Begin the day
With a friendly voice
A companion, unobtrusive
Plays that song that's so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood
Off on your way
Hit the open road
There is magic at your fingers
For the spirit ever lingers
Undemanding contact
In your happy solitude
Invisible airwaves
Crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle
With the energy
Emotional feedback
On a timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price
Almost free
All this machinery
Making modern music
Can still be open-hearted
Not so coldly charted
It's really just a question
Of your honesty, yeah, your honesty
One likes to believe
In the freedom of music
But glittering prizes
And endless compromises
Shatter the illusion
Of integrity, yeah
Invisible airwaves
Crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle
With the energy
Emotional feedback
On a timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price
Almost free
For the words of the prophets
Were written on the studio wall
Concert hall
And echoes with the sound of salesmen
Of salesmen, of salesmen
With a friendly voice
A companion, unobtrusive
Plays that song that's so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood
Off on your way
Hit the open road
There is magic at your fingers
For the spirit ever lingers
Undemanding contact
In your happy solitude
Invisible airwaves
Crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle
With the energy
Emotional feedback
On a timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price
Almost free
All this machinery
Making modern music
Can still be open-hearted
Not so coldly charted
It's really just a question
Of your honesty, yeah, your honesty
One likes to believe
In the freedom of music
But glittering prizes
And endless compromises
Shatter the illusion
Of integrity, yeah
Invisible airwaves
Crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle
With the energy
Emotional feedback
On a timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price
Almost free
For the words of the prophets
Were written on the studio wall
Concert hall
And echoes with the sound of salesmen
Of salesmen, of salesmen
Lyrics submitted by shed27, edited by mescaline20
The Spirit of Radio Lyrics as written by Gary Lee Weinrib Alex Zivojinovich
Lyrics © OLE MEDIA MANAGEMENT LP
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Radio is meant to be personal, and can indeed be a friend...a "companion unobtrusive." But the song, in its brilliant prescience, foretells corporate ownership, consolidation, and the move away from local and personal focus.
I think the line about "all this machinery making modern music" just refers to the technical, physical equipment necessary to broadcast a radio signal.
Great song indeed; it's one of my favorites.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
They changed the lyrics in the song to "One likes to believe in the spirit of baseball."
The song is about the conflict between artistic passions and marketability.
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence
interesting tidbit about this song.
It's saying that the music industry can ruin music. It can fill people with the wish to make music soley for money, for profit, and no other reason (and the words of the profits were written on the studio hall... and echoes with the sounds of salesmen) and that this makes many musicians compromise their art, their music, for the money (glittering prizes and endless compromises...). It's also saying that it doesn't need to be this way, "it's really just a matter of your honesty". It's up to the musicians to make the music for the right reasons.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
and everyday, reliably, you can hear the familiar voices or songs.
As you set out to do your morning activities the radio sets you at ease.
When you get in your car, the stereo is there,
and even though you are by yourself, you have the radio to lift your spirits.
The radio asks nothing in return, and so in many ways, it can be an ideal "friend".
As if by magic, the radio reaches you through the air,
and the price you have to pay is nothing compared to the joy it brings.
As time goes on man has made devices to make music easier to make and reproduce (auto-tune, synthesizers, etc)
So long as the artist maintains his or her integrity, there is no reason not to put these
devices to good use.
However, there are always going to be parties that exploit the technology purely for financial gain
and not for artistic merit. It's up to the listener to determine the difference between art and business or commercialism.
Remember that a lot of the music or programming you hear on the radio is played only because
someone is paying them to pay it.
A companion unobtrusive
Plays that song that's so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood
Off on your way, hit the open road
There is magic at your fingers
For the Spirit ever lingers
Undemanding contact in your happy solitude
[Chorus:]
Invisible airwaves crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle with the energy
Emotional feedback on timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free
All this machinery making modern music
Can still be open-hearted
Not so coldly charted
It's really just a question of your honesty, yeah
Your honesty
One likes to believe in the freedom of music
But glittering prizes and endless compromises
Shatter the illusion of integrity
[Chorus]
"For the words of the profits were written on the studio wall
Concert hall
And echoes with the sound of salesmen...of salesmen...of salesmen."
The rest of the song kind of ties it together with the whole music-for-profit theme that seems to be going on overall.
Now to the reason I am really writing this, because, thanks to Philosophic Musings quoting that line I realized it's almost a direct copy of a line from Simon and Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence".
Rush: "and the words of the *profits* were written on the studio wall... and echoes with the sounds of salesmen."
Paul Simon: "and the words of the prophets were written on the subway walls... and echoes with the sounds of silence"
Now that I take the time to think about it... The two songs really have a lot in common. The most accepted meaning of Sounds of silence was that people are building to much on pop-culture and not really listening, and if they did they would find that the music has a lack of meaning and is not heartfelt.
So by writing this I realized a few things myself, I guess it's true what my professor always tries to tell me. "If you write something down, it causes you to think about it." Once again he's proved right.
Sorry for being kinda long-winded there (I say this as I continue to type) But, you know, it kinda happens sometimes. Especially when you don't have something outlined and of course I'm not gonna take the time to outline what was originally a "comment" and turned it into this... Well never mind.