Ministry of Nostalgia Stole Tomorrow

japanese chanson, sitar blues, crunk calypso · 3:29

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Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Kodwo Eshun wrote in two thousand three
About futures that we cannot see
Afrofuturism lost its way
When tomorrow became yesterday
The speculative turned to past
Present moment couldn't last

[Chorus]
Where did the future go, go, go?
Lost dimension, don't you know
Ministry of nostalgia
Taking over our utopia
Future's past, past, past
Nothing new can ever last

[Verse 2]
Owen Hatherley shows the scene
British dreams turned into schemes
Modernist hopes got commodified
Sold as brands with nothing inside
Heritage industry takes the stage
Turns rebellion into cage

[Chorus]
Where did the future go, go, go?
Lost dimension, don't you know
Ministry of nostalgia
Taking over our utopia
Future's past, past, past
Nothing new can ever last

[Bridge]
Eshun says we're chrono-politically stuck
Time moves backward, running out of luck
Hatherley warns of memory lane
Where progress dies in commercial gain
Both writers see the same defeat
Future's become a dead repeat

[Verse 3]
Science fiction lost its edge
Standing on a temporal ledge
Innovation's just a game
Playing with the past's old frame
Retromania takes control
Swallows up the future whole

[Chorus]
Where did the future go, go, go?
Lost dimension, don't you know
Ministry of nostalgia
Taking over our utopia
Future's past, past, past
Nothing new can ever last

[Outro]
Read Eshun, read Hatherley too
See how time tricks me and you
Future's not ahead anymore
It's a ghost from years before
Lost dimension, lost dimension
That's our current comprehension

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