With the advent of 1984 Utopia's 'Oblivion' was a mostly politically angled release with tracks such as 'Bring me my Longbow', 'Welcome to my revolution' and the tongue-in-cheek 'Winston Smith...' documenting the political bent of the time and the tracks 'If I didn't try' and 'Maybe I could change' with a more personal feel. 'Oblivion' was Utopia's first of the two 'Passport' releases (excluding the 'Trivia' compilation) and in most ways thier darkest release (including the all black cover).
Credits:
Produced and Engineered by Todd Rundgren and Utopia
All songs written by Utopia 1983 Unearthly Music/Fiction Music(BMI) Terrestrial Music/Fourth Floor (ASCAP)
Kasim Sulton performs courtesy of EMI America Records, A Division of Capitol Records, Inc.
Mixed by Todd Rundgren at Utopia Sound Studios
Mastered by Sterling Sound by Greg Calbi
Album designed by John Wagman
Back Cover Photography by Rob. G. Hansen
Management: Eric Garner
Track Listing:
Discography:
LABEL Cat.
No Tracks/Title Format Cover Country
Passport 7923 Crybaby/Winston Smith takes it on the
jaw 7" Single PS USA
Passport PB4004DJ Crybaby/Itch in my Brain/Love with a
thinker 12" Promo Single No PS USA
WEA YZ11 Love with a thinker/Welcome to my
revolution 7" single No PS UK
Passport 6029 Oblivion Album Standard USA
Rhino R2 72287 Oblivion, POV, and some trivia CD Re-issue Different USA
WEA 250685 Oblivion Album silver text, No
Embossing GERMANY
Lyrics:
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
Itch in my Brain
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
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