.
Have we the wisdom, have we the right,
To expand on outward?
Or will we threaten other lives,
As we have on our own world?

One by one, man by man,
Stake our claim without any plan,
Pushing at boundaries and pulling at chains,
What we call the ascent of man.
Out of the fire and into the pan,
Then back to where we began,
Spread through the forests, mountains and plains,
This is all the ascent of man.

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