Story Behind The Song

In the early 1990s, I was experiencing a lot of frustration with not being understood when I was "thinking outside of the box" (which is quite common for me). Thus, I noted that I was thinking quite abstractly compared with many who tended to think in more concrete terms. Naturally, it developed into a song that is just now coming to light.

Song Description

This is a song for anyone who has felt misunderstood for thinking different. I thought it would be best developed as a folk song and thus this lead to traditional folk instruments of fiddle, mandolin, drums, bass, guitar and piano.

Lyrics

An Abstract Thinker
(In a Concrete World)
© 2013, John Gerard Macchietto

Chorus: He's an abstract thinker in a concrete world
An abstract thinker in a concrete world
He sees the world in a different way
He's an abstract thinker in a concrete world.

Verse 1: No one seems to know just what to make of him
To give him praise or tear him limb from limb
The world is harder when it seems abstract
And many want to keep us in a concrete world.

Chorus: He's an abstract thinker in a concrete world
An abstract thinker in a concrete world
He sees the world in a different way
He's an abstract thinker in a concrete world.

Verse 2: Once everybody thought the world was flat
The sun and the planets went around all that
Then a man came along and said it's not that way
He was jailed 'cause he lived in a concrete world.

Chorus: He's an abstract thinker in a concrete world
An abstract thinker in a concrete world
He sees the world in a different way
He's an abstract thinker in a concrete world.

(Instrumental - Verse)

Chorus: He's an abstract thinker in a concrete world
An abstract thinker in a concrete world
He sees the world in a different way
He's an abstract thinker in a concrete world.

Verse 3: Albert often spoke of relativity
Not many people seemed that they could see
The abstract thinking deep inside his mind
An abstract thinker in a concrete world.

Chorus: He's an abstract thinker in a concrete world
An abstract thinker in a concrete world
He sees the world in a different way
He's an abstract thinker in a concrete world.

Verse 4: It's hard enough to entertain an abstract thought
It takes us places that we never sought
Most of our advances came about that way
They're from abstract thinkers in a concrete world.

Chorus: He's an abstract thinker in a concrete world
An abstract thinker in a concrete world
He sees the world in a different way
He's an abstract thinker in a concrete world.

Chorus: We are abstract thinkers in a concrete world
We're abstract thinkers in a concrete world
We see the world in a different way
We are abstract thinkers in a concrete world.
We are abstract thinkers in a concrete world.
We are abstract thinkers in a concrete world.