1. |
Defiance
05:30
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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
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2. |
Looking Into It
04:52
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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
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3. |
Bad Faith
05:37
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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?
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4. |
After The Fact
05:04
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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
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5. |
The Malady
04:31
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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
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6. |
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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
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7. |
Hanging In The Air
03:55
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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
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8. |
Wonder
04:01
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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
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9. |
Whatever Works
04:31
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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
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10. |
The Long Run
04:45
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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?
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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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