The Logical Song by Supertramp

Here are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs:

When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful
A miracle, oh, it was beautiful, magical
And all the birds in the trees, well they’d be singing so happily
Oh, joyfully, oh, playfully watching me
But then they sent me away to teach me how to be sensible
Logical, oh, responsible, practical
And then they showed me a world where I could be so dependable
Oh, clinical, oh, intellectual, cynical

There are times when all the world’s asleep
The questions run too deep
For such a simple man
Won’t you please, please tell me what we’ve learned?
I know it sounds absurd
Please tell me who I am

I said, now, watch what you say, they’ll be calling you a radical
A liberal, oh, fanatical, criminal
Oh, won’t you sign up your name?
We’d like to feel you’re acceptable
Respectable, oh, presentable, a vegetable

Oh, take, take, take it, yeah
But at night, when all the world’s asleep
The questions run so deep For such a simple man
Won’t you please (oh, won’t you tell me)
Please tell me what we’ve learned? (Can you hear me?)

ChatGPT says: Yes—this song (The Logical Song by Supertramp) is almost a textbook illustration of the porous vs. buffered identity tension Charles Taylor describes.

Porous Identity in Childhood

“When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful / A miracle, oh, it was beautiful, magical…”
That’s the porous self: open to wonder, to the transcendent, to the sense of meaning radiating from nature, community, song. The child experiences life as permeated with joy and significance.

Buffered Identity in Adulthood

“But then they sent me away to teach me how to be sensible / Logical, oh, responsible, practical…”
That’s the buffered self being constructed: rational, autonomous, bounded, no longer porous to outside enchantment. The adult identity is closed off—clinical, cynical, intellectual—protected from mystery but also cut off from connection.

The Ache of the Transition

“The questions run too deep / For such a simple man / Please tell me who I am.”
Here’s the crisis: the buffered self can function (responsible, respectable) but struggles with meaning. The deeper questions leak back in at night, when the buffered defenses quiet down. The song is haunted by the porous longing that can’t be fully shut out.

The Social Pressure

“Watch what you say, they’ll be calling you a radical… respectable, presentable, a vegetable.”
This captures how society polices the buffered self: don’t be porous, don’t question too much, conform to roles that keep you bounded and acceptable.

So yes: the song is almost an allegory of Taylor’s framework. Childhood = porous openness; adulthood = buffered closure; midlife = the pain of remembering porosity and not knowing how to integrate it.