Playful

So, it's difficult for us because of that cultural heritage to accept
To accommodate our common sense
To the idea that the web might basically be playful
That it might be like somebody saying, "Won't you come and play with me?"
A child, and the other child has some little hesitation
“I don't know whether I ought to play with you, you come from the wrong side of the track. I don't feel like playing today, I feel serious. I don't think play is important, we ought to do something real like wash the dishes for mother.”
Who incidentally has forgotten that the whole point of washing the dishes is

[Chorus]
Playful
Arranging patterns of life
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life, f’nice!
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life, f’nice!
Playful

You don't wash the dishes for a serious reason
You like the table to look nice, you know?
You don't want to serve up the dishes for the dinner with all the leavings of breakfast still lying on them
So why do you want the table to look nice?
Well, again it's “f’nice”, you like the pattern of it that way
People get terribly compulsive about doing these things
And they think that going on arranging the patterns of life is something that's a duty
That means a debt, that you owe it to yourself, or to your family, or to someone or other
You're in debt
See that's the trouble
When a child comes into the world the parents play an awful game on it
Instead of being honest they say
"We've made such great sacrifices for you
Here we are we've supported you, we've paid for your education, and you're an ungrateful little bastard."
And the child feels terribly guilty because
What we do is we build into every human being the idea
That existence is guilt

[Chorus]
Playful
Arranging patterns of life
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life, f’nice!
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life, f’nice!
Playful

The existentialists make a big thing of this
You watch out for them
Because they're hoaxers and they say that guilt ontological
If you're not feeling guilty, you're not human
That was because papa and mama said
"Look at all the trouble you've caused us, you shouldn't dare to exist. You have no rights, but maybe we'll give you some out of the generosity of our heart, so that you'll be permanently indebted to us."
And so everybody goes around with that sort of thing in their background, unless they have different kinds of papas and mamas
Who didn't play that trick on them
And if they don't do it, somebody else does it
Auntie comes around and says
"You don't realize what your father and mother have done for you. You think you can just stay around here and goof off, but they have sweated blood to give you your clothes, and food, and so on, and you ought to be grateful for it."
But that's not the way to make people grateful
They won't be grateful that way
They'll imitate gratefulness, they'll put on a big show and say
"Oh thank you so much, I feel so indebted to you," and so on and so forth
And they'll make it look good
But it isn't real
But it isn't real
Because actually, one's father and mother
Had a great deal of fun bringing you into being, or we hope they did
And they wanted to do that the worst way
They have no reason to complain about all these things
And try and make the children feel guilty

[Chorus]
Playful
Arranging patterns of life
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life, f’nice!
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life, f’nice!
Playful