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“The time has come!” The sustainable revolution is happening, and the youth are coming out – making sit-ins and going on school strike for the climate. So we’re saying: Just like the youth revolution back in the 1960s had its anthems, where is the ‘sustainable anthem’ or ‘climate action song’ for the youth revolution of 2018?
We have selected 11 candidates – but to find the right one, we need to hear YOUR opinion: Which one is your favourite?
Catch the music in the Sustainable Hour podcast on iTunes and Stitcher, listen on 94.7 The Pulse, streaming and on FM – or simply download the hour to your harddisk or phone.
To let us know which song is your favourite, go to our preference poll.
“The time has come / to pay our share.”
~ Midnight Oil, ‘Beds Are Burning’, 1987
Listen to The Sustainable Music Hour no. 241 on 94.7 The Pulse:
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LISTENER SERVICE:
Content of this hour
Links, excerpts and more information about what we talked about in this Sustainable Hour
#MUSIC #CLIMATECHANGE #SUSTAINABILITY:
On the lookout for the ‘sustainability anthem’ of 2018
Missy Higgins: ‘The Difference’
Fredrika Stahl: ‘Tomorrow’
Baba Brinkman: ‘Makin Waves’
1 Million Women: ‘You’re the Voice’
Paul McCartney: ‘Despite Repeated Warnings’
Midnight Oil: ‘Beds Are Burning’
Taboo: ‘Stand Up / Stand N Rock’
Katie Costello: ‘New World’
SolarEdge: ‘Clear & Right’
SolarEdge: ‘Solar Gangnam Style’
Gaia’s Eye: ‘Change the Earth’
Missy Higgins: ‘The Difference’
» ABC News – 18 October 2017:
Missy Higgins: New music inspired by apocalypse and climate change
She was the darling of Australian pop who shot to fame in the 2000s with hit singles about heartbreak and angst, but singer-songwriter Missy Higgins says marriage and motherhood have ignited in her a new political awareness.
» Interview on iview.abc.net.au
Fredrika Stahl: ‘Tomorrow’
Baba Brinkman: ‘Makin Waves’ (featuring Gaia’s Eye)
1 Million Women: ‘You’re the Voice – An Anthem From Women For Climate Action & Hope’
Paul McCartney: ‘Despite Repeated Warnings’
“Below decks the engineer cries
The captain’s gonna leave us
when the temperatures rise
The needle’s going up
The engine’s gonna blow
And we’re gonna be left down below
Down below…”“Despite repeated warnings
Of dangers up ahead
Well, the captain wasn’t listening
To what was said,”
~ Paul McCartney, British singer, in his seven-minute Beatles-resonating song ‘Despite Repeated Warnings’
The 76-year-old ex-Beatles-singer Paul McCartney is back in the spotlight. This time around he has a story to tell his millions of fans – and the world – about climate change and leadership.
The music legend who co-wrote the 1966-hit ‘The Yellow Submarine’ is now, more than 50 years later, giving us yet another marine-themed song, only this time it about climate change.
Paul McCartney’s new album ‘Egypt Station’ soared to the No. 1 spot on Billboard 200, transmitting an important message to hundreds of thousands of eager fans: This submarine we’re all living in might never resurface if we don’t do something to rein in emissions. Now.
Lennon’s and McCartney’s song ‘Revolution’ from 1968 was actually a bit of an anti-revolution song. But this time around it is different. The time has come for a genuine #EnergyRevolution – and it will have to go deeper than just how we generate our energy.
Paul is an optimist, as he was back in the 1960s:
“Yes, we can do it,” Paul McCartney sings. “Yeah, we can do it now.”
What’s next? ‘Drive My Electric Car?’ ‘Here Comes the Solar Panels?’…
Whatever it is, at The Sustainable Hour we are 100 percent here for climate-woke Paul McCartney!
. . .
. . .
Paul McCartney explains about the song in an interview posted on his YouTube channel:
“I was in Japan and I was reading a newspaper – I think it was like the Tokyo Times, Japan Times or something – and there was something about climate change and it’s typical, you know, the way people are kind of not doing anything about it.
