The Black Rats Of London
Bruce Hornsby

In our beautiful pursuit of manifest destiny

We give ourselves great credit, we thank the Good Lord so earnestly

But something's been omitted by the writers of history

Now stand up all unsung heroes who made this world for you and me


Jamestown

Night crawlers cleared the forests of seedlings, nuts and leaves

And everything everywhere dried up and the natives got the dry heaves

Mosquitoes brought malaria and bees brought their hives

And the Indians got less scarier with yellow skin and eyes


Hoorah, hooray, the black rats of London

They crossed the sea for you and me

Let's raise a glass so thankfully


Hail, hail, hooray, the black rats of London

Made the long treacherous passage to

Spread their natural juices, a gift to you, a gift to you


Yorktown

Parasites decimated the red army of Cornwallis and his flock

Standing weakly on Yorktown battlefield with measles and small pox

Horses, hogs, chickens and dogs and John Rolfe's prized worms

Divine intervention, bacterial strains from imported English dirt


Hoorah, hooray, the black rats of London

They crossed the sea for you and me

Let's raise a glass so thankfully


Hail, hail, hooray, the black rats of London

Made the long treacherous passage to

Spread their natural juices, a gift to you



Natural juices, yes a gift to you

Hoorah, hooray, hoorah, hooray

Hail, hail, hooray, hoorah, hooray, ray, ray, ray


Hoorah, hooray, the black rats of London

They crossed the sea for you and me

Let's raise a glass so thankfully


Hail, hail, hooray, the black rats of London

They made the long treacherous passage to

Spread their natural juices, a gift to you


The black rats of London

They crossed the sea for you and me

Let's raise a glass so thankfully


Hail, hooray, the black rats of London

Made the long treacherous passage to

Spread their natural juices, a gift to you, yes a gift to you


Pat yourself on the back, you did a great job

And the black rats of London made such a glorious, vicious mob

Sorry Rene it's just not true, paramecium's have feelings too


Where were the black rats when we needed them the most?

There were slave owners to infect

And the Joe Mengeles of the American West


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Lyrics by Bruce Hornsby

  \   20\/20 Vision \/ Night On The Town   A Night on the Town   Across The River   Across the River [DVD]   Another Day   Barren Ground   Big Rumble   Big Rumble (anthony J Merriman)   Big Stick   Big Swing Face   Black Rats of London   Cadillac   Candy Mountain Run   Carry The Water   Cartoons and Candy   Celestial Railroad   Charlie Woody And You   China Doll   Circus On The Moon   Continents Drift   Country Doctor   Crown of Jewels   Cruise Control   Cyclone   Darlin' Be Home Soon   Defenders of the Flag   Defenders On The Flag   Down the Road Tonight   Dreaded Spoon   Dreamland   Every Little Kiss   Fields of Gray   Fire on the Cross   Fortunate Son   Funhouse   Go Back to Your Woods   Gonna Be Some Changes Made   Great Divide   Harbor Lights   Heir Gordon   Here We Are Again   Hooray for Tom   Hot House Ball   I Will Walk With You   Imagine - Live   Imagine [DVD]   In The Low Country   In the Ring Pt. I   Invisible   Jacob's Ladder   Jacob's Ladder (live version)   Jacob's Ladder/Blackberry Blossom (Live)   King of the Hill   Lady With A Fan (Live)   Lady With The Fan   Levitate   Life In The Psychotropics   Line in the Dust   Listen to the Silence   Long Tall Cool One   Long Tall Cool One (Live)   Look Out Any Window   Lost In the Snow   Lost Soul   Love Me Still   Madman Across The Water   Mandolin Rain   Mandolin Rain \/ Black Muddy River   Michael Raphael   Mirror On The Wall   No Home Training   Nobody There But Me   On the Western Skyline   Paperboy   Passing through   Pastures of Plenty   Pete and Manny   Piano Intro \/ Great Divide   Place   Prairie Dog Town   Preacher in the Ring, Pt. 1   Preacher in the Ring, Pt. 2   Questions And Answers   Rainbow's Cadillac   Rainbow's Cadillac (Live)   Resting Place   Resting Place (Live)   Sad Moon   See The Same Way   Set Me In Motion   Shadow Hand   Shadowland   Simple Prayer   Sneaking up on Boo Radley   Sneaking Up On Boo Radley (Live)   So Out   Song C   Song D   Song E (Hymn In Eb)   Song F   Space Is The Place   Special Night   Spider Fingers   Spiderfingers   Stacked Mary Possum   Stander on the Mountain   Stander On The Mountain (Live)   Sticks and Stones   Stranded on easy street   Sunflower Cat (Some Dour Cat) (Down With That)   Sunflower Cat \/ It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes...   Sunlight Moon   Swan Song   Swing Street   Take Out the Trash   Talk of the Town   Thats Just The Way It Is   The Changes   The Country Doctor   The Dreaded Spoon   The End Of The Innocence   The Good Life   The Hot House Ball   The Long Race   The Long Race   The Longest Night   The Old Playground   The Red Plains   The Red Plains   The Red Plains (Live)   The River Runs Low   The Road Not Taken   The Road Not Taken (Live)   The Show Goes On   The Talk of the Town   The Tango King   The Tide Will Rise   The Valley Road   The Way It Is   The Wild Frontier   These Arms Of Mine   Thing Called Love   This Too Shall Pass   Till the Dreaming's Done   Tropical Cashmere Sweater   Two Kinds of Love   Valley Road   Variations on Swan Song and Song D   Walk In The Sun   Way It Is   We'll Be Together Again   What a Time   What the Hell Happened   Wheeled Limousine   White Weeled Limousine   White Wheeled Limosine   White Wheeled Limousine

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