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Here and Now

By Raymond Arnold

A celebration of now

There’d be a certain logic in updating this song regularly, but somehow it doesn’t seem to need it.

Except for the Star Wars bit. This song appeared alongside Force awakens, hence “Brand new Star Wars out tonight” was a pretty exciting thing. We kept the lyric for Rogue One, mostly because reusing it amused us. The third time we met a week early, so “deeper truthes to seek / brand new Star Wars out next week.” But Solo was neither song-worthy nor released in december, so cookies instead. The ability to summon cookies late at night is a triumph of modern civilization that we will never tire of.

Another update, “Elon’s colonizing mars” -> “Predict with swift robust bazaars”. Because Manifold’s gotten useful despite its play-money, and Elon keeps doing things that make him less fun to sing about. One might sing “liquid” instead of “robust”, which has more substance but is kind of hard to sing.

This song is available for sale via bandcamp in the 2015 album.

A live NYC2019 recording is in the Files section.

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Lyrics

Grandma told me stories... 'bout life from way back when
Walking uphill both ways through the snow.
Rugged people trudging down the narrow path a - head
Going where their dad-dy said to go
Way back when... Everything seemed simple baby
Some day soon... maybe it'll all make sense again but
Here and now... got a world to explore. Got some
Riddles to un - ravel, ba by what you waiting for? for?
Here and now... here and now... we got choices all a - round
Here and now... here and now... now... we got interest com - pound...ing.
Taking things for granted that'd shatter Newton's mind
What'll we find in to - morrow's here and now

Way back when... Everything seemed simple baby
Some day soon... maybe it'll all make sense again but
Here and now... got a world to explore. Got some
Riddles to un - ravel, ba by what you waiting for? for?
Here and now... here and now... we got pens instead of swords
Here and now... here and now... now... turning ploughshares into tractors
Taking things for granted, super- stim-u-lus ga - lore
What's in store for to - morrow's here and now now
Way back when... Everything seemed simple baby
Some day soon... maybe it'll all make sense again but
Here and now... got a world to explore. Got some
Riddles to un - ravel, ba by what you waiting for? for?
Here and now... here and now... (here and now... here and now...)
Here and now... here and now... (here and now... here and now...)
Here and now... here and now... we got smallpox locked up tight
Here and now... here and now... Summon cookies late at night!
Here and now... here and now... gotta run and catch my flight
But I'll see you in to- morrow's here and now now
Here and now... here and now... we got robots driving cars
Here and now... here and now... now... Predict with swift robust ba- zaars
Here and now... here and now... now... we got smart philanthro-py
With some sci-en-tific rigor and some met-a-na-ly - ses. Yeah!
Way back when... Everything seemed simple baby
Some day soon... maybe it'll all make sense again but
Here and now... got a world to explore. Got some
Riddles to un - ravel... ... tell me what you waiting
for... ... tell me what you waiting
for... ... tell me what you waiting
for...

Files

Raw Git Folder