Utopia: Oblivion, POV & Some Trivia
Artist
Utopia
Players
Todd Rundgren, Kasim Sulton, Roger Powell, Willie Wilcox
Producer
Todd Rundgren & Utopia
Release Date: 1983/1985/1986 re-issue 1996
Duration: 46:11/50:55
Label: Rhino
Catalog Number: R2 72287
Originally released on Passport individually, this 2-CD set includes all tracks from the three original releases. Includes full lyrics in CD booklet and new liner notes by Brett Milano.
- Itch In My Brain
- Love With A Thinker
- Bring Me My Longbow
- If I Didn't Try
- Too Much Water
- Maybe I Could Change
- Crybaby
- Welcome To My Revolution
- Winston Smith Takes It On The Jaw
- I Will Wait
- Fix Your Gaze
- Play This Game
- Style
- Stand For Something
- Secret Society
- Zen Machine
- Mated
- Wildlife
- Mimi Gets Mad
- Mystified
- More Light
- Man Of Action
- Monument
You got to stop, it's much too deep for me
I was mistaken, yes I don't understand
And my decision, if I choose not to choose
There's nobody on this line but me
I got a free will that I ain't even used yet
I got a free will and I ain't gonna use it
'til I know what I'm doing
There's an itch in my brain (and I can't get at it)
There's an itch in my brain (and I can't get at it)
There's an itch in my brain (and I can't get at it)
And I can't stop thinking 'til I scratch it
I'm still dancing, I'm just a change machine
Don't have to tell me I'm only waving my arms
But there's so much smoke and so little fire
And there's nobody on this line but me
I got a free will and it's making me crazy
I got a free will and I ain't gonna use it
'til I know what I'm doing
I got a free will and I'm dying to keep it
I got a free will and I ain't gonna use it
'til I know what I'm doing
She's a definite thinker
It don't take a genius to see
There's something ticking behind those eyes
What does she think of me
She has the answer when I don't know what to ask
And always lets me know so innocently
But when she gets that certain look on her face
I wonder what will be left when she's finished with me
God help me, I'm in love with a thinker
Save me, lips of a singer
Help me, feet of a dancer
Save me, I'm in love with a thinker
Yes, she's a definite thinker
Sometimes she tries to hide it from me
But when she starts talking over my head
It makes me dizzy
I'm just a cipher in the master plan
That's what I get for working out of my league
And though she says that I have nothing to fear
I wonder what will be left when she's finished with me
I know I'm just a fool to her
But will she turn me into a memory
I have to make up the difference somehow
Though she insists we have equality
But every time she gets that look on her face
I wonder what will be left when she's finished with me
If you do not hunt, you do not eat
If you do not hunt, you do not eat
When will the sun come, when will the sun come,
when will the sun come
If you do not hunt, you do not eat
If you do not hunt, you do not eat
Who is the best boy, who is the best boy,
who is the best boy
Bring me my longbow, sing me the holy song
Bring me my longbow, sing me the holy song
Fill the cup, fill the cup, pass out the water
Fill the cup, fill the cup, bless our provider
If you do not hunt, you do not eat
If you do not hunt, you do not eat
Burn out the tall grass, burn out the tall grass,
burn out the tall grass
Women cry, children cry, throats are dry
But the family must survive
If I didn't try, how would I know, how would I know
If I didn't try, how would I know, how would I know
Sometimes I think I must be crazy for doing this
(Think I'm never gonna win)
But how would I know it's a losing cause
If I didn't try, if I didn't try
If I didn't try, if I didn't try
If I didn't care, nothing would hurt, nothing would hurt
If I didn't care, hope for the best, expect the worst
Sometimes it feels like my whole life has been leading to this
(Wish that I could hide somewhere)
But how would I know how it feels to live
If I didn't care, if I didn't care
If I didn't care, if I didn't care
Sometimes I think I must be crazy for doing this
(You can never run away)
But how would I know it's a losing cause
If I didn't try, if I didn't try
If I didn't try, if I didn't try
Too much, it's too much, too much
Got too much water under the bridge
Got too much, too much, got too much
Got too much water under the bridge
I got to think of something, think of something
I got to think of something
We got to hang together, we got to hang together
We got to hang together, or hang separately
Maybe we got time to burn
I got a yen to hear myself talk
But I don't want to make that kind of history
Put your hand on the rock
And maybe you've got nothing left to learn
You put me in a state of shock
But do you want to make that kind of history
Put your hand on the rock
And let it all run out
You know why we got to hang together
Number one ain't always number one
Instant karma's always coming back
And I don't want to make that kind of history
Put your hand on the rock
Tell ya mamma nature's on the run
