I think this song is pointing out the futility of "progress." The lyrics are actually wrong above. It doesn't say cows, but candles and not carts but blackouts. The people sleep like babies (no insomnia) only when forcibly deprived of the tools of "progress."
Civilization supposedly marches forward, with mathematical precision (alegbra), yet having come so far in the last hundred years in terms of modern conveniences built around electricity, have we found ourselves any happier?
It gets you down to think of how hard we work, just to find that we can never truly change "the one we're looking for," which is our satisfied selves. No matter what we do, we don't know how to find happiness. We only know how to pursue the accouterments that are supposed to offer happiness. But we play our part in the wheels of commerce, keeping the machine running. Thank God for blackouts.
I think this song is pointing out the futility of "progress." The lyrics are actually wrong above. It doesn't say cows, but candles and not carts but blackouts. The people sleep like babies (no insomnia) only when forcibly deprived of the tools of "progress."
Civilization supposedly marches forward, with mathematical precision (alegbra), yet having come so far in the last hundred years in terms of modern conveniences built around electricity, have we found ourselves any happier?
It gets you down to think of how hard we work, just to find that we can never truly change "the one we're looking for," which is our satisfied selves. No matter what we do, we don't know how to find happiness. We only know how to pursue the accouterments that are supposed to offer happiness. But we play our part in the wheels of commerce, keeping the machine running. Thank God for blackouts.
Beautiful interpretation.
Beautiful interpretation.
After reading your post and then going back to listen to the track about 100 times, I think you've hit the nail on the head.
After reading your post and then going back to listen to the track about 100 times, I think you've hit the nail on the head.