Sourdoire Valley Song

Sourdoire Valley Song^[1][2]

Lyrics

Bang the small rocks on the big ones
Til the small ones are sharp and clean
Catch something, kill something
New blade cuts real keen^[3]

And then the grass grows up to cover up
The firepit and the forge
Half a world away from the Olduvai Gorge^[4]

Chew these roots for a toothache
Chew these ones for atmosphere
Dream the pleasant dreams that people dream
When they grow up down here

And then the grass grows up to cover up
The firepit and the forge
Half a world away from the Olduvai Gorge

Take care of the old man
See if he's in pain
Have somebody stay with him
Comfort him when he complains

Keep to ourselves mostly
Few friends and fewer closer friends
Lead a long life if you're lucky
Hope it never ends

And then the grass grows up to cover up^[5]
The firepit and the forge
Half a world away from the Olduvai Gorge
Half a world away from the Olduvai Gorge

Footnotes

^{1. A demo version of Sourdoire Valley Song was released on All Survivors Pack. Accordingly, Sourdoire Valley Song is part of the informal series of demos. (Credit: Annotated TMG)↩}
^{2. Sourdoire Valley is located next to La Chapelle-aux-Saints cave in France, the first recognized Neanderthal burial site. In addition to a skeleton of a Neanderthal man, many flint stone tools produced by Neanderthals were found there. Confirmed to be the correct reference by John on Tumblr. (Credit: Annotated TMG)

"Neanderthal is this branch of human development that doesn't seem to fit into the story. We have some fairly linear progressions, and then you have this little hook off to the side. For years, the theory ran that neanderthal man just went extinct. Either they didn't breed with cro-magnons, or cro-magnons wiped them out. We don't know what happened to them. This is no longer the operating theory, but it was the one that inspired me.

"There is a William Golding book, The Inheritors, which operated on the theory that the cro-magnons hunted and killed the neanderthal. To me, that's a profound notion — one race of man hunting the other for sport. It's Planet of the Apes weirdness. I read these stories about the development of the species, and there's interesting scientific stuff about people faking evidence and everything. It's got this weird occult vibe of trying to construct a secret false history." (Pitchfork, January 17 2011) ↩}

^{3. On the demo, John sings "New blade cuts real clean".↩}
^{4. The Olduvai Gorge is an archaeological site in Tanzania, notable for the discovery of tools and fossils linked to early human evolution. (Credit: Annotated TMG)↩}
^{5. On the demo, John sings "And then the mud mounds up to cover up...". ↩}