Wide awake I am tonight, where I cannot tell,
Somewhere I have never been and know very well;
Trivia and trauma, the blessed and the cursed,
I thought things were bad enough but this ten times worse.
The Operator says to me ‘Forget what you got planned,
‘Forget what you got planned, it’s Facebookland’.
The citizens of Facebookland taunt me with the trim
Of muscles and bikini-lines and visits to the gym;
I know that the songs they write are very good indeed
From guitar-playing hero shots on my Facebook feed.
Tonight I’m taking to the stage with my one-man band,
With my one-man band in Facebookland.
They all love their families more than I do mine,
And with all the friends they have, everything’s just fine;
There’s angels, saints and saviours watching over you -
Don’t you fret ‘cos you can bet, God’s on Facebook too.
All it takes is your ‘Amen’, a single click command -
A single click command in Facebookland.
Wise and worthy sayings are posted on the wall,
From all things weird and wonderful there’s no escape at all;
Deep down in the basement I could hear the hum
Of algorithms counting clicks and making up the sums
To propagate more nonsense on the bewildered and the damned,
The bewildered and the damned of Facebookland.
Beware of what they tell you, not all of it is so,
Just the bits that reinforce what you already know;
Facebookland will simplify the issues of the day
For anyone who finds the facts getting in the way.
Help me Operator, I don’t understand,
I don’t understand this Facebookland.
Cynical old fool, I know that’s what I am,
But I don’t need my daily bread served with Facebook jam;
I shot the Operator and went to find a friend,
Not one of the Facebook kind, but face to face again.
By blood and bone he led me, led me by the hand,
Led me by the hand from Facebookland.
I got clear of Facebookland before the break of day,
Dodging wi-fi warriors all along the way;
From some far-off phoneless place I watched it sinking down,
Suitcase and guitar in hand, feet on solid ground.
That’s how I forgot about all that I had planned,
All that I had planned and Facebookland.
I have been writing songs since 1967 when I was 17 and since I have accumulated over 440. Early influences were Dylan,
Cohen, Jackson Browne Joni Mitchell, Kristofferson. Though never 'successful' in any conventional sense, my songs and guitar have led many sing-rounds and a couple of 1970's albums sell for £100s as 'rare vinyl'. Above all, it has been a happy adventure. www.atkinsongs.co.uk...more
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