“It’s all gonna be fine, don’t worry, oh yeah sure there’s icebergs melting but it doesn’t matter, it’s not melting in London so don’t worry about it, you know”
And the phrase was in this article, it started off “Despite repeated warnings, they’re not listening”. You know, it’s the idea. I like that phrase “Despite repeated warnings”. I thought, yeah, that sums up a lot of people’s feelings. And then thought, well, what I’ll do is I’ll do a kind of song where I used symbolism and so the person will be symbolic of certain politicians and people who argue that climate change is a hoax, and we know a few. So I’ll do it about that and I’ll get somebody to symbolize one of those people. So I thought, okay it’s a sea captain and he’s steering a boat and he’s gonna go towards the icebergs but he’s been warned, and he’s going because he thinks he’s right, and he thinks they’re all making too much of it. The usual arguments you know…
So that’s what it’s about. It’s a sort of story like the Titanic. If they’d been warned, hey, you’re gonna sink from icebergs, and if the captain said “it doesn’t matter, it’ll be fine”. So it’s that, using that kind of idea, so there’s a sort of mad daft captain, and then there’s all the people on the boat who know he’s got it wrong.
So it’s very symbolic for what’s going on in some areas of politics in my mind. So it’s one of those songs like Band On The Run or Live And Let Die that is kind of episodic and it’s kind of an epic production. That is it, and it is hopefully trying to remind people that climate change is not a hoax, and that we should avoid having a mad captain steering us towards the icebergs.”
. . .
Producer Greg Kurstin about “Despite Repeated Warnings“, commenting on whether it is a real epic:
“It is. That’s in the style of some of Paul’s other epic, extended songs like “Band on the Run” and “Live and Let Die.” These are songs that are epic and orchestral and have many different sections and movements to them. This one was his concept. Lyrically, he could probably tell you what it’s about, but there’s definitely some political references there.
He took the band into the rehearsal room and worked out the structure of it and brought it to L.A. and I worked with them and we tweaked it and worked out the arrangement. It was a long evolution to get it to where it got in the end. A lot of orchestral musicians came in. We had brass players and the Muscle Shoals horn guys came in to do some brass stuff. It was quite the job of getting that together because it was like five or six songs in one. It’s about seven minutes long.”
~ Greg Kurstin in Rolling Stone on 3 July 2018
. . .
The lyrics: Despite repeated warnings
Of dangers up ahead
The captain won’t be listening
To what’s been said
He feels that there’s a good chance
That we have been misled
And so the captain’s planning
To steam ahead
What can we do, what can we do
What can we do to stop this foolish plan going through
What can we do, what can we do
This man is bound to lose his ship and his crew
Despite repeated warnings
From those who ought to know
He’s got his own agenda and so he’ll go
Those who shout the loudest
May not always be the smartest
But they have their proudest moments
Right before they fall
Red sky in the morning
Doesn’t ever seem to phase him
But a sailor’s warning signal
Should concern us all
How can we stop him
Grab the keys and lock him up
If we can do it
We can save the day
The engineer lives with
His wife and daughter Janet
But he misses them so
Although he’s working with
The best crew on the planet
They never want him to go
He had a premonition
He senses something’s wrong
And by his own admission
He knew it all along
The captain’s crazy
But he doesn’t let them know it
He’ll take us with him
If we don’t do something
Soon to slow it
How can we stop him
Grab the keys and lock him up
If we can do it
We can save the day
Below decks the engineer cries
The captain’s gonna leave us when the temperatures rise
The needle’s going up
The engine’s gonna blow
And we’re gonna be left down below
Down below
Yes we can do it
Yes we can do it now
Yes we can do it
Yes we can do it
Yes we can do it now
Yes we can do it
Yes we can do it now
Yes we can do it
Yes we can do it now
If life would work out
The way you plan it
That’d be so fine
For the wife and Janet
Sometimes you might
Have to battle through it
But that’s the way you learn
How you’ve got to do it
Yes we can do it whoa, whoa
Yes we can do it whoa, whoa
Yes we can do it whoa, whoa
Yes we can do it whoa, whoa
Despite repeated warnings
Of dangers up ahead
Well the captain wasn’t listening
To what was said
So we went to the captain
And we told him to turn around
But he laughs in our faces
Says that we are mistaken
So we gather around him
Now the ropes that have bound him
Prove that he should have listened
To the will of the people
It’s the will of the people
It’s the will of the people
. . .
