Can't Come Back From That

Filling time, filling space
Hanging art over the cracks
These new found passions
Or are they diversions?
As we meet for a restaurant meal
Life now seems so fragile and lean
Our numbers are down
Support networks gone

Some magic still resides
And I’m pleasantly surprised
Just to be still alive

But we can’t come back from that
You can’t come back from that
No you can’t come back from that
Not all the way, any way

Living through the end times
Hope they last a long time
Living through the end times
Managing the decline
Well lately I’m wondering
Was there a cosmic something
That stopped us achieving
That caused the glass ceiling

Cos someone’s filling stadiums
And they’re drawing the acclaim you want
The outcome you were tailored for

And you can’t come back from that
You can’t come back from that
No you can’t come back from that
Not all the way, every day

At times I reframe
Enchanted again
Resolved not to squander
My portion of wonder
The sting must be the thing
That makes us leap around

Living in the after
And we won’t let it get past us
Some things have made us wise now
So we’re drinking from this life now

But somebody lost their life
When it clearly wasn’t time
And that’s really not alright

And you can’t come back from that
You can’t come back from that
No you can’t come back from that
Not all the way, every day
You can’t come back from that
You can’t come back from that
Not all the way, any way

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

Can't Come Back From That

One Rule For You

We can see from the news on our screens
That in some quarters life can be cheap
And if life can be horribly cheap
Well then what could life possibly mean?
And if life can be quickly cut short
Well then what could life really be worth?

But you can’t afford to draw from this the obvious conclusions
No you have to live within the mist of positive illusions

You’ve got to tell yourself
That there’s one rule for you and one for everybody else
You’ve got to tell yourself
It’ll come good for you if not for anybody else

If you’re claiming that providence rules
Because fate has been smiling on you
Your philosophy doesn’t explain
Why for others it deals only pain

Or you chose to trust the Lord above to answer all your prayers
But you can’t supply a reason why he never answers theirs

You’ve got to tell yourself
That there’s one rule for you and one for everybody else
You’ve got to tell yourself
That he’ll look out for you and dump on everybody else

It’s the only way we can get on
Seeing storylines where there are none
And the knowledge of coming decay
Is a thought we put off till that day

No you’re better off protected from reality’s intrusions
So you slip the tinted lenses on maintaining your illusions

You’ve got to kid yourself
That there’s one rule for you and one for everybody else
You must convince yourself
There’s a purpose for you if not for anybody else

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

One Rule For You (2025 Stripped Mix)

Stories We Tell Ourselves

Look to the night sky and its billion points
One for each life that could have easily been yours
And all of the memories that amount to a life
Can always be ended in the glint of a knife

If you believe one thing leads to another
If you insist there's a scheme to uncover

These are stories that we tell ourselves
To join the dots up where they fell
Stories that we tell ourselves

While you're surviving to tell the tale
You'll feel inclined to present a tale
Deep is the instinct to want to divine
Some kind of meaning in the squalor we find

If you believe you've been living your own script
Ignoring each of the pieces that don't fit

These are stories that we tell ourselves
To join the dots up where they fell
They are stories that we tell ourselves
To force some order on our world

The truths of a history that governs your days
Are buried beneath these accounts you create
Demand excavation of a specialist kind
Without reservations about what you may find

All of those conscious justifications
Covering up unknown motivations

No the stories that have made our selves
Are not the ones we on which we dwell
And the stories that we tell ourselves
Are cooked up ones that serve us well
Stories that we sell ourselves

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

Stories We Tell Ourselves

Soul In Distress

When you see a soul in distress
You won’t always walk on by
No when you see a soul in distress
You won’t always walk on by

This world has made you wise
And courage made you colder
But that’s no victory
It’s more of a surrender

When I saw a soul in distress
I would always walk on by
Armoured in my own business
Barely offering a sigh

But I’ve found an exception
I’ve found an exception to the rule
Yeah I’ve made an exception
I’ve made an exception out of you

She wears a thinner skin than the rest
And in this she has been blessed
To never give as good as she gets
But give more than she expects

I’ve found an exception
I’ve found an exception to the rule
Yeah I’ve made an exception
I’ve made an exception out of you

If you call out in despair
Well then I’ll probably be there
It’s a sort of guarantee
And no one’s more surprised than me

When you see a soul in distress
You may recover your emotions
Finding that for once you’re prepared
To pour your drop into the ocean

To increase by one the sum of happiness
And relieve the throb of someone’s loneliness

I’ve found an exception
I’ve found an exception to the rule
Yeah I’ve made an exception
I’ve made an exception out of you
I’ve made an exception
I’ve made an exception for the truth

If you call out in despair
Well then I’ll probably be there
It’s a sort of guarantee
And no one’s more surprised than me

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

Soul In Distress (Edit)

So Fearless

She swans around my neighbourhood
I’d be her shadow if I could
Marking her movements in my book
To hang around along her route
But beauty has a lethal ray
And I dissolve beneath her gaze
So when she passes on the street
I bow my head down in defeat

You know exactly what you’re doing
When you’re throwing out that look
And you’d only leave me dangling
Once you’ve got me on your hook
But I like the wave of gold
That’s in your shock of raven hair
And I love the way you smoulder
With that blunt and brazen stare

Oh you look so good
Yeah you look so fine
But what gets me breathless
Is you look so fearless, so fearless

She’s skipping through her working day
While winning new fans all the way
The bolder ones will have a crack
And it’s all water off her back

You know exactly what you’re doing
And exactly what you are
And exactly where you’re going
And it isn’t very far
Hardly noticing the catcalls
Cos you get them everywhere
And you owe it all to nature
Isn’t nature so unfair?

