Momus
Momus
Momus
Momus
Momus
Momus
Momus
Momus
Momus
Momus
Momus
Momus
Momus
Momus
Momus
Momus
Momus
Momus
[Intro]
I called you dancing queen
At the Quai des Brumes
At Kamakura you said you'd like to paint tears
On the neutral face of the Buddha
In the season of storms
We went walking in storms
Just like a video, just like a symphony
And for you, when things go wrong
They go wrong for all the right reasons
And when it gets warm
You adapt with the seasons
In a world of changing colours every colour has a meaning
And the universe exists for the convenience of your feelings
[Verse 1]
And as for me
I know a different world
A world where the sea
Refuses to rage when boy loses girl
Oh I know there's comfort in sadness
But I try to distinguish these passing emotions
My unimportant existence
From the great machine of the world's indifference
[Chorus]
Mono no aware
The sadness of things
Mono no aware
The temptation to see the world as it ought to be
Mono no aware
The sadness of things
Blinded with tears, I can still see
My insignificance in an indifferent universe
[Verse 2]
If I were you
If I were beautiful
Maybe the world
Might seem more meaningful
I grow old! I grow old!
As the winter comes on and the sky grows cold
But you stay as young as the rays of the sun
On the sparkling machinery you call your destiny
[Chorus]
Mono no aware
The sadness of things
Mono no aware
The temptation to see the world as it ought to be
Mono no aware
The sadness of things
The thunder and rain, sharing our pain
My insignificance in an indifferent universe
[Bridge]
Do I dare to eat a peach?
Do I dare to walk the beach?
And if I dare to eat a peach
If I should care to shed a tear
Should I claim more for my action
Than selfish satisfaction?
Stock mammalian reflex, biochemical reaction
[Chorus]
Mono no aware
The sadness of things
Mono no aware
The temptation to see the world as it ought to be
Mono no aware
The sadness of things, as if things felt anything
Blinded by tears, I can still see
My insignificance in an indifferent universe
[Outro]
Mono no aware
The sadness of things
Mono no aware
The temptation to see
Mono no aware
The sadness of things
The Sadness of Things was written by Momus.
Momus released The Sadness of Things on Sun Jan 01 1995.
In the sleeve notes to his 2016 compilation album Pubic Intellectual Momus discussed the theme of “mono no aware”:
This song was co-written with Ken Morioka…I overlaid his melancholic electronics with musings on the Japanese sensibility of mono no aware, literally the “ah-ness of things”. But do th...