[Roger Whittaker vs. John Mayer] :)
After listening to the song, "A New World in the Morning," by Roger Whittaker, I looked up the lyrics, and stumbled across a thought-provoking comment. Someone said they appreciate the song because it encourages one not to wait and expect things to change, but rather to act to bring about changes. I agree with that sentiment. Rarely in the annals of history have things happened without someone standing up and taking action.
The song starts off with the following:
“Everybody talks about a new world in the morning,
New world in the morning, so they say...
I myself don’t talk about a new world in the morning,
New world in the morning, that’s today.”
Simple enough, right? Everyone talks about a new world, but here, Whittaker doesn’t...because the new world has to start today...not tomorrow. He later sings that a “new world in the morning takes so long...” indicating that if all you’re going to do is talk about a new world, you’re going to have a long wait. The second verse is more direct about the meaning of the song:
After listening to the song, "A New World in the Morning," by Roger Whittaker, I looked up the lyrics, and stumbled across a thought-provoking comment. Someone said they appreciate the song because it encourages one not to wait and expect things to change, but rather to act to bring about changes. I agree with that sentiment. Rarely in the annals of history have things happened without someone standing up and taking action.
The song starts off with the following:
“Everybody talks about a new world in the morning,
New world in the morning, so they say...
I myself don’t talk about a new world in the morning,
New world in the morning, that’s today.”
Simple enough, right? Everyone talks about a new world, but here, Whittaker doesn’t...because the new world has to start today...not tomorrow. He later sings that a “new world in the morning takes so long...” indicating that if all you’re going to do is talk about a new world, you’re going to have a long wait. The second verse is more direct about the meaning of the song:
“I met a man who had a dream he had since he was twenty.
I met that man when he was eighty-one.
He said too many folks just stand and wait until the morning.
Don’t they know tomorrow never comes?”
This man had a dream for sixty-one years, but he didn’t move to make something happen. He dreamed it, but he failed to act, and thus, “when he’d smile his eyes would twinkle up in thought” about the world he had envisioned.
And John Mayer? Well, I used to love “Waiting on the World to Change.” It has a catchy beat, and I always used to think it had a good message. After listening to it a few more times, and reading the lyrics, I realize just how wrong I was. What I first judged to be a good song about the younger generation’s struggle for social change, I now see as a cop-out song, placing blame on others and making excuses for why nothing gets accomplished.
“Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it.
So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change.”
Throughout history, when changes were needed, someone stood up and tried to make them, whether they had the resources or not. In most cases, they didn’t have means, either, yet they tried nonetheless. Mayer continues...
"It's not that we don't care
We just know that the fight ain't fair
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change."
Hm. Okay. I have no doubts that he cares, but to up and quit because “the fight ain’t fair” seems to be defeatist, at best. So, rather than standing up and making a difference, Mayer plans to merely sit back and wait for change? Well, Whittaker could tell you what that will accomplish. Further, what do Mayer and others like him plan to do if and when this change does occur? According to the song, after all this waiting...
“One day our generation
is gonna rule the population
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change.”
Really. Really? You sit around and wait for change because it seems too difficult, and now you want to “rule the population”? Who’s going to follow you if you never show you can lead? Shouldn’t we be teaching people to take the initiative? Shouldn’t we be teaching people to be an active part of the world in which they live? Shouldn’t we be teaching people that if they want changes to occur, they need to step up and make them happen? Wasn’t it Gandhi who once said, “be the change you want to see in the world”? Whittaker follows that mantra. Apparently, Mayer does not.
Be one who acts to bring about change, to bring about social justice, to bring about equality...if you see something that needs changed, do something about it. Don’t just talk about it. Act. My hope is that I’ll be right beside you!
I met that man when he was eighty-one.
He said too many folks just stand and wait until the morning.
Don’t they know tomorrow never comes?”
This man had a dream for sixty-one years, but he didn’t move to make something happen. He dreamed it, but he failed to act, and thus, “when he’d smile his eyes would twinkle up in thought” about the world he had envisioned.
And John Mayer? Well, I used to love “Waiting on the World to Change.” It has a catchy beat, and I always used to think it had a good message. After listening to it a few more times, and reading the lyrics, I realize just how wrong I was. What I first judged to be a good song about the younger generation’s struggle for social change, I now see as a cop-out song, placing blame on others and making excuses for why nothing gets accomplished.
“Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it.
So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change.”
Throughout history, when changes were needed, someone stood up and tried to make them, whether they had the resources or not. In most cases, they didn’t have means, either, yet they tried nonetheless. Mayer continues...
"It's not that we don't care
We just know that the fight ain't fair
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change."
Hm. Okay. I have no doubts that he cares, but to up and quit because “the fight ain’t fair” seems to be defeatist, at best. So, rather than standing up and making a difference, Mayer plans to merely sit back and wait for change? Well, Whittaker could tell you what that will accomplish. Further, what do Mayer and others like him plan to do if and when this change does occur? According to the song, after all this waiting...
“One day our generation
is gonna rule the population
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change.”
Really. Really? You sit around and wait for change because it seems too difficult, and now you want to “rule the population”? Who’s going to follow you if you never show you can lead? Shouldn’t we be teaching people to take the initiative? Shouldn’t we be teaching people to be an active part of the world in which they live? Shouldn’t we be teaching people that if they want changes to occur, they need to step up and make them happen? Wasn’t it Gandhi who once said, “be the change you want to see in the world”? Whittaker follows that mantra. Apparently, Mayer does not.
Be one who acts to bring about change, to bring about social justice, to bring about equality...if you see something that needs changed, do something about it. Don’t just talk about it. Act. My hope is that I’ll be right beside you!
Hmm...so I was looking over some comments on the page with the Mayer video...seems a lot of people agree, and someone else quoted Gandhi as well!
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