Mono no aware, literally the pathos of things, is a Japanese term for an awareness of impermanence, and the accompanying wistfulness or sadness that such awareness provokes. In a 2019 interview with Stereogum, vocalist and guitarist Pat Goodwin described the experience of reading British-Japanese au...
[Verse 1]
You severed the stone intently thrown
At the bird in the alley tucked back behind St. Joe's
Half for the windshield of the car across the steet
The other half lost to the void like the feeling I had back then
[Chorus]
Do you feel this same thing that I do?
Do you feel this same thing that I do?
Mono no aware
Feel this same thing that I do
Mono no aware
Feel this same thing that I do
[Verse 2]
You thought up a poor lie to veil how the bird died when the adults came by
And questioned us in the office kids went to in the worst of times
That was before you brought me down to the basement
Where a part of me is lost to the void like the feeling I had back then
[Chorus]
Do you feel this same thing that I do?
Do you feel this same thing that I do?
Mono no aware
Feel this same thing that I do
Mono no aware
Feel this same thing that I do
[Bridge]
I think I'm doing okay these days
It's just the pathos of all things
I called you up just so I could say
It will be here even if you're not
It will be here even if I'm not
[Chorus]
Do you feel this same thing that I do?
Do you feel this same thing that I do?
Do you feel this same thing that I do?
Do you feel this same thing that I do?
Mono no aware
Feel this same thing that I do
Mono no aware
Feel this same thing that I do
[Outro]
Remember how I brought up Marguerite's hands
To illustrate the flesh we ate back then?
When grandma slowly faded from Alzheimer's
Like the lifeless steak in that empty diner
It now reminds me of my failing grasp
Of the present, memory, self, and past
It now reminds me of my failing grasp
Of the present, memory, self, and past
Mono no Aware was written by Pat Goodwin & Carrie Miller & Cam LaFlam & Dylan Hanwright & Al Menne.
Mono no Aware was produced by Mike Vernon Davis.
Great Grandpa released Mono no Aware on Fri Oct 25 2019.