Akira The Don, Marshall McLuhan - MEDIUM IS THE MASSAGE lyrics

Well the title "The Medium Is
The Massage" is a teaser
A way of getting attention
There's a wonderful sign hanging
In a Toronto junkyard
Which reads 'Help Beautify Junkyards
Throw Something Lovely Away Today'
This is a very effective way
Of getting people to notice a lot of things
And so the title is intended
To draw attention to the fact that a medium
Is not something neutral
It does something to people, it takes hold
Of them, it rubs them off
It massages them and bumps them around

The Medium Is the Massage
The Medium Is the Massage, the Massage
The Medium Is the Massage
The Medium Is the Massage, the Massage

The medium of our time, electric technology
Everything from the lightbulb, the telephone
To the computer, to jets
To nuclear energy is changing everything
We are in the middle of a tremendous
Clash between the old and the new

The medium does things to people and they
Are always completely unware of this
And they don't really notice the new
Medium that is roughing them up
They think of the old medium
Because the old medium is always the
Content of the new medium
As movies tend to be the content of TV
And as books used to be the content and all
This used to be the content of movies
And so every time a new
Medium arrives the old medium
Is the content and it is
Highly observable highly noticeable
But the real real roughing up
And massaging is done
By the new medium and it is ignored

The Medium Is the Massage
The Medium Is the Massage, the Massage
The Medium Is the Massage
The Medium Is the Massage, the Massage

The idea that television
Computers and the rest are just tools that we
Use for better or worse isn't true
The way you react with
Them is what's important
Not in them or on them
How you use your eyes to see and ears to hear
Brings about new forms of
Human association and action

The way we refer to this new situation
Created by the new television massage
It is an evaluation made by
The old visual types
Looking in the rear view mirror as usual
Off of something that is threatening the old
Values and reversing the old values

The Medium Is the Massage
The Medium Is the Massage, the Massage
The Medium Is the Massage
The Medium Is the Massage, the Massage

When information is brushed
Against information
Results are startling and effective
We are re-entering the old tribal world
But this time we're going going to go through
The tribal dance and tribal dream wide awake