And you look so good
Yeah you look so fine
But what gets us breathless
Is you look so fearless, so fearless

Well I want you to know what I think of you
You look almost as cool as you think you do
Yeah I want you to know why you have my heart
Cos you’re almost as hot as you think you are

But if I ever got you back home
I’d be overcome with fear
You would see I’ve got no backbone
It could only end in tears

No there’s no lead in my pencil
I could never follow through
Cos it went into these sentences
I dedicate to you

Cos you look so proud
And you look so tough
And you scare me witless
Cos you look so fearless, so fearless

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

So Fearless

No Takers

Remember when those dark clouds lifted
To offer you a bright new vista
The day had come to set your stall out
You’d got the goods to knock them all out

On a high of self-esteem
You were confidently waiting on the call
But the world thought differently
No the world it didn’t think of you at all

You found no takers, no takers
You must have been so rudely awakened
No takers, no takers
You couldn’t reach the movers and shakers
No takers, no takers
Peddling your wares will wear you out

To say you live and learn is quite true
But by the time you’ve learned your life’s through
How could you know you’d end up worse off
By trying to mould it to some purpose?

Took you all that time to see
Hard work hardly enters into it at all
That the world works differently
No the world it didn’t think of you at all

You found no takers, no takers
This world welcomes chancers and players
No takers, no takers,
We get on through fluke or through favours
No takers, no takers
Peddling your wares will wear you out

But none of this bothers me
Cos my eye’s on posterity
And over time we will see
If hindsight’s going to honour me
I’ll be slow burning, for slow learners
Yeah some of my mud will stick
If I’m slow burning, for slow learners
Will I live to witness it?

No takers, no takers,
You never got to prove you’re the greatest
No takers, no takers
You couldn’t move those movers and shakers
No takers, no takers,
And they may get it sooner or later
But I’m jaded, hopes fading
Peddling these wares has worn me out
Peddling my wares has worn me out
Peddling your wares will wear you out

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

No Takers (Edit)

We Want Action

Well the box office returns
They would all seem to confirm
That we want action
We demand action
There’s a world outside your door
But you push past it towards
The scene of the action
The cinema-ttraction
Where the blockbuster release
Gives us some sort of release
So we want action
A piece of the action

And it’s only make believe
But they know how to make me believe

Blame the hateful desire
Of the caveman inside us
Cos he wants action
He demands action
And the thrills and the spilling
Of blood will fulfil him
On screens of action
Primitive action

And it’s only make believe
But they know how to make me believe
Yeah it’s only make believe

On celluloid
They sell us all
Reflections of
Our netherworld
They’re conjuring
What’s better left down there
A tolerance
For violence
That always has no consequence
I’ve seen it all and never left my chair

No these dreams of danger and doom
Can be beamed into your front room
Yeah we got action
On demand action
But you don’t want it your backyard
No that’s obviously going too far
To feel yourself trapped in
The thick of the action

Cos it’s only make believe
And you don’t want to face it for real
But they know we’ll pay to see
All the blows that we’d hate to receive

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

We Want Action

Chance Is Gone (Gatsby)

Where am I?
Who are these people?
Number crunchers
And life savers
Their common language
Could never be mine
But take my hat off
They sure can unwind
This Gatsby theme
This art deco signage
It so befits
As if someone planned it
 
I’m an island at a table
Nursing negronis
As they do the macarena

Chance is gone
Turns it only came once
The chance is gone
Chance is gone

All those years 
Since the starting gun
Startled me
And never re-run
It’s party time 
In the very same places
But now they wear 
Generation Z faces

I’m an island at this table
Feigning indifference
As she does the macarena

Chance is gone
All that you were working on
The chance is gone
The hope was wrong

Your beauty 
Does stir me
But it’s on a 
Charmed journey
Still deluded
Thus enchanted
Ungreeted 
By disaster

Well Gatsby’s wish
It never alighted
And like him
I believed in my green light

But we’re borne back into the past
Yes tonight I’m borne back into the past
Should I make my peace with it at last?

Chance is gone
Was always a million to one
The chance is gone
The dream is done

Past is strong
Dragging you back, on and on
The past is strong
It pulls us from
It pulls us from

Chance is gone
The dream is done
Chance is gone
And the end will come

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

Chance Is Gone (Gatsby) (Single Version)

Party's Over

The party’s over now
Over your shoulder now
And claiming that we could defy gravity
Was never a sensible policy

The morning after hurts
Feeling the bubble burst
To find we’ve been living beyond our means
To see we bought into a powerful dream
The party’s over now

And did you believe it would last forever now?
Did you believe we could stay in the air some how?
And do you believe that we’ve reached the bottom now
Or is it going to get worse?

The party’s over now
Of this there is no doubt
We don’t need to wait till the figures come in
You know by the pain what a mess we are in

We should have looked ahead
We could have hedged our bets
Well hindsight, they say, is a wonderful thing
But I disagree cos it carries a sting
The party’s over now

And did you believe it would last forever now?
Did you believe we could keep it together some how?

And the ones who brought us down
Are the ones we cling to now
We seek security
In those good memories
When they say stick with me
Ain’t that an irony?

And did we believe it would last forever now?
And do we agree that we’ve reached the bottom for now
Or is it going to get worse?

