What about the world around us
How can we fail to see
And now that our fathers have gone
And we’ve been left to carry on
What about the age of reason
Image: Andy Owl, Prague
I remember it well. It was 1988, and just before I went off to play hockey on a chilly winter Saturday morning in July, I watched the Top 10 hits of the week on tele.
That particular month, Age of Reason was number 1 on the charts.
1988: A generation ago
This was Australia’s Bicentennial year, in a decade which had been criticised for its excess and materialism.
Money and materialism were ‘in’ during the 1980’s: ‘Wall Street’ was one of the top Hollywood blockbusters, Reagan and Thatcher were freeing up their countries’ capitalist economies, and even a Labor Government in Australia decided it would be better to make our economy more competitive.
In addition, there was a lot of discussion and concern about the environment, particularly the depleting ozone layer over Australia and the country’s reliance on greenhouse gases.
Meanwhile, earlier in 1988, singer John Farnham had been named ‘Australian of the Year‘ for his outstanding service to growing long blond hair just like all the 1980s Metal performers from the USA.
Nah, kidding.
It was for his ‘outstanding contribution to the Australian music industry over twenty years.’
A new number 1 single
Although it was on nonstop rotation on Australian radio, Age of Reason was greeted with a few groans by some Rolling Stone critics who called it ‘bland’.
Bland in an age of corporate rock.
But actually the lyrics are timeless, and the song is an exasperated reaction to that time.
You can read the words today and they fit just as well as they did in that time of great materialism. If anything, the world has become even more worried about the price tag than all those years ago.
And if you read the paper every morning on your way to work, with stories of Greece, Obama hypocrisy, and rising tensions among nations, maybe this song will resonate with you.
The writers
Age of Reason was written by New Zealand musician Todd Hunter, best known for his work with band the Dragon, and his partner Johanna Pigott, who became the first Australian woman to write a number 1 hit with this song (source: Wikipedia).
‘Age of Reason’ topped the charts in July 1988, and the album went on to sell more than 600,000 copies.
The video itself is a little cheesy, but you can see some late 80s fashion here, and some beautiful scenery in the mountain area of southern Australia, in the great state of Victoria.
From the day that we were born we’ve been heading down a track
Sometimes it’s made for good sometimes for bad
But if we look behind us there’s a wave coming down
Carrying us forward to a new ageSo why can’t we be still why can’t we love each other
Is kindness an ancient skill buried by our blindness
And if we look behind us there’s a wind blowing in
To create the age of reasonIf we consider carefully the options put before us
So much wisdom so much love so much waiting for us
And if we look ahead there’s the sun and the seasons
Another day another age of reasonWhat about the world around us
How can we fail to see
And now that our fathers have gone
And we’ve been left to carry on
What about the age of reason
What do you think?
- Do you know of a song from your country which says something similar?
- Do you think people are more materialistic today than before?
- Do you believe we are learning from history or that each generation makes the sames mistakes as their parents?
Or if you prefer, check out this remix for a new century:
Age Of Reason lyrics are copyright © Universal Music Publishing Group
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