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BUSY SIGNALS
Outer space is, we are told
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Such a vast place and so cold
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And it puts out crackly noises and a hum
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We’re not sure what it may mean
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And just like some nocturnal dreams
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We interpret this, so we won’t feel dumb
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Space assigns us each a part
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It’s ordered chaos at the start, and to
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Help us breathe, a touch of mountain greenery
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If we ourselves wrote this odd play
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We’d be heroes with monsters to slay
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How come the part we got was to play the scenery?
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I’m a telephone pole and it’s not just a role
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But I’m far more than a big wooden stick
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And now that we’re in the age of the satellite dish
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I’m disappearing and it’s happening quick
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I’m just a lonely station on the old info highway
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An empty vessel helping people have their say, I’m a
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Sentry and I guard the fortunes of the modern Bells keep the
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Shopping network going, the not quite bargains that it sells
I’m strung with lots of tight wire, like a manic town crier
Carry rumors, guesses, gossip, facts and lies
I don't care what you say, if it's free or you pay
Everyone out there comes in my size
And if a message is lost, in the great wastebasket tossed
Or if it should fall in the dirt
You think some one should get up to tighten the lines
After the meal, you know, you still want dessert
Would the world really change that much
If all the phones suddenly didn’t ring?
Words are so often forgotten
When they drift in on a wing
You might imagine that it's only a movie
Or it could be a long-running play
Please don’t be disappointed if it’s only a song
Or something somebody heard somebody say
There’s a big global hush, but don’t believe me
You better put your ear to the ground
We are all listening now, and it’s so heard to hear
It is still a very very faint sound
Jungle telegraph drums are withholding their beat
Birds and insects are still, it’s not only the heat
People can’t stand the noise of all the useless machines
The complaining, the screaming, the terrible scenes
There’s so much pain we can’t stop, we can’t complain
If it’s part of life and it’s our fate
But what I don’t understand is, if it’s so hard to take
Why don’t we do more to lighten the weight?
If you figure it out, I hope you’ll let me know
I know I’d do the same for you
If you get a look at the real story
Or stumble across a clue
Because far is near now, it is clear now
Distance is no longer real
Imagine the moon is a tangerine
Which we got the job to peel
It’s time to stop pretending
That it’s mostly made of pits and bitter rind
We know there’s plenty of sweet fruit to go around
We just have to unlearn how to be unkind
So what matters most when you add the columns up
Is the time you can figure still remains
No matter how you slice the rest, there is only one sure test
Say the smartest people with the biggest brains
Since nobody knows it all, has survived this rocky ball
Has left and called us back, said “not to worry”
You should savor every hour, relax and save your power
Reach out and re-connect us in a hurry
Well we’re back here at ground zero
And I for one am glad
There’s a spaceship warming up
About to leave it’s launching pad
This exhausting journey’s over
It will soon be all complete
We can return to deepest space
And rendezvous with our own fleet
Your world is such a gas
And we’ve had so much fun
But you’re heading into trouble now
And we’ve really got to run
So here’s one thought to leave you with
And please don’t take it wrong
We won’t be coming back this way too soon
You’re on your own...so long
So long, so long