I think we’re all part of The One Big Thing, and that’s why I was smitten when someone said they were an “optimistic nihilist”…it seemed so fitting. So, I tried to make a song about how, even though there may be nothingness at the end of the universe, it’s still everything that is…and that’s all right by me.
The video footage below is from “Of Stars and Men,” a 1964 animated documentary from John and Faith Hubley which is based on the 1959 book of the same name by astronomer Harlow Shapely. The editing I did is used under a Creative Commons license. You can find the full film at https://archive.org/details/Of_Stars_…
LYRICS
I was slouched on my couch every night
You thought I’d given up and out
Now I’m floating, now I’m flying
Now I understand it well
I see it clearly while I’m hovered over there
When I couldn’t see, you thought I didn’t care
But I do, oh I do
And there’s not a line between the me and you
No there’s not a line between the me and you
So we progress to nothing
Into nothing we become
Everything is what we are
And nothing is its sum
What you see is what you get
What you are is what you let
So don’t be afraid
Here we are to be it all
Left and right, rise and fall
And everything is nothing
Yes everything is nothing at all
Presto MusiCo 