» Grist – 17 September 2018:
Paul McCartney’s new climate anthem is fire
» The Independent – 16 September 2018:
Paul McCartney uses song on new album to attack Donald Trump: ‘We’ve got a mad captain sailing this boat’
‘Despite repeated warnings of dangers up ahead, the captain won’t be listening to what’s been said,’ says Beatles star
» If you would like to know more about Paul McCartney, check out this ‘Carpool Karaoke’
Midnight Oil: ‘Beds Are Burning’
“The time has come
To say fair’s fair
To pay the rent
To pay our shareThe time has come
A fact’s a fact
It belongs to them
Let’s give it backHow can we dance when our earth is turning
How do we sleep while our beds are burningHow can we dance when our earth is turning
How do we sleep while our beds are burning”
~ Midnight Oil, 1987
‘Beds Are Burning’ was written more than 30 years ago as a protest song in support of giving native Australian lands back to the Pintupi, who were among the very last people to come in from the desert. At the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Midnight Oil performed this song in front of a world audience of billions – including Prime Minister John Howard who has claimed this is his favourite Midnight Oil song.
Their album ‘Diesel and Dust’ was ranked the #1 Australian album of all time in the 2010-book ‘The 100 Best Australian Albums’.
» www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beds_Are_Burning
Taboo: ‘Stand Up / Stand N Rock’ #NoDAPL
Katie Costello: ‘New World’
Mainly focused on climate change, this is a hopeful, poignant anthem with the intention of keeping environmental and social injustices in the forefront of conciousness.
Published on Youtube on 5 December 2014.
» Katie Costello’s home page | Facebook page | Twitter account
SolarEdge 2013 Happy Holidays clip: ‘Clear & Right’ (‘Scream & Shout’)
Good renewable vibes from the solar company SolarEdge with their 2013 Happy Holidays clip.
» Published on vimeo.com on 16 December 2013
SolarEdge 2012 Happy Holidays clip: ‘Solar Gangnam Style’
Gaia’s Eye: ‘Change the Earth’
Gaiaisi (Gaia’s Eye / Gaia is I): ‘Earth Emergency | Climate Change Music Video’
Published on Youtube on 8 October 2013.
» Facebook page for the project: facebook.com/waterforthefire
» Gaia Is I’s Facebook page: facebook.com/Gaiaisi
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ADDITIONALLY:
In other news
From our notes of this week: news stories and events we didn’t have time to mention but which we think you should know about
The world needs more ‘artivists’
» Grist – 12 September 2018:
To stop climate change, the world needs more ‘artivists’
By Antonique Smith, a Grammy-nominated singer and actress from USA
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“Music can be transformative”
“Addressing climate change before it is too late to avoid potentially catastrophic consequences is the most urgent issue we are facing today. We will only be able to do so if the public becomes directly engaged. By enabling the performance of science-guided music that directly reflects the climate’s past and possible futures, we can move climate change from the realm of the abstract to the personal. We believe that music can be transformative in rallying people and inspiring action.”
~ www.theclimatemusicproject.org
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» EcoWatch:
Bon Iver, Jack Johnson and 40+ musicians commit to climate action
More than 40 musicians declared on 27 September 2018 that they are ‘still in’ on action to meet the U.S. climate goals of the Paris Agreement.
What do @boniver, @brettdennen, @SOJALive, @TheDecemberists, @FamilyoftheYear and @Bobmosesmusic have in common? All have joined #WeAreStillIn pledging to limit their environmental impact and help America deliver on its climate goals: https://t.co/w8t4LGOCMQ
— We Are Still In (@wearestillin) September 28, 2018
If we were really to see one another as brothers and sisters, there would be no basis for division, cheating and exploitation among us. Therefore it’s important to promote the idea of the oneness of humanity, that in being human we are all the same.
— Dalai Lama (@DalaiLama) September 4, 2018
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Podcasts and posts about climate change
Acknowledgement
We at The Sustainable Hour would like to pay our respect to the traditional custodians of the land on which we are broadcasting, the Wathaurong People, and pay our respect to their elders, past, present and future.
The traditional owners lived in harmony with the environment and with the climate for hundreds of generations. It is not clear – yet – that as European settlers we have demonstrated that we can live in harmony for hundreds of generations, but it is clear that we can learn from the indigenous, traditional owners of this land.
When we talk about the future, it means extending our respect to those children not yet born, the generations of the future – remembering the old saying that…
The decisions currently being made around Australia to ignore climate change are being made by those who won’t be around by the time the worst effects hit home. How utterly disgusting, disrespectful and unfair is that?
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