Negations from Myopia (2007) by Utopia Now
Living a religious life, it seems to me, is somewhat akin to having sex with one person while thinking of another. It is a deep negation. Several Utopia Now songs, such as "What you are" and "Brave open eyes", deal with this issue. Truly living life requires acknowledging it.
I think the song is a good example of the somewhat calculating approach to music I took at the time. I wanted the band to go somewhere and to have a modicum of success. Not commercial success, but I wanted my music, especially the lyrics, to be heard by people. So I felt it necessary to have at least one potential "single" on the album, a slow, poppy song. That, I admit, was the idea behind "Negations". And lo and behold, our sound engineer for the album, who was the man behind 5 Bugs, Berlins biggest poprock"""punk"""band, who openly acknowledged that he wanted commercial success and was writing songs for the radio, immediately said that this was his favorite song on the album. That's when I knew that, while I sadly suck at maths, my calculations can't have been all that bad.
Tracklist
| 4. | Negations | 3:31 |
Lyrics
A forked road - a signpost,
a beacon not so remote,
a backbone upheld by
a father's guiding hand.
Sounds nice and easy and oh so far from life.
A question - a direction,
a final destination,
a light in the darkness,
a compass through the maze.
The treasure reality, lost and out of sight.
Chorus:
Time to wake up
and to learn to walk on your own.
Time to smell the adventure you have never known.
A feeble human psyche clings to every chance
to reject responsibility and strife
by negations of life.
A tight ridge, a burned bridge,
no bypass around it.
No safe rope, only hope
and a sharpened mind.
Sounds harsh and trying but that's the beauty of life.
Chorus:
Bridge:
The whispers of reason, they all fade away unheard.
Like beasts and like babies we don't understand a word.
Led by instinct, blank fear, and longing for the womb,
it’s this life you entomb. Thus its potential will never bloom.
Credits
Music and lyrics written by Stephan Serowy
Vocals: Stephan Serowy
Guitars: Stephan Serowy, Fynn Freyschmid
Bass: Sebastian Strij
Drums: David Neuhaus
License
CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. See the Creative Commons website for details.
Utopia Now started out in 2006 but had been known under the name Indigo since 2002, sharing the stage with bands such as Lagwagon, Anti Flag, A Wilhelm Scream, No Trigger, Good Clean Fun, Venerea and many more. However, the band was short-lived and split in 2007. Today the band lives on in the form of an online solo project by the band’s founder, singer, and songwriter, Stephan Serowy.