I tend to think about it more as a religion than an addiction. A personal journey in this regard:
A long, long time ago…
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I thought if I had my chance
My music system to enhance
Just, maybe, I’d be happier for a while.
But hi-fi mags just made me shiver
As every article delivered.
Bad news on the doorstep;
Much cash to gain one more step.
And thus it was, I did decide
This bizarre world to get inside
It really took me for a ride,
And so the music died.
So bye, bye, to religion hi-fi
I’d been drinking without thinking, now the well has run dry
And good ol’ audiophools can fight till they die
But they can carry on without I
They can carry on without I
Do you believe in sounds of wire
At a price that’s absolutely dire
If those Bibles tell you so?
And do you believe your rock ‘n roll
Sounds so much better, with more soul
From a diamond dragging through a ditch so slow?
Now I knew folk were in love with Linn
Even when the price was really grim
Or mad Naimees whose shoes
Tap as if there’s no time to lo-oo-oose.
I had a taste champagne with a budget beer
And imagination and no golden ear
And all confirmed were my worst fears
The day the music died
I started singin’
Bye, bye, to religion hi-fi
I’d been drinking without thinking, now the well has run dry
And good ol’ audiophools can fight till they die
But they can carry on without I
They can carry on without I
So for ten years, I was quite on song
Believed these wise folk can’t be wrong
They heard something, I heard it too
Although it was so contrar-ray
To the science I did every day
I somehow didn’t see it all as woo.
Until a stand, of Mana name
From Anglesey, not heaven, came
It cost a hefty pound
Was said to enhance sound
But in spite of what the pundits knew
I tried it out, and its cred blew
Moreover it looked ugly too
No wonder music died
I started singin’
Bye, bye, to religion hi-fi
I’d been drinking without thinking, now the well has run dry
And good ol’ audiophools can fight till they die
But they can carry on without I
They can carry on without I
Helter skelter, I was in a swelter
I tested stuff and in a welter
Scales from eyes were falling fast
For big improvements, you need grass
And propaganda good as Tass
And pseudo-scientific humbug vast
Now in no time I smelt sweet perfume
Of truth, and tried to sing this tune
I sought truth to advance
But I rarely got the chance
For when I tried to take the field
The true believers would not yield
They didn’t like the truth revealed
And so the music died.
And I was singin’
Bye, bye, to religion hi-fi
I’d been drinking without thinking, now the well has run dry
And good ol’ audiophools can fight till they die
But they can carry on without I
They can carry on without I
Oh, and there we were all in one place,
A few with clues, but some with space
Between the ears, so talk was vain
They went on, they were simple, they were thick
As Jethro Tull’s infamous brick
‘Cos humbug is believers’ only friend.
Oh, and as I watched them on the for-
Um, hi-fi myths began to soar
From folk who should know well
Completely under spell.
And as the flaming climbed to scary height
The sort of thing that forums blight
Hi-fi believers laughing with delight
The day the music died
And I was singin’
Bye, bye, to religion hi-fi
I’d been drinking without thinking, now the well has run dry
And good ol’ audiophools can fight till they die
But they can carry on without I
They can carry on without I
I now have ceased to sing the blues
No longer read the “Hi-Fi News”
I simply smile and turn away
I don’t go to the hi-fi store
Where the music left me years before
For in such stores the music doesn’t play
The only thing that’s there are dreams
At prices taken to extremes
Absurdity unspoken
And logic totally broken
I have Meridian, Linn and Quad
But for my back, no longer rod
Music, not hi-fi, is my god
And music will abide.
I’m happily singin’
Bye, bye, to religion hi-fi
I’d been drinking without thinking, now the well has run dry
And good ol’ audiophools can fight till they die
But they can carry on without I
They can carry on without I
Bye, bye, to religion hi-fi
I’d been drinking without thinking, now the well has run dry
And good ol’ audiophools can fight till they die
But they can carry on without I!