The party’s over now

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

Party's Over (Edit)

No Symmetry

I’m a man, believe it or not
I’m a man who knows what he wants
Though what I can get is another matter yet
I’m a fan of all that you’ve got
But I’ll start with what’s on the top
Our meeting of minds can begin another time

Cos we give lip-service to equality
But we’re in the service of biology
And your perfect surface is the calling of my genes
 
There’s no symmetry between you and me
In terms of what we wish, in terms of what we seek
And all this talk of oneness is just fantasy
There’s no symmetry between you and me
Regarding what we think, regarding what we feel
Before we take things forward we need clarity

I’m a man, believe it or not
Do a turn, you’ll get a response
Though whether you will is another matter still
Can’t escape my hateful desires
It’s the way my brain has been wired
And if I denied it I’d only be a liar

Well I know we’re working for equality
But I’m in the service of the throb I feel
When the mist descends you’re going to get objectified

There’s no symmetry between you and me
In terms of what we wish, in terms of what we seek
And all this talk of oneness is just fantasy
There’s no symmetry between you and me
Regarding what we think, regarding what we feel
Before there’s any progress we need honesty

I will share your hopes and your dreams
If you’ll share what lies in between
Yeah we could be great with a little give and taken

Our aims are never going to be agreed
But time has ironed out a kind of deal
You’ll get what you want if you give me what I need

There’s no symmetry between you and me
In terms of what we wish, in terms of what we seek
I’m sure I’m not the first to say this openly
There’s no symmetry between you and me
Regarding what we think, regarding what we feel
Before there’s any progress we need honesty


Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

No Symmetry (Extended Version)

Used To It

So everything has changed now
That our golden years are through
And strange events have shaken
The beliefs we all held to
We were lucky to bear witness
To the longest loudest boom
But you’re noticing the difference
Now we’re huddled in one room

All our brilliant minds
They fell asleep on the job
So they missed all the signs
What were we paying them for

Yeah I guess we kind of got used to it
But the good life’s gone for good
Now you’re gonna have to get used to it
Like you never guessed you would

There were people giving credit
Where credit wasn’t due
And the ones who end up paying
Are the likes of me and you
We can’t go through this adjustment
Without a small degree of pain
It’s like giving up a substance
That’s been rushing through our veins

Better tighten your belt
Put a stop to those sprees
It’s not about what you want now
It’s about what you need

Now you’re gonna have to get used to it
Cos the game has changed for good
Yeah you’re gonna have to get used to it
Like you never thought you could

All the glossy dreams in the magazines
They are fading on the page
And the shopping malls and designer stores
Will be relics of our age

Now the temperature is climbing
And the seas are rising too
Soon this pretty little island
Will be shrinking under you

You heard it said that a change
Is as good a rest
You’ll want to know what they meant now
As you look at this mess

Used to it
Now the weather’s changed for good
Yeah you’re gonna have to get used to it
Like you never dreamt you would

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

Used To It (Edit)

Must Try Harder

Well I have been trying to fall in line
Trying to get life started
And I don’t know why my report card says
That I must try harder
That I must try harder

I heard everything you’ll ever do is written in a script for you
Our earliest experiences motivate our every move

And nothing real ever comes my way
I’m always waiting on some coming age
I guess I’m too settled in my ways
But people never change that much do they?

Well I have been trying to fall in love
Trying to take my partner
So I don’t know why my report card says
That I must try harder
Yeah I must try harder

I heard everything you ever chose is written in a script for you
Those earliest disturbances dictating if you win or lose

And nothing real ever comes my way
I’m always waiting on some coming age
I guess I’m too settled in my ways
But people never change that much do they?
No nothing real ever comes my way
I must be paying for some past mistake

Well I have been trying to share my pain
Trying to sing my heart out
And I don’t know why my reviews all say
That I must try harder

And some of this better come my way
I’m tired of waiting for some glorious day
I may be too settled in my ways
But people don’t change that much I say

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

Must Try Harder

After The Fact

We never said we'll get back to you
We never said you can't hold a tune
May we suggest your memory's confused?
After the fact
After the fact

We never said the sound isn't right
We never said they don't play in time
It's evident the whole thing's sublime
After the fact
After the fact

And no one shows
What everybody knows
That nobody knows anything
Yeah no one shows
What everybody knows
That nobody knows anything

And though we're sure your voice is unique
We've got to turn out more like you quick
Because the public's called you a hit

And no one shows
What everybody knows
That nobody knows anything
No no one shows
The truth that Goldman wrote

It's no real mystery
An open secret
The role of contingency
In who achieves it
But captains of industry
Will sing your praises
And claim it was clear to see
Now that you've made it
Congratulations!
Congratulate them!

We were much too slow to respond
When technology moved along
Saw our produce go for a song
Those are the facts
Those are the facts

We need you to come out and bat
You can put us back in the black
You're too huge to fail and that's that

And no one shows
What everyone should know
That no one controls anything
And no one shows
What everyone must know
That no one foretold anything

It goes to show
The truth that Goldman wrote
That nobody knows anything
I've come to know
It's just like Goldman wrote
That nobody knows anything

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

After The Fact (Edit)

An Incantation

Does the universe have the authority
To backdate an apology?
If I holler loud and wide 
Will it echo down through time
To when it was required?

In my defence is ignorance
I didn’t know your history
But although I couldn’t know
In your words you let it show
You were trying to let me know
 
I’m sorry
I’m sorry
I’m sorry
So sorry

This is an incantation
A call for redemption
Destined for dead ears
Yet I’m willing you to hear

Does the universe have the machinery
To broadcast my apology?
From this very special day
Your anniversary
Can it mend the past for me?

In my defence my ignorance
I didn’t know your tragedy
But although I couldn’t know
In your arms you made it show
Those injuries of old

I’m sorry
I’m sorry
I’m sorry
So sorry

This is an incantation
A call for redemption
Destined for dead ears
Yet I’m willing you to hear

This is an incantation
Begging exculpation
Falling on dead ears
How I’m wishing you could hear

I’m sorry
I’m sorry
I’m sorry
So sorry

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

An Incantation (Extended Version)

Gone Native

How am I supposed to find out
What’s going on?
Where am I supposed to find out
Who’s doing wrong?
You’re the source of information
Well that’s what your job was
You’re employed to navigate us
But you’ve dropped your compass

You’ve got too comfortable at the table
With the great and good
Now it seems rude to ask them the questions
That you said you would

Oh no you’ve gone native
You’ve changed places 
Oh no you’ve gone native
You’ve betrayed us
Oh no you’ve gone native

We shouldn’t be surprised to find out
It’s going on
And you don’t even seem to see that
You’re doing wrong
There’s never been a straight induction
Into their programme
It’s usually a slow corruption
That you don’t notice

