How Was I To Know

When the order came to dig the well
To crack the earth to pull the oil
To take the blood out from my mother’s veins
Well I broke the ground to feed the mouth
I did not here the warning sound
I could not put back in what I took out

How was I to know
How was I to know
I’d be a stepping stone
To the end
The end of everything
How was I to know

On the day I built a house so high
It’s antenna did scrape the sky
Well everyone applauded in my shadow
So my neighbour built a higher one
Then again his neighbour after him
Till racing through the clouds was all that mattered
Up and up the buildings went
Glass and stone and hard cement
Till all the green was left to die below

How was I to know
How was I to know
I’d be a stepping stone
To the end
The end of everything
The end of everything
How was I to know

Long ago I caught a pretty fish
Blue and silver and delicious
And I knew she’d line my pockets green
So I bought a bigger boat that had
A net to scrape the ocean and
I fished until one day that net was empty

How was I to know
How was I to know
I’d be a stepping stone
To the end
The end of everything
How was I to know

And how are we to now
Turn these stepping stones around
Back to everything that matters
Can that place even be found or is it lost
Forever

The end of everything
The end of everything
How was I to know?
How was I to know?

Written by Missy Higgins & Daniel Dodd Wilson
Published by Missy Higgins Productions / BMG Gold Songs/Songs Of Big Deal/Sugar Lake Music (ASCAP) administered by BMG Rights Management (US) LLC