Artist: Harry Chapin Album: Portrait Gallery Song: The Rock Year: 1975 Top Chart Position: unknown

The rock is gonna fall on us, he woke with a start And he ran to his mother, the fear dark in his heart And he told her of the vision that he was sure he'd seen She said: "Go back to sleep son, you're having a bad dream!" Silly child-- Everybody knows the rock leans over the town Everybody knows that it won't tumble to the ground Remember Chicken Little said the sky was falling down Well nothing ever came of that, the world still whirls around "The rock is gonna fall on us," he stood and told the class The professor put his chalk down and peered out through his glasses But he went on and said; "I've seen it, high up on the hill If it doesn't fall this year then very soon it will!" Crazy boy-- Everybody knows the rock leans over the town Everybody knows that it won't tumble to the ground We've more important studies than your fantasies and fears You know that rock's been perched up there for a hundred thousand years "The rock is gonna fall on us." He told the magistrates "I believe that we can stop it but the time is getting late You see I've done all the research my plans are all complete." He was showing them contingencies when they showed him to the street Just a madman-- Everybody knows the rock leans over the town Everybody knows that it won't tumble to the ground Everybody knows of those who say the end is near Everybody knows that life goes on as usual round here He went up on the mountain beside the giant stone They knew he was insane so they left him alone He'd given up enlisting help for there was no one else He spent his days devising ways to stop the rock himself One night while he was working building braces on the ledge The ground began to rumble the rock trembled on the edge "The rock is gonna fall on us! Run or you'll all be crushed!" And indeed the rock was moving, crumbling all to dust He ran under it with one last hope that he could add a prop And as he disappeared the rock came to a stop The people ran into the street but by then all was still The rock seemed where it always was or where it always will be When someone asked where he had gone they said: "Oh he was daft. Who cares about that crazy fool." And then they'd start to laugh But high up on the mountain When the wind is hitting it If you're watching very closely The rock slips a little bit

While this song is not about science per se, it can be seen as allegorical to the current state of science as described in The Golem. Chapin probably intended this to be a parable about the state of world hunger, which was the primary cause he championed before his tragic death in 1981. However, we can also see this as portraying scientific progress. Like the rock in the song, science can be seen as a large "object" that is going to fall on us sometime. In the song, the boy tells everyone that the rock that leans over the town is going to fall, and no one believes him. He goes through his life trying to save the town from the rock. When he finally begins a project to shore up the rock to keep it from falling on the town, everyone calls him a fool. Though his foresight and ambition saved the town, he ended up dying in the process. In addition, the rock does not appear to be permanently secured. Like this rock, science, if not controlled, has the ability to destroy us.