Bad karma's running in the back
But do we want to make that kind of history
Put your hand on the rock
And let it all run out
You know why we got to get together
We got no more time to burn
We got to crawl before we can walk
So if you wanna make a new kind of history
Put your hand on the rock
And I got a few things I'd like to learn
I get tired of hearing myself squawk
And I wanna make a new kind of history
Put your hand on the rock
And let it all run out
You know why we got to hang together
Maybe it's just those same old things
Maybe it's just a waste of time
This reminds me so much of the day you said goodbye
And as you walked away still I would not admit
you were right, you were right
But then now it's a different state of things
Maybe it's more than I can take
'Cause it seems like the world's against me now
And I need someone to show me how
But I still can't admit you were right, you were right
and I was wrong
Maybe I could change
Maybe I could change the world
Maybe I could change myself
Maybe I could change the world
Maybe I could have your love
I've been holding my hopes so high
But can't you help me now, my arms are so tired
And maybe they made the world that way
Maybe it's just a waste of time
Just like me, they turn the other way
And just like me, can't bring themselves to say
Now I know the mistakes that I have made
And if I try and if it's not too late
Then I can maybe admit you were right,
you were right, and I was wrong
Cry to me, those were your very words
You said cry to me, cry to me
There you stood, laughing at my tears
You said, silly boy, forget your childhood fears
But you don't realize how strange it makes me feel
Now we're exchanging parts
Stop, you're breaking my heart
Who's the crybaby now
Cry to me, cry to me, you're the crybaby now
Cry to me, cry
Who's the crybaby, who's breaking my heart
Lie to me, you know that I know you too well
So don't you lie to me, lie to me
I watch you from afar, crying up your sleeve
When they turn away,
so they'll still believe you don't need no one
But I'm the only one that sees how you're torn apart
Stop you're breaking my heart
Who's the crybaby now
Cry to me, cry to me, you're my crybaby now
Cry to me, cry to me, who's the crybaby now
Cry to me, cry to me, you're my crybaby now
Who's the crybaby, who's breaking my heart
So what can you say now
What can you feel
When you've got a heart made of leather and steel
And you won't break down
You took self defense and turned it into art
Stop, you're breaking my heart
Come on
There's too much music, too much light
These endless broadcasts into the night
Petty seizures of money and drugs
By some official or unauthorized thugs
Now it's gone, the whole world's gone
There's the army at the front door, guerrillas in back
Why do I always have to take up sides
I had no plans to be conscripted today
I am no use to them anyway
So what the hell's going on
When they took my bed for the good of the state
I had to rest my head and took to levitation
Welcome to my revolution
Every morning they confer with the press
Just to point a few fingers
Fix the blame for this mess
The spokesmen waffle and the jerk-offs complain
In a stream of rhetoric
Piss themselves down the drain
Then it's time to go home
Time to go home
What will they say when it's gone
The whole world's gone
So they call a cease fire to bury the dead
And just delay it for an hour or so
Loose talk of cowards and leaders that lied
What does it matter once we're vaporized
Say what the hell's going on
Then it got so bad I couldn't breathe the air
So I became my own church and begged for sanctuary
Welcome to my revolution
This is the dream that I have every night
I wake up screaming to the left and the right
Is this my vision of the end of the world
The faces looked smoldered, the edges are curled
Tell me what is the reason we can't look at ourselves
And realize everybody creates his own hell
And if we put it together to make them all real
And then forget how to think, forget how to feel
Until it's gone, the whole world's gone
Are we damned if we do and damned if we don't
Could we be suckered into thinking that
Or get too greedy, afraid of the loss
And wind up fighting for a worthless cause
What if we died and had to come back
How may times would we have to go 'round
What if tomorrow was the end of the line
Don't want to feel like I wasted my time
So what the hell's going on
When the noise gets so dense
you can't hear yourself think
We got the spirit world on a telephone link
So welcome to my revolution
We got no razor blades, we got no victory gin
I got no tiny alcove to hide myself in
To say things weren't good would not be an untruth
But I just met a girl from the anti-sex youth
We get up in the morning for physical jerks
We might pass in the hall as we're going to work
I have found us a place where there's no telescreen
And there's no hidden mikes and it's not too unclean
While the high remain high
and the middle change places