Yeah all that rubbing shoulders 
With high flying sorts
Has got you parroting all their lines 
Without thought

Oh no you’ve gone native
You’ve changed places
On no you’ve gone native
To gain status
On no you’ve gone native
It’s outrageous

Oh you used to have your finger on the pulse
Now your finger’s somewhere else
Oh you used to wag your finger at their lies
Now your finger’s in their pies

We can’t go investigating
What’s going on
We don’t have the skill or patience
We’d do it wrong
But we should know what’s done in our name
Well that’s what your job was
And you should hang your head down in shame
Cos you lost your morals

Your sense of independence is AWOL
It’s blown away
You might as well get onto the payroll
And go the whole way

Oh no you’ve gone native
That’s where you’ve been lately
Oh no you’ve gone native
Our trust was mistaken
On no you’ve gone native
It’s outrageous
Oh no you’ve gone native
Oh no, oh no

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

Gone Native

One Rule For You

We can see from the news on our screens
That in some quarters life can be cheap
And if life can be horribly cheap
Well then what could life possibly mean?
And if life can be quickly cut short
Well then what could life really be worth?

But you can’t afford to draw from this the obvious conclusions
No you have to live within the mist of positive illusions

You’ve got to tell yourself
That there’s one rule for you and one for everybody else
You’ve got to tell yourself
It’ll come good for you if not for anybody else

If you’re claiming that providence rules
Because fate has been smiling on you
Your philosophy doesn’t explain
Why for others it deals only pain

Or you chose to trust the Lord above to answer all your prayers
But you can’t supply a reason why he never answers theirs

You’ve got to tell yourself
That there’s one rule for you and one for everybody else
You’ve got to tell yourself
That he’ll look out for you and dump on everybody else

It’s the only way we can get on
Seeing storylines where there are none
And the knowledge of coming decay
Is a thought we put off till that day

No you’re better off protected from reality’s intrusions
So you slip the tinted lenses on maintaining your illusions

You’ve got to kid yourself
That there’s one rule for you and one for everybody else
You must convince yourself
There’s a purpose for you if not for anybody else

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw


One Rule For You

Had To Be There

Ooh, the speakers were pumping
Ooh, the people were jumping
Ooh, I heard it was something but you had to be there

You’d be queen of the scene there
You, done up like a dream there
You’d leave kicking and screaming cos you had to be there

And if you were there then you don’t know what I’m missing
If you were there then you don’t know what’s been lost
Some of us didn’t make the party
Some of us couldn’t say the password
If you were there then you don’t know what you’ve got

And how’d it feel to be on the inside
Because it seems so good from the outside
Or do I need to brood on the feeling that you had to be there?

That if you were there then you don’t know what I’m missing
If you were there then you don’t know what’s been lost
Some of us couldn’t choose a partner
Some of us were just too faint-hearted
If you were there then you don’t know what you’ve got

And now the chance is behind me
I love to look back in envy
At loved-up crowds that remind me
That you had to be there

Cos all of those times
They could have been mine
But I took myself so seriously
And I took this world so personally

But I believe in you
And all the things you do
There’s no more to this life than the way that you live it
The way that you live it

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw


Had To Be There

Simpler Times

Past is settled and it’s where I’m from
Now I dwell there as I’m getting on
Those times were brighter than what came along
And in their honour I will share my song

Take me back to ’95 please
When the things I loved burned brightly
And even stuff that staffed the background
Those ephemera they enchant now

What seemed inconsequential
Revealed as elemental
What then appeared tangential
Now feels so monumental

Portents of glories that never arrived
But now I realise
That the thrill was the life

Past is settled and it’s where I’m from
And to revel helps me soldier on
Those years were clearer than what followed on
And they will cheer me till the end has come

Didn’t think much of or ‘bout her then
Maybe cos her face was everywhere
But now that radiance is magical
And don’t get me wrong, she has it still

A totem of romance that never arrived
But now I realise
That the dream was a high

It is what it used to be
It vaults over time to me
With warmth and delight for me
A drug without a cost

Past is settled and it’s where we’re from
And to revel helps me soldier on
Those years were clearer than what followed on
And they will feed me till oblivion

It is what it used to be
It leaps over years to me
With warmth and delight for me
A deeper second bite

Past is settled and it’s where we’re from
Now I dwell there as I’m getting on
Those times were brighter than what came along
And in their memory I will air this song

Past is settled but it’s where I live
Who’d have guessed it had so much to give

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

Simpler Times (Extended Version)

Nadja

I think Breton was on to something
There’s a level beyond the humdrum 
And improbable events
That we call coincidence
They hold a hidden meaning like the symbols in our dreams

And they come and they go
These secret signs and clues
And you’re hungry to know
Where they are pointing to
Then you stumble on your Nadja
And you’re sure she holds the answers
She is genius roaming free

I say Breton was on to something
There’s a beauty beyond the humdrum
And its wonders are displayed
In this girl who can’t be tamed
And doesn’t even realise she exists outside the law

And they come and they go
These secret signs and clues
And you’re hungry to know
Where they are pointing to
And they’re beckoning your Nadja
And she’s heading for disaster
But you urge her on all the same

Oh looking over the obvious
For a glimpse of the marvellous
But the edge can be hazardous

We know Breton discovered something
There’s a danger beyond the humdrum
Now you’re watching from a cliff
As she’s lost to the abyss
She’s fallen from the frontier between insight and insane

They come and they go
Like that bright soul you knew
Cos you couldn’t follow
Where she was walking to
So you sacrificed your Nadja
To live madly ever after
Where they’ve thrown away the key
And you thought that she had the key
And you thought it could make us free

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

Nadja (Edit)

The Long Run

This life
Although it may be real
We never signed a deal
Or held negotiations
To get some changes
But life
Has cast us in this drama
A badly-scripted saga
Through that we have been granted
A Z-list stardom

And that's a role that's ample for me
Who wants to know the top of the tree

In the long run we are all dead
What is the point of getting ahead?
In the long run we are all dead
What is the use in making your bed?

