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Pop Philosophy

by Worldview

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1.
Defiance 05:30
We are rolling the rock up a hill To watch it roll down where it was before Always rolling that rock up a hill And sometimes that's hardly a metaphor Then you stumble on a mode of resistance That some others seem to know without thinking The arrival at a style Of defiance It's a noble attitude The appliance of a science Of defiance This contract, it is sometimes insufferable And despite that you're intended to suffer it all The outlook predictably unpredictable For a life's work that will recede to nothing at all Can you summon up a show of resistance Like some others seem to do without blinking The survival of your trials In defiance It's a noble attitude The appliance of a science Of defiance Is the strategy to chose To resist in the face of what's certain May appear on the face of it worthless But you're showing your disgust at the format That you'll grant life some purpose despite that I am offering this course of resistance As the closest thing I've heard yet to wisdom The survival of your trials In defiance It's a noble attitude The appliance of a science Of defiance On the only path we use You don't have to stand for this And you don't have to take it lying down either You don't have to stand for this And you don't have to take it lying down either
2.
I'm bereft, I'm bereaved I've been swept out to sea And I need to make head or tail Someone drew their last breath When they weren't ready yet And it feels like the great betrayal Is it an insult to their memory If I should take this world so seriously? I'm looking into it And I'm working alone I'm looking into it So don't wait by the phone You were looking into it The appropriate way to live When you found you were out of time Maybe we can't solve the questions That have floored all the best minds But I'm sure going to have fun trying Is it an insult to their memory If I don't take this world so seriously? I'm looking into it Pouring over the clues I'm looking into it Just suspicions won't do Well life tastes so poor And the portions are so small We're getting to the nub Yeah life tastes so poor And the portions are so small Yeah therein lies the rub I'm bereft, I'm bereaved I've been left all at sea And I need some kind of recourse We know far greater brains Have collapsed from the strain You could end up hugging a horse It is a tribute to your legacy That I approach this work so seriously I'm looking into it Like there's something to prove I'm looking into it I may never be through I'm looking back to it Let me get back to you
3.
Bad Faith 05:37
This world may be a phase you're going through Before some higher plane you're heading to But no firm evidence says this is true And all you know is all that is in view With this in mind Are you gonna bide your time? Well there is one distinction that we've got As humans we can picture what is not Weighing up the roles we might assume Able to adopt them if we chose With this in mind Are you gonna script your life? With this in mind Are you living in bad faith Are you running a rat race Are you putting a brave face on? Are you waiting in good faith Just minding your own space And aiming to stay safe, hey? Now God's been dead a hundred years and more And there were many roles we'd built him for Meaning and belief have been erased Leaving us to deal with a clean slate Are you living in bad faith Are you running a rat race Are you showing your fine taste off? Are you waiting in good faith Just minding your own space And tending to play safe, hey? Freedom It's an awe-inspiring thought It's a terrifying thought Should you spare it any thought Freedom It's an awe-inspiring thought Is it safer to ignore The suggestions of that thought? Are you gonna steer your life? With this in mind Are you losing your bad faith Are you ducking the rat race Are you dreaming of new states now? Are you hoping to make waves Out throwing some strange shapes And joking in poor taste, hey?
4.
We never said we'll get back to you We never said you can't hold a tune May we suggest your memory's confused? After the fact After the fact We never said the sound isn't right We never said they don't play in time It's evident the whole thing's sublime After the fact After the fact And no one shows What everybody knows That nobody knows anything Yeah no one shows What everybody knows That nobody knows anything And though we're sure your voice is unique We've got to turn out more like you quick Because the public's called you a hit And no one shows What everybody knows That nobody knows anything No no one shows The truth that Goldman wrote It's no real mystery An open secret The role of contingency In who achieves it But captains of industry Will sing your praises And claim it was clear to see Now that you've made it Congratulations! Congratulate them! We were much too slow to respond When technology moved along Saw our produce go for a song Those are the facts Those are the facts We need you to come out and bat You can put us back in the black You're too huge to fail and that's that And no one shows What everyone should know That no one controls anything And no one shows What everyone must know That no one foretold anything It goes to show The truth that Goldman wrote That nobody knows anything I've come to know It's just like Goldman wrote That nobody knows anything
5.
The Malady 04:31
Is it good to talk? Is it best to air the thought? Is it good to talk Of a fate you can't avoid? Are we throwing the drama in sharper relief Or offering ourselves a chance of release? Is it good to talk? Is it best to bare the thought? Well I chose to hold my tongue And resolved to soldier on So that boil was never lanced As the malady advanced Is it good to talk When we've come to last resorts? Is it wise to share Thoughts that might invite despair? Well I offered a blind eye Not acknowledging your plight Feigning blissful ignorance As the malady advanced There wasn't something I said That put you in a darker mood There wasn't something I said To show your fears were understood There wasn't something I said It would be good to talk Now there'll be no chance at all Of course the end did come And there's nothing to be done Did you suffer in silence And hope for a sound? Did I lessen its violence Tip-toeing around? It would be good to talk It would be good to know for sure
