# Future Games - Songs About the Future **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 17, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817 "2012-01-17T19:38:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/21 "2012-01-18T20:44:38Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > _Life in the Air Age_ by Be Bop Deluxe I think if you look at the lyrics to that song more closely, you’ll find it’s actually about the present or maybe even the past – it’s cleverly worded to _sound_ like it’s about the future, but it’s really written from the point of view of an old guy lamenting this new age of airplanes. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/22 "2012-01-18T20:53:35Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > Lots of songs seem to predict the collapse of civilization; arguably these are all about, or set in, the future. Examples are Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”, Steely Dan’s “Razor Boy” and “King of the World”, Bonnie Dobson’s “Morning Dew”, Jefferson Airplane’s “House at Pooneil Corners”, etc etc. Also, _Nothing But Flowers_ by Talking Heads. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/23 "2012-01-18T21:57:07Z")
Electric Light Orchestra’s _Yours Truly, 2095_. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/24 "2012-01-18T22:18:52Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > I think if you look at the lyrics to that song more closely, you’ll find it’s actually about the present or maybe even the past – it’s cleverly worded to _sound_ like it’s about the future, but it’s really written from the point of view of an old guy lamenting this new age of airplanes. Actually, that’s a cool find. “IGY” itself is about the future that never was. I’d love to know if there are more like these. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/25 "2012-01-18T22:21:36Z")
_Pioneers over c_ by **Van der Graaf Generator** … ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/26 "2012-01-18T22:36:36Z")
Since we can’t currently travel to the moons of Jupiter, I’m gonna say: [Moons of Jupiter](http://youtu.be/Qhy6SZf_3Gk) - Scruffy the Cat ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/27 "2012-01-18T22:41:15Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > “Tomorrow”. Great answer. Will always be true for this question. Kudos. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/28 "2012-01-18T22:44:58Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > Electric Light Orchestra’s _Yours Truly, 2095_. The entire album _Time_ is about a guy who gets transported forward into 2095. Great example! This is from _Ticket to the Moon_ Remember the good old 1980s? When things were so uncomplicated? I wish I could go back there again And everything could be the same. I’ve got a ticket to the moon I’ll be leaving here any day soon Yeah, I’ve got a ticket to the moon But I’d rather see the sunrise in your eyes. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/29 "2012-01-19T02:29:34Z")
_Children of the Future_ by Steve Miller ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/30 "2012-01-19T02:57:41Z")
David Bowie, A Better Future The Bravery, I Have Seen The Future The B-52s, Song For A Future Generation ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/31 "2012-01-19T07:44:45Z")
“1999” by Prince was a song about the future when he released it back in 1982. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/32 "2012-01-19T09:37:49Z")
“Iron Man”. (I think. I never really understood what that song was about). ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/33 "2012-01-19T10:46:41Z")
Here’s an early song with a future theme, though I don’t know if it counts for this thread, since it’s not about life in the future, but then, it’s called “Future Blues”: [Willie Brown - Future Blues](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An9rC8olaVY) ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/34 "2012-01-19T13:52:26Z")
Gary Numan wrote lots of stuff set in a dystopian future, like _Down in the Park_. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/35 "2012-01-19T20:18:26Z")
Leonard Cohen - The Future Blue Oyster Cult - Dancin’ In The Ruins That’s all I got off of the top of my head. Back to work. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/36 "2012-01-19T21:04:39Z")
The Buggles “Living In The Plastic Age” ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/37 "2012-01-19T21:13:02Z")
Tom Paxton’s [Whose Garden Was This?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSb_XAZsrhw) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/38 "2012-01-19T21:36:45Z")
Trans-X’s _Through The Eyes of the Nineties_ (released in 1986). Manfred Mann’s _Lies (Through the Eighties)_ (released in 1980). ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/39 "2012-01-27T19:03:21Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Thanks for making this distinction. I wasn’t thinking of space songs or science-fiction songs, even though those probably are set in the future. I was looking for songs that say something specific about the future, even an ironic past future like “IGY.” Those are harder to think of than sf songs in general. How about “Ticket to the Moon” by ELO? I remember the good old 1980’s/ when things were so uncomplicated. Wish I could go back there again/ and everything would be the same. Also on that same album (_Time_) is the first song I thought of for this thread, “Here is the News”, but it’s exactly the kind of space-y science-fiction song that you specifically mentioned _not_ thinking of. Here is the news a cure’s been found for good old “rocket lag”. Here is the news someone left their life behind in a plastic bag. The sung verses are interspersed with spoken-word “news broadcasts” containing such tantalizing futuristic tidbits as aero-technicians being sentenced by the “Justice Computer” to prison satellite Penal-111. Here is the news somebody has broken out of Satellite 2. Here is the news look very carefully, it may be you! Haven’t listened to that song in a _long_ time… ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817/40 "2012-01-27T19:21:19Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > “IGY” - Donald Fagan In the same vein, “Tomorrow’s Girls” also by Donald Fagan. Actually that whole album (_Kamakiriad_) is about the future. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-games-songs-about-the-future/609817.md?page=3)