High life
The pressure on the famous
Is almost always dangerous
And we enjoy spectating
As it claims them

Then we mourn for a fading star
But it's only our fate writ large

In the long run we are all dead
What is the point of getting ahead?
In the long run we are all dead
What is the use in making your bed?

In time
You'll join me as you come down
We'll both be on the way out
Supposing that we've got round
Some global meltdown

It's the closing argument
In the case for my defence

In the long run we are all dead
What is the point of chasing success?
In the long run we are all dead
What is the sense in breaking your neck?

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

The Long Run (Edit)

Defiance

We are rolling the rock up a hill
To watch it roll down where it was before
Always rolling that rock up a hill
And sometimes that's hardly a metaphor

Then you stumble on a mode of resistance
That some others seem to know without thinking

The arrival at a style
Of defiance
It's a noble attitude
The appliance of a science
Of defiance

This contract, it is sometimes insufferable
And despite that you're intended to suffer it all
The outlook predictably unpredictable
For a life's work that will recede to nothing at all

Can you summon up a show of resistance
Like some others seem to do without blinking

The survival of your trials
In defiance
It's a noble attitude
The appliance of a science
Of defiance
Is the strategy to chose

To resist in the face of what's certain
May appear on the face of it worthless
But you're showing your disgust at the format
That you'll grant life some purpose despite that

I am offering this course of resistance
As the closest thing I've heard yet to wisdom

The survival of your trials
In defiance
It's a noble attitude
The appliance of a science
Of defiance
On the only path we use

You don't have to stand for this
And you don't have to take it lying down either
You don't have to stand for this
And you don't have to take it lying down either

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

Defiance (Edit)

Whatever Works

There is no grand design that we can know from here
There is no smoking gun to make the culprit clear
We're only sure there's time to kill before time kills us
And where we seek our light is still the burning issue

There are as many truths as there are tongues to speak them
And all those motives for you choosing to believe them
But they can't all be right and might all be misleading
You must find your own way home

Whatever works, works whatever
Whatever works, works whatever
Whatever works, works whatever
Whatever the punchline is to be

He lived preoccupied with what may follow after
And then death struck him down and granted him the answer
But it was in that quest that his life found a meaning
And now he's laid to rest he doesn't need a reason

Do some dangerous sports or start a coin collection
Take in jazz and hope they like your new direction
Go wherever feels like home

Whatever works, works whatever
Whatever works, works whatever

Until you're brought above the clouds
Or lowered in the ground
How are you gonna to know
Which was the way to roll?

Whatever works, works whatever
Whatever works, serves whatever
Whatever works, works whatever
Whatever the reckoning reveals

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

Whatever Works (Edit)

Married Life

He’s the right one, he’s the keeper
If you reassure yourself enough you might believe it
But you’re wistful in those pictures
Like you’ve made your bed up far too neat for you to sleep in

Can a soul like yours want to stay secure
When your whole life’s theme is curiosity?

You have to meet him in the middle
You chose to live there on the common ground
You have to meet him in the middle
Where married life is a compromise

I’m a live one, but a loner
And when they get to close to me then I get frozen
But you fix things, like addictions
And if you led me past this we could make a home there

Will a soul like yours never ask for more?
When your whole life’s theme is reading people’s dreams?

I could have met you in the middle
We could’ve settled in a halfway house
I could have met you in the middle
But married life is a tie that binds

We get one life
Only one ride
Yeah as you travel farther down the road you realise
And was that the one?
That ship that’s sailed on?
The memory that’s got to see me out of this life

Now you’re sat online with a tracking eye
Cos you stayed behind where it’s safe and dry

I could have met you in the middle
We should be lovers in the here and now
But you chose to meet him in the middle
Where married life is an alibi

I could have met you in the middle
We should be lovers in the here and now
But you choose to meet him in the middle
Where married life is your alibi

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

Married Life (Radio Edit)

Invincible Summer

At a time like this
It's hard to see
How to live on
From a tragedy
In an hour like this
You can’t believe
Seeing the proof
Of our destinies

But stay around
Don’t add insult to their injury
Wear the frown
But remember that they are at peace

At times I feel an invincible summer
Although this world doesn’t lead to another
I summon up an invincible summer
Because he stood where I stand now

With a crime like this
It's hard to reach
Someone lost deep
In the heart of grief
And we've seen so clear
Life's frailty
Its gift replaced
With a cruelty

Oh but live a life, if only in her memory
Hold the line, if just to keep her legacy

At times you’ll feel an invincible summer
Though much of this is wintry sorrows
At times you’ll steal an invincible summer
Because she breathed as you breath now

We only die once
But we live everyday
We only die once
And they lived all those days
You're going to die sure
So now live for those days

In time you’ll greet an invincible summer
To carry you amid the horrors
Inside you’ll feel an invincible summer
Because they loved as you love still

Finally you’ll reach that invincible summer
In memories of the bliss they brought you
You’ll summon up an invincible summer
Because they lived as we live now
Because they lived you will live on

Invincible Summer (Radio Edit)

Certain Love

You’ve got a certain love
One that can’t be touched
You’ve got a perfect love now
One that won’t be rocked 

She’s one to last
Her spirit is sparkling on

You’ve got a certain love
We’re almost envious of
You’ve got a perfect love now
The sort there’s legends of

She’ll never change
Her presence is raging on

You’ve got a certain love
One they can’t switch off
You’ve got a perfect love now
One that won’t be lost

Time will dissolve
And memories hold
Until we dissolve ourselves

And so a senseless loss
Becomes an endless love 
The one you’re hurting from
But will take comfort from

She isn’t gone
She breathes in the world through us

You’ve got a certain love now
You’ve got a perfect love now
You’ve got a certain love now

