[Intro Music]
This is fun!
As far as temperature is concerned
I spit it 451
It’s a pleasure to burn
Fiction, non-fiction, prose, narrative verse
Nabakov, Shakespeare
Literature
Gets turned into ashes in a blast of petroleum
I’m grinnin’ into the flames
When I’m
throwin’ them
I’m looking’ into the future
Is it dystopian?
What’s the harm in burnin’ a book if nobody’s holdin’ it?
Crack it open
Nothin' but ink and paper
Don’t blame the death of it
On the village incinerator
Nothin’ but information
Physically disintegrating
Save the vegetation
Give it to the digital innovators
Books are never gonna be banned
Just scanned
And delivered to the palm of your hand
This is planned obsolescence
Ozymandius falls into sand
If we’re too busy to read it
Digest it and understand
Understand?
That’s how history’s curves go
No need for old geezers creepin’ on dirt roads
Commit it to memory!?
No, read it on your phone
I’m just gonna check my social media first though...
Daredevils, sex and heroin
If the play sucks
Just sting ‘em with the theremin
Motorbikes, helicopters, jets
Everything to do with automatic reflex
Retail, death of attention to detail
Loss of freedom
Not all at once, piecemeal
Small opportunities for rebelling
Truth, lies, and storytelling
Truth lies in storytelling
Truth lies in storytelling
Lies and storytelling
Storytelling
Remember the feelin’ of chillin’ under a tree with a book?
The tactility, the smell of it?
That feeling was good
Remember that?
How much would you give to get it back?
I try to picture it...
All I can see now is a Kindle app
The ink is still black
But now it’s a digital article
And my attention span
Is a little bit less methodical
Less knowledgable
I sped up quick after starting slow
I don’t even use Kindle now
I switched to Audible
That’s how the story goes
The fire is metaphorical
The seashell in my ears
Increasin’ my freedom forty-fold
The voice in my head
Spinnin’ a thread, but nobody’s home
Any thoughts of my own get burned into
“Holy smokes!”
I listen to podcasts
And watch the political conflag
Like Mrs. Montag
Feelin’ like everything’s gone bad
Another sexual predator’s about to be given a hall pass
Another Presidential-affiliate caught red-handed
Like an episode of Cops
Special Prosecutor Edition
I try not to watch but I’m itchin’
I got a news addiction
I used to think thoughts
Now I’m glued to the feed
Talkin’ to friends like...
“The Orange Clown’s on again, have you
seen?”
Fake news beamed into the parlor to prop the scam up
Reading suddenly becomes an oasis in the hot savannah
Conspiracies among readers who want some answers
Switch off the state television propaganda
Daredevils, sex and heroin
If the play sucks
Just sting ‘em with the theramin
Motorbikes, helicopters, jets
Everything to do with automatic reflex
Retail, death of attention to detail
Loss of freedom
Not all at once, piecemeal
Small opportunities for rebelling
Truth, lies, and storytelling
Truth lies in storytelling
Truth lies in storytelling
Lies and storytelling
Storytelling
I got sick of Chief Beatty gas-lightin’
Got enlightened, talked to Faber
Got the bug for writin’
Like Bradbury in a library basement
Typin’ into devices
Never paper fetishizin’
Senses Fahren-heightened
Sensitive to fascism
Books died ‘cause they got adapted into rap rhythm
Not a shallow pleasure
A tactic to hack systems
Freedom is needed
Nostalgia for the past isn’t
Never try and cage thoughts
Let a mind range
Sometimes it’ll take sedatives over migraines
And settle into repetitive blind ways
Like Oedipus
Wandering in his dying days
Censorship
It starts from the bottom up
People thinkin’ that they’re motivated
By a lot of love
"We must protect the weak!
But it’s not enough
Dangerous ideas must be banned from above!"
Wait!
Before you try to call in a leviathan
A salamander to fry it all in fireball
Try a small thing called dialogue
You might just find it viable
Daredevils, sex and heroin
If the play sucks
Just sting ‘em with the theremin
Motorbikes, helicopters, jets
Everything to do with automatic reflex
Retail, death of attention to detail
Loss of freedom
Not all at once, piecemeal
Small opportunities for rebelling
Truth, lies, and storytelling
Truth lies in storytelling
Truth lies in storytelling
Lies and storytelling
Storytelling
