Songs:The 20th Century Is Over (70792)

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Contents 1 Trivia, story behind the song, etc. 2 Lyrics 3 Listener comments about The 20th Century Is Over (70792) 4 Tags

Trivia, story behind the song, etc.

Lyrics

The 20th Century is over, but what if it never began?
What if the entire 100 years was the work of a single man?
I mean in hindsight, don’t it seem quite clear?
At least it does from where I sit here
How could we go from a horse-drawn cart
To Mars in 100 years?
He started out slowly, nineteen-ought-one-two-and-three
To pull us in quietly into the 20th Century. 

But before the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk
Lifted off that sandy ground, 
He’d invented Thomas Edison, modern medicine, electric sound.

The 20th Century is over, but what if it never began?
What if the entire 100 years was the work of a single man?

We chased the “War to End All Wars.”
With a party that roared and crashed
Took a second world war ten years later
Before we found ourselves jobs and gas. 

And Hitler! Good Lord, Hitler, what was he thinking there?
You put the Devil in a Chaplin moustache, 
Grease back his crop-top hair and millions will follow
How could we swallow how could we swallow that word for word?
That someone so evil could walk among the people
Who inhabit this planet Earth?

The 20th Century is over, but what if it never began?
What if the entire 100 years was the work of a single man?

The Sixties framed with sex, drugs and rock and roll. 
Assassinations, demonstrations, and shots from the grassy knoll. 
He chased away Vietnam with the calm
Of punk rock rage. 
You never knew what craziness was lying
In wait from page to page. 
Reganism Communism Reaganism Communism
And they tore down the Berlin Wall, 
But our optimism is still standing, 
Waiting for a call that never came. 
Much is very different, but too much is still the same.

He shrank the computer down from a warehouse to a chip. 
And then he shrunk it down again and again and again and 
now it’s just a tiny blip. 
And now the blip is so wee, so small it can’t be seen
By the naked eye at all. 
Can’t be seen.

But it glues us, all of us in our house, 
To the mouse, 
To the screen, to the screen. 
Just like him, in a room that’s dim, 
We’re all awaiting our final scene. 
We’re awaiting our final scene. 

The 20th Century is over, but what if it never began?
What if the entire 100 years was the work of a single man?

Let’s override the circuits tonight
And let’s write the 21st Century ourselves
Let’s get it right

© Ellis Paul Publishing (SESAC) 

Listener comments about The 20th Century Is Over (70792)

Tags

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The 20th Century Is Over by Ellis Paul SONG
on the album Sweet Mistakes Buy Ellis Paul at CD-Baby Sweet Mistakes	Request this song: The 20th Century Is Over (Only logged in and authenticated users can make requests.) Overall rating: (13 votes) Your rating: You have to login to give your opinion about songs. Length: 4:19 Times played: 17 People hearing: 364 Times requested: 9 First played: Jan 29th, 2004 Last played: Jan 15th, 2008 Previously played: Dec 13th, 2007 Song ID#: 70792	Listener rankings & comments: doc said: interesting tune and mix 5 stars=Sol® ♦ sparx ♦ Denali ♦ RickHap ♦ Jimbob ♦ Rocky 4 stars=Esther ♦ Artmarcia ♦ Kazookid ♦ Candidus 3 stars=Big Tom ♦ Denimblue 2 stars=Jac