Come, my son,
Get on my knee,
And I'll tell you how
It used to be
Back in Twenty Twenty-Two
When all those satellites
Still were few.
We had the wonderful
Night sky.

The stars above
We could plainly see,
Planets, comets,
And the galaxy.
The Milky Way marvels
Would flutter the heart
And give the soul
A fresh new start.
Ah, the night sky!
The wonderful
Night sky.

But then came Starlink
And others as well
Our hearts did sink
And tears did swell.
For we feared that,
Bye and bye,
There would be no more
Dark night sky.

Satellite after satellite.
Up they went,
A few at first
Then more were sent.
Hundreds and thousands
And more they came,
Driven by profits,
Driven by fame.
With no thought at all
For the night sky.

The satellites
With skins so bright
Reflected sunlight
Through the night
That turned the darkness
Into light.
And the darkness left
The night sky.

“Don't count the cost,”
We were told.
“We're moving forward,
We must be bold!
We'll have the Internet,
On Demand,
The World Wide Web
At our command!”
And what price to pay
For this you say?
Just
The night sky.

Then more and more
They came in herds.
Megaconstallations
Run by nerds
With no appreciation
For the sky at night.
Driven by profits
And might makes right.
With no thought at all
For the night sky.

Consumers in need?
Profits indeed!
Corporate greed.
They gave no heed
To the night sky.

They said, “Don't despair,
The stars are still there,
Somewhere out there,
Just beyond the bright
Night sky.”
The wonderful,
Night sky.

While astronomers wailed
And politicians failed
To curb the abuse,
With no excuse
The stars faded away
Until today
We can hardly say
“I remember
That wonderful
Night sky.”

A world-wide glow
Now covers the Earth.
Of dark places
There is a dearth.
Look near and far and all around.
Nowhere can a dark sky be found.
The night sky now
Has a dull grey sheen.
Nowhere on the planet
Can a dark sky be seen.
For the darkness has fled
And the stars have been bled
From the night sky.

Were the stars really that bright, you ask?
Well, I'm not quite up to the task
Of answering a question so profound.
Perhaps the answer can be found
On Wikipedia, Google, or Bing.
Alexa may even have a fling
At giving us insight
On how,
Somehow,
We lost the night.
They're all there on the web, you know.
But please understand before you go
That for all these modern and useful tools
We have all been made complacent fools.
For we have lost
The night sky.

The wonderful
Night sky.

Sittin' in your Austin condo,
Fine wine with your wife.
You say, “Let's be like Hondo,
It's time to change our life.
Build a little country place
Northwest of San Antone.
A place for just the two of us
Where we can be alone.”

Chorus:
Don't bring your city lights
To our Hill Country nights.
Don't bring no neon signs
They're not welcome if you try.
The only lights we need,
God put up in the sky.
So please don't bring those city lights
To our Hill Country nights.

When that first night's darkness falls,
You're both in such a fright.
Y'all can't take the dark at all—
So scared, you put up lights.
So if you need those neon signs—
You need those big bright lights.
We're sorry, it's a pity.
Just move back to the city.

If you put up those lights
And point them at the sky
I'm sure we're gonna fight
And that's the reason why.
But if you learn to live
With lights that don't offend,
We'll welcome you with open arms
[Chorus]

We don't want them city lights.