This song was inspired by reading a book about the origins of sound and music (Sounds Wild and Broken, by David Haskell) and by reading a dystopian fiction novel which included a line about how nobody makes guitar strings any more (Briefly Very Beautiful, by Roz Dineen). The line “What makes us all human is music” came to me and the rest of the song built from there!

What music will there be when there’s nobody to sing their songs
What tunes will still be heard when the instruments don’t play along
And what stories will be passed on
When the balladeers are long gone?
What will be left when we are not here?

Bone flutes and cow horns and panpipes and rhythms of
Shell shakers, clapsticks and bead covered gourds and the
Joining of voices, what makes us all human is music
Sports crowds and orchestras, buskers and people in
Pubs singing folk songs and carols at Christmas,
The joining of voices, what makes us all human is music

What will the world sound like when the human noise has died away
What will the soundscape be when our instruments no longer play
And what beauty will be missing
When there’s nobody to listen
What will be left when we are not here?

Bone flutes and cow horns …

The tunes that we whistle, the songs that we sing
All filling the air like the birds on the wing
Twisting and turning, enveloping everything
In all of our differences, music reminds us
That there is still so much more that binds us
For thousands and thousands and thousands of years
Just like our ancestors we are still here playing

Bone flutes and cow horns …

© Rich Clarkson 2025

Picture from https://www.nms.si/en/collections/highlights/343-Neanderthal-flute