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.

Wat een geweldig nummer is het toch, dat School van de Engelse groep Supertramp. Ze spelen het hier tijdens een concert in Londen in 1975 en het komt  van hun prachtige album Crime Of The Century van een jaar eerder. Het lied werd geschreven door groepsleden Rick Davis (toetsen) & Roger Hodgson (gitarist), die het hier ook samen zingen.

Hodgson zei het volgende over de betekenis van het lied, (it is) “basically saying that what they teach us in schools is all very fine, but it’s what they don’t teach us in schools that creates so much confusion in our being. They don’t really prepare us for life in terms of teaching us who we are on the inside. They teach us how to function on the outside and to be very intellectual, but they don’t tell us how to act with our intuition or our heart or really give us a real plausible explanation of what life’s about.”

School
I can see you in the morning
when you go to school.
Don’t forget your books,
you know you’ve got
to learn the golden rule.
Your teacher tells you
stop your playing,
get on with your work.
And be like Johnnie-Too-good,
don’t you know he never shirks.
He’s coming along.

After school is over,
you’re playing in the park.
Don’t be out too late,
don’t let it get too dark.
They tell you not to hang around
and learn what life’s about.
And grow up just like them,
won’t you let it work it out.
And you’re full of doubt.

Don’t do this, and don’t do that.
What are they trying to do?
(Make a good boy of you).
And do they know where it’s at?
Don’t criticize,
they’re old and wise.
Do as they tell you to,
don’t want the devil to,
come and put out your eyes.

Maybe I’m mistaken
expecting you to fight.
Or maybe I’m just crazy,
I don’t know wrong from right.
But while I’m still living,
I’ve just got this to say.
It’s always up to you
if you want to be that.
Want to see that,
want to see that way.
You’re coming along.