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

Certain Love (Radio Edit)

People Just Leave

We came from nothing
Well don't you remember? 
But it's too daunting
To know we'll return there
We hold a story
That we'll always defend
With a beginning
And a middle and an end

But what if it stops in the middle?
What if your works come to little?
What if that thought was a fiction?
As if we were lied to

And people just leave 
Into the ether
People just leave 
And don’t expect feedback
People just leave

Laid out in the hospital
His state beyond serious
But behold his family
Away with religion

There’ll be no divine intervention
It’s sought out of pure desperation
They’re gonna be shown the lesson

That people just leave
Prayers will not keep them 
People will leave
And we must just grieve it

Do you know you are gone?
I think not, I think not
If you know you've passed on
Knock once, knock once

Well they’ll never know what they’re missing
They don’t even know that they’re missing
People who lived so insistent
Despite all they cried through
They never finished their mission
While some of us left here are drifting
Unsure that there is a reason
 
When people just leave
Dying is easy
People just leave
Removed so indifferently

And we roll on too easily
People will leave
That’s people meaning you and me
We will just leave
We will just leave
We will just leave
People just leave

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

People Just Leave (Radio Edit)

The Exceptions

It’s all over the internet
When you’ve not had your breakfast yet
How members of the A-list set
Were falling out of bars
A pageant that we have to see
Of glamour and debauchery
And who we crown celebrities
Can show us who we are

The exceptions are the high few
Whose living we aspire to
Whose sinning we admire too
The exceptions set the mood
The exceptions are our royalty
We scrape and bow and curtsey
While peeking past the curtain
For exceptions to their cool

This culture that’s enveloped us
Can turn you into Narcissus
Imploring you to star in it
Get preening for the role
Ignoring that the odds are long
That one in several million
Might just become a household name
In one that’s not their own

The exceptions captured their dream
The exceptions had the right means
The exceptions backed the right scheme
The exception to the rule
The exceptions stash their own cash
The exceptions bag the free stuff
And they get to practice free love
The exceptions know no rules

And I know that some would say it’s sour grapes, and you could
Cos I tried and failed to climb up to the great and the good
But I only sought to prove all this is true, this is true

Them being flawed and tragic souls
Is seen as in the package though
To mitigate our envy
And our common miseries
And yes their fame compounds it all
Cos they can burn through thousands more
In their self-medication for
The very same disease

The exceptions are the high few
Whose living we aspire to
Whose sinking will remind you
The exceptions have their wounds
The exceptions are our royalty
We scrape and bow and curtsey
While scratching at the surface
For a trace of inner gloom
The exceptions live out our dreams
Those exceptions with the right means
Connections, luck or good genes
The exceptions won’t be you

A pageant that we have to see
Of glamour and debauchery
And who we crown celebrities
Will show us who we are

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

The Exceptions (Edit)

Artifacts & Heirlooms

The case was lost
And he is moving on
To an austere flat
With no room to swing his cats
But we’ve cared to keep
Some articles of proof
From when fate and she
So briefly smiled on you

Memories change or fade
But these things remain to say
It wasn’t any dream
It was so very real

Artifacts and heirlooms
The indelible effects
Of a time that came and left
Artifacts and heirlooms

The light has gone
And we are moving on
While inside the place
Some strangers start afresh

The green inlay
In an ice cube tray
The wooden frame
Of the guest room bed

Artifacts and heirlooms
Purchased of necessity
Now they form a legacy
Artifacts and heirlooms
The least prepossessing kind
Can make mincemeat out of time

We’ll all move on
Till moving can’t be done
But in the long shadow
Of the greatest days we’ll know

A print on the wall
That was once mine before
And Martini glasses
From nights that have passed us

Artifacts and heirlooms
Undeniable evidence
Of the time that came and went
Artifacts and heirlooms
Purchased of necessity
They take on a poignancy

Photographs of old rooms
Call those years back into life
Launch a tear into your eye

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

Artifacts & Heirlooms (Alt Version)

This House

We were at your house last Wednesday
Though you weren't there of course
Still felt like your place though
And perhaps a little more like trespassing
An abstract sign saying "beware of the fiery character"
It was your edifice, your fortress
Built up only for you to be knocked down

It’s the clearest reveal
Of what lies underneath

This house that was a home
Is now a cold museum
And wild winds bemoan
The woe that has befallen
This house that was a home
It now exhibits sorrow
It makes a mockery of 
Our notions of tomorrow

It still stands in testament
And has him still prone to saying "we" instead of "I"
Outside winds blow heavy and long
Expressing open, empty, uncaring space
Sounding a lament
The space outside you fought to keep spare
Spare it now is 
Gusts whistle through it

It’s the cruelest reveal of
What life will concede

This house that was a home
Is now a cold museum
And wild winds evoke
The traumas of its missing
This house is for the ghosts
Who never knew what hit them
It makes a mockery of
The tenets of religion

The house still stands
But those plans were built on sand
The house still stands
But its occupants were damned

Yet the home truths don't quite get home
We're wont to slip back into our zones
To grumble and groan
Our rotas not much changed
The home truth hasn't hit home
That it doesn't much matter anyway
That our worldly aims have feet of clay
It doesn't much matter anyway

It’s the hot wax seal
On what’s life’s deal

This house is not a home
It’s now a grim museum
And wild winds beseech
In echo of the children
Now living is a sham
Still we live on regardless
Though all of this expanse
Is whispering that it’s pointless

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

This House (Edit)

We Walk Among You

The ship has sailed
And left us to this stony ground
And past the age when we’re meant to make a sound
But which came first
The nightmare or that dream?
Which to blame as we’re staring out to sea

Fell out with the right crowd
And down with the wrong one
Hiding in plain sight
Denied any limelight
In a loveless town

We walk among you
Shorn of value
Under shadows
Drawn and pallid
We walk among you

We can’t complain
Amid your tribulations
So much more the civilians endure
For which we aimed
To craft some consolation
That’s our story, that is our defence

And for our disturbance
A few are rewarded
The rest left unheard of
Our nature unserviced
Tumbleweed spinning by

We walk among you
Lame and redundant
With calloused fingers
And no one listening
Uncalled for spirits

Left with only these afflictions
And no esteem to contradict them
Oh but in the larger picture
Our woe it merits but a whisper

Existence is gifted
Not to be sniffed at
But how to redeem it
How do you seize it
When you’re hollowed out?