The low don't want to know they tell all with their faces
She might sit afront of me for the two minutes hate
I might see her again if it's not already too late
So they will take the book away from me
So let them catch me talking in my sleep
I guess I never really understood the law
So Winston Smith takes it on the jaw
So let's do what we want, it makes no difference now
When the thought police find us, we're dead anyhow
Kick us out of the party and bust us to parole
Then they'll stuff us both into a memory hole
So let them haul me off to 101
Public confessions of everything we've done
Of everything I heard and everything I saw
When Winston Smith takes it on the jaw
There was a time
When all I thought that I wanted
Was someone to touch me
Like I thought everyone was touched
What did I know, what was I thinking
What did I know, what was I thinking
I remember
There was someone that I wanted
Now she's a face at the reunion of '66
What did she know, what was she thinking
And did she know that I convinced myself
I couldn't survive
Sometimes you have to wait
You're pushing but that stone won't move
And you hesitate to give yourself away
There was a time
When all I thought that I needed
Was someone to tell me
I was making the perfect move
What did I know, what was I thinking
What did I know, what was I thinking
All I wanted was a holy exemption
I had a license to tell everyone
Where it's at
What did they know, what were they thinking
And did they know that I would only hear
The things I desired
So I would wait
I'm pushing but that stone won't move
And I hesitate to give myself away
And there was a time
When all I thought that I wanted
Was to live in a world
Where everyone knew what love is for
What do I know, what am I thinking
Nobody knows that the hour is getting late
So I will wait for it forever
I will wait for it
Though I know the hour is getting late
I will wait for it forever
I will wait for it
Though I know the hour is getting late
When you hit your note
It's like you had no choice
I can't resist distraction's web
When you use that voice
On a crowded stage
I play soliloquy
I'm at the center of the earth
When you gaze on me
The familiar ring of the native drums
Sometimes I hardly recognize it
Inspiration comes
With the tip of my mind
Holding back the sea
I have no choice but to prevail
When you gaze on me
I've got the ghost of a new machine
Where I can find reality routine
Every time you fix your gaze on me
When you gaze on me
I feel a ring of fire
When you gaze on me
And I lose all desire
Fix your heart on me
I'll show you what I've memorized
Fix your gaze on me
I need to see your eyes [Uh - good God!]
Out in the cold the assassin waits
Armored by love no sword can penetrate
Every time you fix your heart on me
I'm a new machine
Where I can find reality routine
Every time you fix your gaze on me
I could be jealous and grasping with greed
I could pretend that I want something I don't need
These are the things that go through my head
But then, I could be an angel disguised as a man
I could be the sun that shines in the midnight land
If you would only stand in my corner
Give that advantage to me
Don't you feel something?
You know what I'm thinking but
I can't set it free
We must
Play this game, take the prize
But not before you realize
That win or lose, it's all the same
Then maybe we can play this game
I can't remember the reason I'm here
Sometimes it seems like it's all out of habit or fear
Sometimes I wish I could just go to sleep
But then, I'll have a dream with a beautiful end
I'll wake up and feel alive, then I'm off again
If I could only keep your connection
Give me whatever remains
Then I might win you total liberation
But I can't break these chains
We must
Play this game
Let's pretend that we could never reach the end
For it would be a crying shame
If we can't learn to play this game
Stand in my corner
Give that advantage to me
Stand in my corner
Pull down a message with me
The answer that evades our brains
We only think we're wearing chains
Style must not be underrated
Style is often overlooked
Style is never in the papers
I read it like an open book
Style
If you can't see the substance
Style shows how it's organized
Style is looking for your money
It's in the way you paint your eyes
There is always a way
A way things are done
I've been learning my ABC's
I know what is 10, I know what is 1 in
Style is a naked look
Underneath your style
Style of a different place
Talking through your style
Even the way you hide it
Reveals the thing you hide
Your style may never cause a riot
It's still a style to have no style
There is always a way
To light up a lamp
It's been a crazy year all around
The check never came
I can't let it cramp my
Style is a world for sale
You can't buy this style
Style that you can't resist
You won't cramp my style
When you cry
I know you've got a good reason to cry
If you can't come
I know it's not just an alibi
Now I hear things that are better kept under the hat
Who backs it up?
