Dante II
This is a song based on an event which happened in 1994.
Dante II was a unique eight-legged robot which performed the first robotic observations inside a live volcano. You may wonder why Dante II; well the first Dante only managed 28 feet into the volcano when they lost communication. Dante II was a re-designed model who did much better and managed to get 660 feet into the crater. He completed its mission but slipped and fell on the way out, 400ft down. Despite their efforts they couldn’t get the robot back and it remained there trapped.
So, this song tells the story from the perspective of the robot which against the backdrop of a fiery volcano suggests a biblical setting; hence the link with the story of Isaac
When you switched me on I knew you for my father
You had programmed me to love you and obey
I knew that I would do anything you asked me
You just had to show me the way
You trained me to walk on my eight legs of alloy
Stronger than steel and harder than stone
They would walk they would run they would never tire
Unlike your legs made of sinew flesh and bone
You showed me to your friends and I know that I amazed them
They cheered for me when you made me run
Even Rachel smiled as she asked you what it feels like
To have a metal spider for your first born son
You named me Dante a name I was proud of
You painted it in gold letters upon my side
But you never told me about my destiny
You never told me that I was born to die
You carried me up the mountain and I trusted you
Through the smoke and the dust and the gathering haze
Like Isaac I felt proud to have you for my father
But there was no God looking down on me that day
You put me on the crater's brim and I walked forward
Treading so carefully as the rocks - they fell away
I was creeping I was crawling ever deeper
Father oh father were you proud of me that day?
I couldn't feel the pain as the sharp rocks - they fell on me
Or the heat which would have melted your body just like wax
I was still sending you digital information
When I slipped and fell on the long long journey back
You said that I had exceeded my specifications
Was that your way of saying how proud you were of me?
And I'm lying here alone in an Alaskan volcano
Father Oh Father, why have you forsaken me
Father Oh Father, why have you forsaken me