The ship has sailed
The ship has sailed

We walk among you
Surplus numbers
Unsung wonders
Was all or nothing
We walk among you
Overcrowded
Undervalued
Was all for nothing
We walk among you
Soundly beaten
Vanished egos
Phantoms drifting
We walk among you

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

We Walk Among You (Alt Version)

In The Shop

Well the site may have changed
But the logo remains
Conditions have worsened
And the music for certain
Oh the times always change, sure
But these changes are stranger
Positions reversing
Now the young are the puritans

But they’re working for peanuts
And they can’t get a leg up
Do they still take their comfort in gossip and booze-up?

In the shop
It’s all mixed up now
In the shop
It sends me back

Now the tables are turning
Cos vinyl’s returning
And CD’s on the rack
They’ve been pushed to the back
It’s out with the new
And back to the old
And that goes for the pay
We’re in Dickens’s day

See her play with her phone on the counter
They’ll accept it as part of the outfit
Yeah they lean to your lifestyle
But they give you the breadline

In the shop
They stitch you up now
In the shop
I wish you luck

Well I passed through these parts
On my way to the stars
Which I never did reach
So I’ve lessons to teach
Was so sure of myself
That they’d furnish these shelves
With my musical tales
Well now that ship has sailed

I could play the prodigal son there
Sing my songs to less than a throng there
No the dream never landed, but it still has its charm yeah

In the shop
It’s set me off now
In the shop
I wish you luck
In the shop
I look back with love
I’m talking shop

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

In The Shop (45rpm Mix)

A Force Of Nature

You were a force of nature
Nothing man made could contain you
You were a force of nature
Only nature could restrain you

Our last argument is the best testament
To your zeal and your commitment 
I can still have you here 
Cos the memory was seared
By the heat of disagreement
It wasn't the world that did you in
It wasn't the violence that you'd seen
And there is comfort in that fact
Not any deed, by any hand

You were a force of nature
Nothing man made could frustrate you
You were a force of nature
Only nature could negate you

I did not know the half
Of how you'd had it hard
How that grin was forged by trauma
But battered and bruised
Was battle hardened
And you led the charge for woman
It wasn't the world that did you in
It wasn't the broken souls you’d seen
Nothing that’s out there made you snap
But your own brain was booby trapped

You were a force of nature
Nothing man made could derail you 
You were a force of nature
Only nature could curtail you

Far more than the sum of those woes
Instead grabbing life by the throat
And full of the arrogance of youth
A hubris you never got to lose

There are facts on the ground
But they can’t pare you down
To an empty statistic
Cos you blazed while you breathed
And you rest now in peace
While your gestures outlive you
Some say that life’s a comedy
But that’s only in its ironies
That are dealt out sadistically
In twists of fate that we don’t need

You were a force of nature
Nothing man made could have slayed you
You were a force of nature
Whose biology betrayed you
Gone as a force of nature
But you left your little acorns

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

A Force Of Nature (5th Ann Mix)

Buy Into It

They say the first step to recovery
Is owning up to your dependency
But you’re not going to hear a sound from me

And I like to think I’m pretty clever
But it hooks me on some deeper level
Their streaming feed of cheap sensation
Is speaking to my isolation

Yeah I buy into it anyway
I buy into it everyday
I buy into it anyway
Cos it’s what I need to get by

They say the first step to recovery
Is facing up to your dependency
But I could drop this anytime I please

But I still haven’t found a reason
Or something easier to believe in
The tabloid junk that runs in our veins
Will carry us through one more dry day

And I buy into it anyway
I buy into it everyday
I buy into it anyway
I buy into it every day

Popstar child, with her smile so bright
Give me more of the same, give me more of the same
Smile so bright, that it hurts my eyes
Give me more of that pain, I want more of that pain

And it reminds me of the chicken and the egg 
Cos are they putting these desires into my head
Or only tapping into what’s already there?

Well I do believe I’m being exploited
But I choose to fill the consent form in
When there’s an itch you have to scratch it
And this brings instant satisfaction

So I buy into it anyway
Yeah I buy into it everyday
I buy into it anyway
I’ll buy into it anyday
Cos it’s what I need to get by
Yeah it’s what I use to get high
And it’s all that brings me alive

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

Buy Into It (2019 Remix)

It’s What Happens

There is never a fairer word said
But never a stranger word said
Than it’s what happens
It’s what happens

There is never a flatter word said
But never a sadder word said
Than it’s what happens
It’s what happens

It is all we can make of decay
Can’t be halted or explained away
But it’s what happens
It’s what happens

And there’s only one other way of saying it
That it is what it is
It is what it is
It is what it is

It is all we can say of that day
Can’t ignore it or chase it away
It will happen
It will happen

And there’s only one other way of saying it
That it is what it is
It is what it is
It is what it is

There is never a saner word said
But never a braver word said
Than it’s what happens
It’s what happens

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

It's What Happens

A Rothko And Your Face

As the photo reached my eyes
It caused butterflies to rise
With my vision swimming too
At this vision seen of you 

Only one thing I had seen
Caused such swirliness in me
Only two sights bring that state
They’re a Rothko and your face

It’s religion without God
Or an inkling of love
It is living’s saving grace
It’s a Rothko or your face

There’s a Mona Lisa smile
But that isn’t what beguiles
It’s the luminosity
That you robbed from Rothko’s dream