6.
Look to the night sky and its billion points One for each life that could have easily been yours And all of the memories that amount to a life Can always be ended in the glint of a knife If you believe one thing leads to another If you insist there's a scheme to uncover These are stories that we tell ourselves To join the dots up where they fell Stories that we tell ourselves While you're surviving to tell the tale You'll feel inclined to present a tale Deep is the instinct to want to divine Some kind of meaning in the squalor we find If you believe you've been living your own script Ignoring each of the pieces that don't fit These are stories that we tell ourselves To join the dots up where they fell They are stories that we tell ourselves To force some order on our world The truths of a history that governs your days Are buried beneath these accounts you create Demand excavation of a specialist kind Without reservations about what you may find All of those conscious justifications Covering up unknown motivations No the stories that have made our selves Are not the ones we on which we dwell And the stories that we tell ourselves Are cooked up ones that serve us well Stories that we sell ourselves
7.
So you didn't get to see me succeed And you didn't have to see me fail either Couldn't settle on a creed to believe But you've finally been given the answers Oh, you seem so long gone So long gone so soon And all that's been lost Was never pointed to But that stuff was hanging in the air We hardly made a mention But we knew that it was there Such love was hanging in the air It rarely found expression But the trace was everywhere And I didn't get to lay it on you With the clearing of debts on the deathbed Couldn't offer you my fond gratitude In the window that I had expected Oh, but why buck a trend We parted as we lived With those words unsaid But still somehow distinct That stuff was hanging in the air We hardly made a mention But we knew that it was there Such love was hanging in the air It rarely drew attention But the trace was everywhere Of course there is an afterlife Why didn't I believe it? Because you made a mark on life That lives on when you leave it Oh, people pay respects, so sadly, so sincere Oh, and they reach for words We never had to hear Yeah that stuff was hanging in the air We hardly made a mention But we knew that it was there Such love was hanging in the air We didn't shout about it But I knew you knew we cared That stuff was hanging in the air And that's some consolation For an ending that unfair Such love left hanging in the air Hanging in the air
8.
Wonder 04:01
Oh the starry sky above you And the moral law within you Caused you to wonder And you made such use of this life That you barely paused to give life That's where I come from Now I resolve to travel wide Both in the world and in the mind And climb aboard for any ride that calls my name You were mad at want and hunger But you had no truck with dogmas You looked beyond them Didn't care whose side you stood on If it meant you got the job done Sorting the problem Now I resolve to take your lead And shake the fruit from every tree And weigh the truth of all beliefs that call my name When your endless thirst for knowledge Left you late for your appointments We started to wonder But those days as culture vulture Meant that when the vultures circled They hadn't been squandered Now I will tap that energy In honour of your memory Though following your tempo won't come easily You caused me to wonder You caused us to wonder
9.
There is no grand design that we can know from here There is no smoking gun to make the culprit clear We're only sure there's time to kill before time kills us And where we seek our light is still the burning issue There are as many truths as there are tongues to speak them And all those motives for you choosing to believe them But they can't all be right and might all be misleading You must find your own way home Whatever works, works whatever Whatever works, works whatever Whatever works, works whatever Whatever the punchline is to be He lived preoccupied with what may follow after And then death struck him down and granted him the answer But it was in that quest that his life found a meaning And now he's laid to rest he doesn't need a reason Do some dangerous sports or start a coin collection Take in jazz and hope they like your new direction Go wherever feels like home Whatever works, works whatever Whatever works, works whatever Until you're brought above the clouds Or lowered in the ground How are you gonna to know Which was the way to roll? Whatever works, works whatever Whatever works, serves whatever Whatever works, works whatever Whatever the reckoning reveals
10.
The Long Run 04:45
This life Although it may be real We never signed a deal Or held negotiations To get some changes But life Has cast us in this drama A badly-scripted saga Through that we have been granted A Z-list stardom And that's a role that's ample for me Who wants to know the top of the tree In the long run we are all dead What is the point of getting ahead? In the long run we are all dead What is the use in making your bed? High life The pressure on the famous Is almost always dangerous And we enjoy spectating As it claims them Then we mourn for a fading star But it's only our fate writ large In the long run we are all dead What is the point of getting ahead? In the long run we are all dead What is the use in making your bed? In time You'll join me as you come down We'll both be on the way out Supposing that we've got round Some global meltdown It's the closing argument In the case for my defence In the long run we are all dead What is the point of chasing success? In the long run we are all dead What is the sense in breaking your neck?

about

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw.

Art by Cozmic.
Photography by John Pollard.

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released October 6, 2014

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Worldview UK

Worldview is the alias of Oliver Shaw, an Oxford UK-based songwriter, performer and producer mingling rock, pop, dance and folk with insightful lyrics and an overarching melodic sensibility.

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