Hank Green: The Anglerfish Song

Yes it's true that I once went through life
As a guy who always had to rhyme life with strife
Yes, I've been burned and I've been spurned
And through it all, yes, I have learned
That love is not about whether you get stabbed
But how slow the knife gets turned

But my friends I've found an animal
Who doesn't feel this pain
And my life is so much better
Now that I can feel the same

Because you can't hate the night
If you've lived your whole life without light
And you can't hate the dish
If you've only ever eaten fish
And you can't feel alone
If it's all you've ever known

Yeah the deep sea anglerfish
Has no reason to be happy
But it has no frikkin' idea
What else to be

The deep sea dwelling anglerfish
Never has to find a mate
They are always there together
When it's time to procreate

See one dark night, a young male
Bites the female on her side
And then slowly he becomes
A sperm-producing parasite

And if we can say he lives at all
He lives until she dies
And until that day he literally
Never leaves her side

Yeah you can't hate the night
If you've lived your whole life without light
And you can't hate the dish
If you've only ever eaten fish
And you can't feel alone
If it's all you've ever known

Yeah the deep sea anglerfish
Has no reason to be happy
But it has no frikkin' idea
What else to be

For years this rule has kept me
Out of hopeless despair
You simply do not feel
What is always there

I ask my brain to entertain
That pain is the same
That if I feel it all the time
Can you really call it pain

I don't have any friends
And I don't have any hair
But neither does the anglerfish
And she doesn't care

Because you can't hate the night
If you've lived your whole life without light
And you can't hate the dish
If you've only ever eaten fish
And you can't feel alone
If it's all you've ever known

Yeah the deep sea anglerfish
Has no reason to be happy
But she has no frikkin' idea
What else to be.