"Everything changes and nothing remains still, you cannot step twice into the same stream" vs. Occidentali's Karma

Francesco Gabbani won Festival di Sanremo 2017 with his catchy song “Occidentali’s Karma” (“Westerners’ Karma”) and will represent Italy during Eurovison 2017 song contest. You don't often hear quotes from William Shakespeare and Erich Fromm in the the first two lines of a song:



Excerpts from the lyrics:

"Internet experts,
Honorary members of the selfie-addicted anonymous
Cleverness is out of fashion,
Easy answers,
Pointless dilemmas.

Whatever happens, panta rhei
And 'Singing in The Rain'."

The phrase panta rhei, "everything flows" either was spoken by Heraclitus or survived as a quotation of his. This famous aphorism used to characterize Heraclitus' thought comes from Simplicius, a neoplatonist, and from Plato's Cratylus. The word rhei is the Greek word for "to stream", and is etymologically related to Rhea according to Plato's Cratylus.

The philosophy of Heraclitus is summed up in his cryptic utterance:

"Ever-newer waters flow on those who step into the same rivers."

The quote from Heraclitus appears in Plato's Cratylus twice:

"All entities move and nothing remains still"

and

"Everything changes and nothing remains still ... and ... you cannot step twice into the same stream".

More from his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/GabbaniVEVO/videos

Another clip of the song:



References:

Italy sends rising star Francesco Gabbani - and an ape - to win Eurovision 2017 http://buff.ly/2loRH10
"Occidentali's Karma" lyrics - Francesco Gabbani (Italy, Eurovision 2017) http://buff.ly/2loSNd2