One Way to Go
copyright 1979 by Diana Gallagher, used with permission of the author

Throughout our history, man has sought prosperity
By daring to challenge the unknown
Through the ages he’s discovered, exploited, and recovered
All the riches of this planet for his own
Thus improving his condition, he’s confronted with decision:
What to do about the future on a world that he’s outgrown?

(chorus) Well, there’s one way to go from here, one way to go
It’s logical, it’s clear, there’s only one way to go from here
Without a doubt, the only way to go from here is out

Overpopulation, unemployment, and inflation
And destruction of the Earth’s ecology
Limited supplies of energy deny
A base for developing third-world industry
Starvation and poverty or wealth and technology
Expansion is the key to a healthy world economy…

(repeat chorus)

Breakin’ free of gravity, moving all our industry
Beyond the planet’s surface into space
Lunar mines and factories, LaGrange point colonies
Total productivity and nothing goes to waste
Solar sailing ships deploy to mine all the asteroids
While Earth becomes a paradise, he ugly scars erased…

(repeat chorus)

Throughout the solar system, man will spread and requisition
All the elements of the planets and their moons
More than just surviving, flourishing and thriving
Until a future day when again he faces doom
In a thousand years or two, he’ll lament: “Now, what to do?
“We’re exhausting our resources and we’re running out of room…”

(repeat chorus)

Reach for the stars, they’re not that far
The way to go from here, the only way to go
The only way to go from here
The only way to go from here
The only way to go from here is out!

Notes

One of the many ways I've been blessed in the GriffinEd project is in the generosity of other writers with their music. Diana Gallagher wrote this one in the 1970's about how some of the goals of rocket science and the goals of environmentalism really are the same: to get the polluting industries (mining, etc.) off our planet and up into space where they belong, so we can turn our old strip mines into national parks. Anyone been to the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK? We could do that on a planet-wide scale if we decide it's important enough. 35 years after Diana wrote the song, it's time to get started.

Chords:
D, G, A, Bm.