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The Illinois Oil Basin

from Gasoline by Utility Project

/

lyrics

It's black gold that I'm chasin' in the Illinois oil basin

from Wisconsin to Cincinnatti and Nashville to the Mississippi
buried down underground just about fourteen thou'

Daniel Yergin wrote 'The Prize' now he's opened up my eyes
it's black gold that I'm chasin' in the Illinois oil basin

impossible though it seems, all this land was once sea
tiny animals now deceased, droppin' down in their sleep

let's look back in the past rotting heaps of biomass
once there lived tiny plankton, now I think we should thank 'em

it's black gold that I'm chasin' in the Illinois oil basin
all this time it's been waitin' for the rigs we're creatin'

can you hear the cicada cry? dying now he can no longer fly
decomposing he becomes the earth, in a million years comes his rebirth
plankton from some time ago, reconvened to make the oil flow

he's liquified with all his friends, but that's not where the story ends
sucked back up and then refined, he becomes the gasoline that you buy
now it's time to incinerate, burned up inside your old v8

it's black gold that I'm chasin' in the Illinois oil basin
and the clock that I'm racin' with the demand that we're facin'

since Precambrian times repeated uplifts and down wrappings
igneous and sedimentary now loosened up all the trappings

it's black gold that I'm chasin' in the Illinois oil basin
some folks say that it's fine soon we'll have a good supply
it's black gold that I'm chasin'

I won't let these stacked pays ever get in my way
Recent calcs indicate that it's not yet too late

it's black gold that I'm chasin' in the Illinois oil basin
it's black gold that I'm chasin' in the Illinois oil basin

credits

from Gasoline, released May 31, 2007
Interlude: The Cicada

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Utility Project Potsdam, New York

A lack of career spanning nearly two decades, Utility Project creates its own version of unpopular music

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