This is a hard rocker lamenting the deleterious effects of our materialistic civilization upon our souls and our planet. I dedicate this tune to the memory of E.F. Schumacher, author of Small Is Beautiful, Good Work, A Guide for the Perplexed and numerous articles. Back in the mid-eighties I read his books and found them immensely helpful.

KEY:
“I’m a real boy!” is a reference to Pinocchio.
Mr. Ford = industrialist Henry Ford.
Mr. Smith = classical economist Adam Smith.
The phrase “mind-forged manacles” is from poet/mystic William Blake.
The Red Pill is the one Neo swallowed in the Matrix in order to wake up.

Lyrics

“I’m a real boy!”

I.
“Labor saving devices” everywhere we turn.
They make us forget the reason we were born.
Can you tell me Mr. Ford, is it blessing or curse?
Now there’s a smoldering landfill where
there once was an Earth!

II.
Well the love of money is a tie that blinds.
It corrupts our relations and devours our times.
Have you an answer Mr. Smith,
for this question of mine?
Are we only mannequins on an assembly line?

Chorus:
I’m a voice in the wilderness.
I’m lookin’ for sanity.
Don’t want those “mind-forged manacles.”
I just wanna be free!

Well I’m a living soul.
No mere soft machine.
Let’s take the Red Pill man,
and blow this scene!

III.
Well we need a solution,
to this our Post-Modern plight.
Don’t see it coming from the Left,
---much less from the Right!

IV.
It’s gonna take some real wisdom,
to save our world from this dark fate.
And pull our asses from the fires,
of greed and of hate.

Chorus:
Well we’re living souls.
We’re not mere soft machines.
Let’s take the Red Pill man,
and blow this scene!

I’m a voice in the wilderness.
A-lookin’ for sanity.
Don’t want those “mind-forged manacles.”
I just wanna be free!

Rock!