The money-go-round is overwound
The gambolling horses bound
And throw the Toorak cowboy
To the ground
So will he survive, take a dive
Or flay his foe alive
Armed with a Gucci watch
And a 4-wheel drive
Ringbark your heart
Subdivide your soul
A troll will take its toll
A virtual tear, so sincere
Is programmed to appear
The sound of patting backs is coming near
That's my turn off, let me out right here

The Earth doesn't understand economics
Volcanoes really don't give a hoot
About political theory
Gravity goes down
And entropy tends to go up
Whatever that means to a rock
And for the ocean there's no notion
Of religious devotion and yet we'll still be
Finding new cows to kowtow to
When the sun gives up with a cough
'Cos we think we're so tough

So is it a rort to export
The same stuff we import?
All in the name of good financial sport
Humanity flows in exposing
Something on the nose
On the face of the Earth
A nasty freckle grows
Ringbark your heart
Subdivide your soul
A troll will take its toll
Exorbitant fees catch the breeze
And spread like some disease
Ascending graphs are going to
Bring us to our knees
That's my turn off, let me out here please

©Mal Webb 2000

This song is pretty straight forward except for it's title. Ringbarking, for those who don't know, is the practice of cutting a ring of the bark from around the trunk of a tree with the purpose of killing it. It makes it easier when you eventually want to chop it down. And why hack down those big old trees when you can cut down nice new plantation ones? Makes sense to me.