"The rock is gonna fall on us!"

I've finally figured out something that has been bugging me for years.

By way of necessary preface, my dad is quite possibly the world's biggest Harry Chapin fan, a love which he successfully passed on to me, although I obviously can't brag that I've seen him live (as Dad can), since he died in 1981, three years before I was born. The first Harry Chapin song I remember hearing is "The Rock," probably because of the ominous opening, resembling (appropriately) the ticking of a clock. The lyrics are straightforward:

"The rock is gonna fall on us!"
He woke with a start,
And he ran to his mother,
The fear dark at 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.
(Silly child!)
Everybody knows that it won't tumble to the ground.
(Silly child!)
Remember Chicken Little said the sky was falling down.
(Silly child!)
Well, nothing e'er became 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 upon the hill.
If it doesn't fall this year,
Then very soon it will."

(Crazy boy!)
Everybody knows the rock leans over the town.
(Crazy boy!)
Everybody knows that it won't tumble to the ground.
(Crazy boy!)
We've more important studies than your fantasies and fears.
(Crazy boy!)
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.
(Just a madman!)
Everybody knows that it won't tumble to the ground.
(Just a madman!)
Everybody knows of those who say the end is near.
(Just a madman!)
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 all 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 'round the edge.

"The rock is gonna fall on us!
Run, or you'll be crushed!"
And, indeed, the rock was moving,
Crumbling all the 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.

My dad used to challenge me to think about what the metaphorical "rock" in the song was. Well, I think I have it. Clearly, Harry Chapin foretold our current economic crisis.

Heh.