Here comes the wise man
And there goes the fool
It's a big, bad world that he's living in
I don't need to look for the rules
Here comes the donkey
Chained to a ten-ton plough
He'll never make that hill in a million years
Whip crack beat him down
He loves his brother
He'll sell him for a fistful of gold
He needs to slave for his vision of the promised land
No I don't believe a word
Take me anyway your wind blows
You'll never know
Just what you wanna do, or where you wanna go
I think it's time
That you found what the world is waiting for
I think it's time
To get real
Here comes the wise man
And there goes the fool
It's a burned-out world that he's living in
I don't need to look for the rules
He loves his brother
He'll sell him for a fistful of gold
But he needs to slave for his vision of the promised land
No I don't believe a word
Take me anyway your wind blows
You'll never know
Just what you wanna do, or where you wanna go
I think it's time
That you found what the world is waiting for
I think it's time
To get real
Anytime you want it then it's there
All you gotta do is stop me on the corner and ask
Say hey ! You don't live today
Stop the world
Stop the world, I'm getting off
I'm getting off
Yeah I've had enough
I'm getting off
Lyrics by:
Squire / Brown
Music by:
Squire / Brown
Written:
1989
Personnel:
John Squire (guitar)
Ian Brown (vocals)
Gary Mounfield (bass)
Alan Wren (drums)
Produced by:
John Leckie
Available on:
See Fool's Gold
Turns Into Stone (3.55)
The Complete Stone Roses (3.55)
The Very Best Of The Stone Roses (3.53)
First live performance:
Never performed live.
Details:
What The World Is Waiting For was originally intended as an A-side to Fool's Gold.
The lyric "He loves his brother, he'll sell him for a fistful of gold" is referring to one of two events in the Bible: 1) The betrayal of Jesus by Judas for 30 pieces of silver; being a disciple of Jesus, Judas would have been like a 'brother' to Him. 2) Joseph's brothers selling him into slavery for 20 pieces of silver.
In the following passage, Joseph speaks of the Promised Land ("He needs to slave for his vision of the Promised Land"):
Joseph dies at this point in the Bible, at the end of Genesis, having lived for a hundred and ten years ("Stop the world, I'm getting off"). The request, "Take me anyway your wind blows", has its origins in (John 3: 8):
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
(John 3: 8)
Jesus demonstrated to His Disciples that He had control over the wind and sea when a storm threatened the safety of a boat, in which He was sleeping:
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