Look at your hand, you can count on that
When you talk, it's hard to disagree
And when you dance, you're talking to me
When you stand, you stand for something
Stand for something
They can't dim your flame
When you stand, you stand for something
Stand for something
They can't bend your stream
Here I stand
Outside the world of politica
I would not lose that
For all the gold in South Africa
What you wear did not come easy
What you hear sounds different to me
When you stand, you're standing next to me
You put your foot down every day
Make sure you bring it down on the up beat
So walk away those feet of clay
We are fighting and dancing in the street
When we were young they would break our hearts
You and I had to go undercover
We knew in time we would be pulled apart
We found a way we could hold on to each other
Gave our souls to another world
Sealed in blood with a sacred vow
Now we've forgotten but beneath all this
A part of you and me is still there now
Go on and sing
Go on and dance
It'll all come back if you just give it a chance
Don't you remember me?
We had a secret society
Refresh your memory
We were the secret society
I never see you in the waking world
We make an effort to avoid each other
But every night we penetrate the veil
Where everybody acts like sister and brother
You never speak the words in broad daylight
They're much too delicate and too naive
But everybody's been a witness sometime
It doesn't change it if you don't believe
So go on and sing
Go on and dance
Someday soon you'll hear that little bell ring
And you'll remember me
We have a secret society
Not just a memory
We are the secret society
You've got to come with me
You're in the secret society
Until eternity
We are the secret society (It's no secret)
You're always finding out
About the things that people never talk about
I didn't ask to know
But now I'm compensating as I go
I know the script I'm in
I'm only thoughts of heaven trapped in flesh and skin
And from the world of men
I try to tighten up the code again
And the code is a play
A play is a song
A song is a film
A film is a dance
Boot me up on the Zen Machine
Log me onto the Zen Machine
Load me down
Everybody get ready
Hook me into the Zen Machine
Sharing time on the Zen Machine
Load me up
Everybody get ready
Sometimes it's clear to me
Then for a moment I'm in timeless ecstasy
There are no reasons why
And everyone's a passer-by
But when they've gone to bed
A fire's burning on the screen and in my head
And on a windy day
You can smell it from a mile away
And the smell is a note
A note is a taste
A taste is a hue
A hue is a touch
Everyone asks
Are we some kind of lovers?
Everyone asks what you're doing with me
I know this is not what they want
They're afraid you've been blinded
But I already know how it's going to be
If anyone should ask
Say we're mated
For as long as this life lasts
We are mated
Why else would you be here right now
And you know we'll still be here tomorrow
Nobody else understands what I'm doing
Nobody else makes me act in this way
And because they can't comprehend
What we mean to each other
They won't leave you alone
So you know what to say
I hold you in my heart
'Cause we're mated
In a very special part
We are mated
Why else would I be here right now
And you know I'll still be here tomorrow
I see things far ahead, maybe light
Maybe beautiful children
I don't have words I'm thinking of
But it's way beyond what they call love
Mommy told me she has everything I want
Mommy told me that I should not worry 'bout nothing else
Mommy told me that I can't do what I want
Mommy told me
But she's only thinking about herself
Can't think about nothing else
I'm thinking about myself
Time to leave and it's just as well
'Cause I can't help thinking there's something else
Wildlife
So I told he that I must have something more than she offered
And she should not worry about my health
I'm a big boy, not her little boy no more
I'm a big boy and I must learn how to protect myself
Hold my own when they give me hell
She can worry about herself
Tiny eagles must leave their nest
Wild horses withstand the test
Old lovers become estranged
Little boys who can't help but change
Could be nothing but who can tell?
