The Logical Song is een geweldig nummer van de Engelse groep Supertramp, dat komt van hun album Breakfast in America uit 1979. Ze spelen het hier tijdens een concert in Parijs in hetzelfde jaar. Roger Hodgson schreef het over zijn ervaringen op kostscholen waar hij 10 jaar doorbracht. Eerst op Woodcote House School in Windlesham, Surrey en daarna op Stowe School in Buckinghamshire.

Hij zei er zelf het volgende over: “The Logical Song was born from my questions about what really matters in life. Throughout childhood we are taught all these ways to be and yet we are rarely told anything about our true self. We are taught how to function outwardly, but not guided to who we are inwardly. We go from the innocence and wonder of childhood to the confusion of adolescence that often ends in the cynicism and disillusionment of adulthood. In The Logical Song, the burning question that came down to its rawest place was “please tell me who I am?”, and that’s basically what the song is about. I think this eternal question continues to hit such a deep chord in people around the world and why it stays so meaningful.”

The Logical Song
When I was young,
it seemed that life was so wonderful.
A miracle, oh,
it was beautiful, magical.
And all the birds in the trees,
well they’d be singing so happily,
oh joyfully, oh playfully
watching me.

But then they sent me away,
to teach me how to be sensible,
logical, oh responsible, practical.
And then they showed me a world,
where I could be so dependable,
oh clinical, oh intellectual, cynical.

There are times
when all the world’s asleep.
The questions run too deep.
For such a simple man.
Won’t you please,
please tell me what we’ve learned?
I know it sounds absurd,
but please tell me who I am?

I said, watch what you say,
they’ll be calling you a radical.
A liberal, oh fanatical, criminal.
Won’t you sign up your name?
We’d like to feel you’re acceptable,
respectable, oh representable,
a vegetable.

But at night,
when all the world’s asleep.
The questions run so deep.
For such a simple man.
Won’t you please,
(Oh won’t you tell me.)
please tell me what we’ve learned.
(Can you hear me?)
I know it sounds absurd.
(Oh won’t you tell me.)
Please tell me who I am?
Who I am? Who I am?

‘Cause I was feeling so logical.
D-D-D-D-D-D-D-Digital.
Oh it’s getting unbelievable.
Bloody marvelous.