My God! What Have I Done?
Exhausted and don’t know why. Well not exactly why, though I have some ideas about the why of it all. Not the first time I’ve felt this way. The feeling will pass as do all emotional states, which are the minds weather. No need to worry about the weather.
So, I am content to post a video by Talking Heads, Once In A Lifetime. David Byrne is the song writer. This song from the 1980s is iconic of our times, perhaps more to the point in 2018. This lyric has much room for philosophical commentary. I’ll only say that I am reminded of the well known quotation.
Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does. –Jean Paul Sartre
Guardian writer Jack Malcolm suggested that the song can be read “as an art-pop rumination on the existential ticking time bomb of unchecked consumerism and advancing age”. According to AllMusic critic Steve Huey, the lyrics address “the drudgery of living life according to social expectations, and pursuing commonly accepted trophies (a large automobile, beautiful house, beautiful wife)”. Although the singer has these trophies, he questions whether they are real and how he acquired them, a kind of existential crisis. Byrne denied that the lyrics address yuppie greed and said the song was about the unconscious: “We operate half-awake or on autopilot and end up, whatever, with a house and family and job and everything else, and we haven’t really stopped to ask ourselves, ‘How did I get here? -Wikipedia
***
To be alive is a fine thing. It is the finest thing in the world, though hazardous. It is a unique thing. It happens only once in a lifetime. To be alive, to know consciously that you are alive, and to relish that knowledge – this is a kind of magic. Or it may be a kind of madness, exhilarating but harmless….Don’t waste your time to make new dreams. but waste it to make one of your lifetime dream, come true…. anonymous comment
Once In A lifetime by Talking Heads
And you may find yourself
Living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself
In another part of the world
And you may find yourself
Behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house
With a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself, well
How did I get here?Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing undergroundAnd you may ask yourself
How do I work this?
And you may ask yourself
Where is that large automobile?
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful house!
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife!Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing undergroundSame as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever wasWater dissolving and water removing
There is water at the bottom of the ocean
Under the water, carry the water
Remove the water at the bottom of the ocean!Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again in the silent water
Under the rocks, and stones there is water undergroundLetting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing undergroundAnd you may ask yourself
What is that beautiful house?
And you may ask yourself
Where does that highway go to?
And you may ask yourself
Am I right? Am I wrong?
And you may say yourself, “My God! What have I done?”Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again in to the silent water
Under the rocks and stones, there is water undergroundLetting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing undergroundSame as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Look where my hand was
Time isn’t holding up
Time isn’t after us
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever wasLetting the days go by (same as it ever was)
Letting the days go by (same as it ever was)
Once in a lifetime
Letting the days go by
Letting the days go by
Songwriters: Brian Eno / Christopher Frantz / David Byrne / Jerry Harrison / Tina Weymouth