I'll never grow up, I won't try
I can live with that, don't ask why
I am resigned that this is me
If I can take it, why can't she?
I am bad at my best, but she will not accept that
I can't get away with things I might regret
She makes me get started when nothing's ever through
And I do the best that I can do but
Mimi gets mad when I make her wait
Mimi gets mad when I phone too late
But then Mimi gets sad if I hurt myself
Can't say that about nobody else
Someone should tell her honestly
She is a fool to count on me
I swore there would be no delay
I should have been here yesterday
So I sneak in the door and there she is again
She could squeeze off a shot just as soon as look at me
She don't say a word and every word is true
And if that's the best that I can do then
Mimi gets mad every time I'm wrong
Mimi gets mad when I sleep too long
But then Mimi gets glad when I do my share
See no smile but I know it's there
There must be a dozen other boys
She could give her anger to
I'm the only one, it doesn't matter what I do
It's not very pretty but it's absolutely true
That I'm still the best that she can do so
Mimi gets mad
I'm sitting here looking at your picture
I see a light all around your head
You got a green I ain't never seen
And what a strange shade of red
And everything is turning inside out
And something gets ahold of me
And turns me inside out
There is a place where the others go
You can forget everything you know
But every night is the same to me
Lying awake and longing to be
Mystified
Cannot help myself
Mystified
Could not stop myself
You got a wishing well in your eye
The surface starts to ripple
Pardon me, what might your entendre be?
I'm seeing double, sometimes triple
Every thought wears a thin disguise
It's not a thing that I can verbalize
But if you knew what I was looking for
You'd get off your ass and walk out that door
Mystified
Last night I was laying down sleeping
You know I was dreaming all to myself
In the evening, darling when the sun goes down
Whoa! You know it's mighty hard to tell
Tell me what more can a good man do?
You hold the world hostage in your mind
Standards and practices are well defined
But if you choose to walk a different road
Hold onto your hat, your head might explode
Mystified
I think the last time I was warm was in my mother
Now I'm listening in the darkness
but there's nothing on the wire
I'm locked inside the refrigerator
So while I sit and shiver
I rub the sticks together
And if it takes forever
I will find my way back to the fire
Heat is not enough
More light
Love is strong enough
More light
Faith is not enough
More light
Everybody must be touched
I think that we don't need another great communicator
And there's a million extended mixers we are ready to retire
We all face obsolescence sooner or later
So while we sit and shiver
We rub the sticks together
And if it takes forever
we will find our way back to the fire
You got all the time in the world
You count the minutes like beads on a string
Open the floor for a little debate
While you sit and watch the rug unravelling
You got a message from the weather man
You're looking for a thumb when there's a hole to fill
Who bites the bullet?
Man of action will
Call me. Have gun. Will travel.
Think about it, ponder on that
If you can't make that move, man of action will
Think about it, ponder on this
With a fist or a kiss
I'll put your dreams in action
Pressure's building up and down the line
You see the difference in the smallest thing
Put a new tape in your message machine
Hit the shelters 'til you see what change will bring
Sometimes justice seems a fragile thing
You paralyze it with a lack of will
Trade in your karma
Man of action will
Call the avenging angel
Think about it, ponder on this
If you can't make that move, man of action will
Think about it, ponder on that
Time to cut through the fat
I am your first reaction
Someone's got to push it on
Someone's got to shake it on
Someone's got to take it on
Man of action will
I got the message in my mailbox
Nobody goes to church no more
They're closing down your little altar
They've locked the sanctuary door
Don't fight it
Who can say that you didn't try
Don't fight it
Old soldiers never die
Where will I go to leave my offering
To think about how life's so queer
And listen to the little choir
The sermon I don't care to hear
Don't fight it
Who can say that it's not the end
Don't fight it
And if we don't meet again
I know somewhere a monument
Stands in the name of our love
Somewhere are monuments
Standing in the name of our love
I've seen such strange times
Seems like lifetimes
Sometimes good and sometimes bad
And I don't see how it could
Have been much different
Everybody gave the best they had
Other References
Lyrics v. 2.5.0
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