Virtual World

Song written by Ricky and Kim Wilde. Not included on the album Love Moves, this track was released as the B-side of the single It’s Here (Can’t Get Enough (Of Your Love) in France). Written in 1989 or 1990, this song is somewhat prophetic, as it describes things that are basically already being made possible nowadays.

Kim about ‘Virtual World’

It was quite Marty Wilde in a way. You know, like dad writing Tuning In Tuning On, he was talking about sounds living and being alive and some quite out there concepts. And at the time the virtual experience, the virtual world was still nearly a decade away, maybe, of becoming some kind of reality or understanding what it might be. But there was a lot of talk about it at that point. So that is one of the ones I’m really proud of actually. (…) Actually, ‘Virtual World’ if I remember rightly was inspired by Pink Floyd. We were listening to ‘Money’ by Pink Floyd and we kindof took it from there. (1)

Interview source

(1) Unsung Heroes podcast, 23 July 2021


Lyrics

Images projected on a screen
Step into an artificial dream
Programme all the things you want to feel
Make a world where fantasies are real

Stand back and let the future unfurl
We’ll all be living in a virtual world
In a virtual world
ah-ah, in a virtual world

Journey far beyond the atmosphere
Watch the world behind you disappear
Float inside a microscopic cell
Is this dream a heaven or a hell?

Stand back and watch the future unfurl
We’ll all be living in a virtual world
In a virtual world
ah-ah, in a virtual world

In the name of progress science stands
Pushing all the frontiers known to man
When they go too far the frontiers break
and we’re left to deal with their mistakes

Stand back and watch the future unfurl
We’ll all be living in a virtual world
In a virtual world
ah-ah, in a virtual world

Images projected on a screen
Step into an artificial dream
Programme all the things you want to feel
Make a world where fantasies are real
In the name of progress science stands
Pushing all the frontiers known to man
When they go too far the frontiers break
and we’re left to deal with their mistakes

Stand back and watch the future unfurl
We’ll all be living in a virtual world
Stand back and watch the future unfurl
We’ll all be living in a virtual world
In a virtual world
ah-ah, in a virtual world
ah-ah, (ah-ah) in a virtual world
ah-ah, in a virtual world
ah-ah