Pastime Paradise

Album: Songs In The Key Of Life (1976)
Play Video
  • They've been spending most their lives
    Living in a pastime paradise
    They've been spending most their lives
    Living in a pastime paradise
    They've been wasting most their time
    Glorifying days long gone behind
    They've been wasting most their days
    In remembrance of ignorance oldest praise

    Tell me, who of them will come to be?
    How many of them are you and me?
    Dissipation
    Of race relations
    Consolation
    Segregation
    Dispensation
    Isolation
    Exploitation
    Mutilation
    Mutation
    Miscreation
    Confirmation to the evils of the world

    They've been spending most their lives
    Living in a future paradise
    They've been spending most their lives
    Living in a future paradise
    They've been looking in their minds
    For the day that sorrow's lost from time
    They keep telling of the day
    When the savior of love will come to stay

    Tell me, who of them will come to be?
    How many of them are you and me?
    Proclamation
    Of race relations
    Consolation
    Integration
    Verification
    Of revelation
    Acclamation
    World salvation
    Vibration
    Stimulation
    Confirmation to the peace of the world

    They've been spending most their lives
    Living in a pastime paradise
    They've been spending most their lives
    Living in a pastime paradise
    They've been spending most their lives
    Living in a future paradise
    They've been spending most their lives
    Living in a future paradise
    We've been spending too much of our lives
    Living in a pastime paradise
    Let's start living our lives
    Living for the future paradise
    Praise to our lives
    Living for the future paradise
    Shame to anyone's lives
    Living in the pastime paradise Writer/s: Stevie Wonder
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 2

  • G. Ben Paxton Ii from Central OhioAmish Paradise. Gangsta's Paradise. Pastime paradise.... But it all goes back to BACH. Music is such a river. Stevie, Coolio, Wierd Al, I salute you all! I enjoyed them all. JSB, You truly ROCK.
  • Dgjfg from St Catharines, OnStevie Wonder's version takes on the same issues being lived (under a different context) 20 years later. Far from glorifying the gangster lifestyle it further explains how slowly progress is made in a country where segregation of all races is still very much in existence in low income neighborhoods in the Detroit, Houston, Miami, LA, etc, etc, etc. areas. Stevie Wonder even performed at the 1995 Billboard awards with Coolio and was a major producer (not just a 'sample approver') of the remix.

    In the rendition at the 1995 Billboard awards, note how Stevie is singing the 'living In a gangsters paradise' version while L.V. is singing the 'living in a pastime paradise' lyrics and in the end they both sing 'aint no gangstas living in paradise..... aint no racists living in paradise'
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee JonesSongwriter Interviews

Rickie Lee Jones on songwriting, social media, and how she's handling Trump.

Amy Lee of Evanescence

Amy Lee of EvanescenceSongwriter Interviews

The Evanescence frontwoman on the songs that have shifted meaning and her foray into kids' music.

Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper/Lou Reed)

Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper/Lou Reed)Songwriter Interviews

The co-writer/guitarist on many Alice Cooper hits, Dick was also Lou Reed's axeman on the Rock n' Roll Animal album.

Amanda Palmer

Amanda PalmerSongwriter Interviews

Call us crazy, but we like it when an artist comes around who doesn't mesh with the status quo.

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse Pop

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse PopSong Writing

Songs that seem to glorify violence against women are often misinterpreted - but not always.

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And Hell

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And HellSongwriter Interviews

Guitarist Tony Iommi on the "Iron Man" riff, the definitive Black Sabbath song, and how Ozzy and Dio compared as songwriters.