And that man is truly rich
Who can always survey it
But would Rothko call disgrace
Hoarding a Rothko or your face

And though both of you’ll degrade
Those sensations will remain
Till the day my brain gives way
There’s a Rothko and your face

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

A Rothko And Your Face

Sit Me With You

The other side of the bus
The other side of experience
That moment I was in love
With your shot at experience

There’s a secret you must never know
That all you’ve got to do is show up
It’s a privilege you already own
That all you’ve got to do is rock up

Sit me with you, call me back
To the start of all of that
Remind me all the truths you don’t know yet
Sit me with you, bring me back
You have everything I lack
I promise not to sow the same regrets

The other side of the bus
And glowing with inexperience
But with the beauty you’ve got
You’ll be taking the royal road

That’s a destiny I never owned
So all I had to do was screw up
Done by chasing what I thought was owed
So somebody like you would rock up

Sit me with you, call me back
To the start of all of that
Remind me all the truths you don’t know yet
Sit me with you, bring me back
You have everything I lack
I promise not to make the same mistakes

You are my conscience
Cos I too was young once
With of all of these problems to chose
You are my conscience
Cos I got it wrong once
And never held someone like you

I’m headed over the hill
Fading out of obscurity
And though the years will get you, too
You will always be short of me

But you gave me an affirmative
Through your eyes of a child
Finally put the blue tick by my life
With a laugh and your smile

Sit me with you, call me back
To a time before the fall
Remind me all the proof you don’t have yet
Sit me with you, bring me back
Past the warnings we ignore
I promise not to sow the same regrets
Sit me with you, call me back
You have everything I lack
I promise not to make the same mistakes

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

Sit Me With You

Sniper Of Life

Woke up today
Remembered somebody died
Woke up today
It happens I’m still alive
Now everything’s broken
But something is fixed
The question of meaning
There’s no meaning to this

TV’s a distraction
Turns out it always was
Whisky’s an attraction
Who ever knew it was?

But I ain’t got no survivor guilt
Although the sniper at work he took in your prime
No I ain’t got no survivor guilt
Because the sniper of life could have me on his mind

Got up this morning
Sore head but alive
While people with causes
Don’t get through the night
Squandered the daytime
Still hung up on your plight
The same old timewasting
But now done out of spite

I’ve offering a retraction
Of most of my own complaints
No right to feel any anger
That life hasn’t met my aims

But I ain’t got no survivor guilt
Although the sniper of life has cut me down to size
No I ain’t got no survivor guilt, no
Because the sniper of life could get me any time

And hey, I’m left standing
That’s some kind of result
But should I be cowering
Waiting on the assault?

Waiting for god only knows what comes next
Only know god has no role in this mess

Could be making the most of
But not fair when you have been denied
Should be seizing the moment
But something has ruined my appetite

But I ain’t got much survivor guilt
Because the sniper of life could have me in his sights
And I don’t want more than idle thrills, no
Because the sniper of life could halt them any time

And should I be thankful
For this chance to revolt?

I think I will survive the guilt, yeah
Because the sniper of life is always on my mind
The sniper of life could have me in a line
The sniper of life will get to me in time

Written, performed and produced by Oliver Shaw

Sniper Of Life

Worldview is the alias of Oliver Shaw, an Oxford UK-based songwriter, performer and producer mingling rock, pop, dance and folk with insightful lyrics and an overarching melodic sensibility. Oliver began playing in bands, including one with Coldplay’s bassist-to-be, then spent several years honing a one-man band approach in his home studio, writing, singing and playing everything in the manner of Stevie Wonder, early Prince or World Party. Oliver then adopted a new format mixing live instruments and PC as Worldview, playing dates in Oxford and London and releasing the album Our Condition in 2008; Oxfordshire Music Scene wrote: “Worldview's aptly titled 'Our Condition' takes a snapshot view of modern living, with its raw honest exploration of life today...It's a strong offering with music that combines the ballads of REM with the dance beats of Duran Duran". The album track 'Entitlement' was later featured in the major BBC drama The Driver starring David Morrissey, broadcast in autumn 2014. The recent financial crisis was the subject of 2009's single, 'Party’s Over' which featured on the diverse personal and political album Schoolboy Errors, released in February 2012. This and other album highlights were aired on radio shows and podcasts worldwide, and Oliver discussed the album and his musical path in the UK's Vents Magazine. Now largely a studio act, Worldview's 2014 album Pop Philosophy was a mature reflection on life, loss and mortality in melodic, guitar-led rock songs with elements of electro, folk and funk. In its album review Skope Magazine concluded: “Pop Philosophy takes the basics of pop music, the hooks, the delivery, the thoughtfulness, and perfects them”.
After a six year hiatus Worldview returned with Young Eyes Burning Bright. The rock/pop album’s ten songs addressed twin, related themes: midlife regrets and lessons and mortality and bereavement. Musically an established love of the sounds and songwriting of the 1960s was augmented by a belated reconnection with his formative ‘80s and ‘90s influences. Music blog The Static Dive wrote: “From the opening percussive arpeggios, live drums and analog synth of ‘Under the Bonnet’ to the New Order vibes on tracks like ‘A Rothko And Your Face,’ he blends modern Indie with the classic sounds of the pioneers of Rock and Pop. More often than not, the Worldview sound mixes dramatically different styles to create something entirely new. From the melancholy Americana Alt-Pop of “It’s What Happens’ to the cool experimentation of ‘Certain Love,’ it’s a great listen.” The album Everything Is Temporary was released in January 2025, a collection of songs exploring topics of loss, nostalgia, changed times, and the vagaries of success; the common thread being contingency and impermanence. The eleven tracks were a melodic, eclectic mixture of rock, pop and folk, incorporating everything from Moogs to musical boxes, Telecasters to Theremins, vocoders to violins, and ukuleles to uilleann pipes. Music blog Jyla called it "a stunning meditation on life's impermanence".

World-view

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