An Accidental Songwriter and Moors, Music and Meditation. Song 8″ Extinction Rebellion Song- The Tipping Point”.

I think most people would agree that the biggest thing on our collective agenda is Climate Change. It is a matter of profound gravitas and complexity that requires all of our intelligence, wisdom and ability to find macro and micro solutions from changing government policies, business and industry practices to  conscious and mindful actions as private individuals.

Honorary recycling is not enough any more.  Where possible, We need to eat local, up- cycle, think consciously about how we travel, what we buy, consume, how we do business and how we keep one another encouraged to make a difference, however small. And, probably, because I am not an expert- a host of other things that could make a difference too.

There was something about those walruses in David Attenborough’s recent series that really got me. Those desperate great big bodies with no- where to rest because climate change and rising water levels have taken their usual resting places. All of those bodies just falling, sadly and uselessly to their deaths from the cliffs of an island because there was simply no room for all of them.

They became a bit of a visual metaphor for me of the effects of climate change, and perhaps a prophetic image for other creatures and some humans around the world.

Much of the change needs to happen on a macro scale- governments and corporations need to put their brightest minds and conciliatory specialists into creating new systemic structures that work without the effect of creating more social  imbalances. On a small personal level we can tinker round the edges with  various initiatives that fit our personal situations and lives.

Sometimes we can feel that there is little we can do- but growing in our midst is a movement which echoes the social justice movements of the past, that created needed change at the time. The suffragette movement, the movement against racism and apartheid. This movement is Extinction Rebellion which has mushroomed around the world. It is the one avenue that I can see that ordinary people can lend their voice to in order to put pressure upon our slothful, self interested capitalistic blinkered governments. If enough of us give our voices then the pressure builds on the systems of power to take notice and accelerate change for the better.

I have only, so far, been to one local Extinction Rebellion meeting so I am no great expert. But it’s tenets – read out at the meeting- are fair, inclusive and aim to be non religious, not aligned to any political party. What is particularly  attractive to me is its emphasis on the Gandhian principles of non violence.  A group that is about the care of the planet and all who live on her,  has to have non violence written into any of it’s actions, otherwise it would be a hypocritical paradox.

The red rebels in  the extinction rebellion protests  serve as an artistic and poetic mimed metaphor  to bring us back from anger to mindfulness, from destruction to pathos. I am also hoping that this platform of humanitarian and environmental protest can be a space where other art forms with meaning can be showcased.

As a songwriter, there is something I can do beyond my recycling once a week. I can write a song. So, here is my song to encourage the listener to add their voice to  the mass that are calling for change to environmental policies on a global scale. If enough of us join in, then we will reach a point when the powers that be are forced to act- that point is called “The Tipping Point”. Ironically, there is also a tipping point for climate change when eco systems stop working and negative loops of increasing heat etc are created. So, we need to reach one tipping point before we reach the other.

TIPPING POINT

Chorus

T-T-Tears falling

Oceans rising

A tipping point for us all

To fall, fall, fall

Or rise, rise anew- and stand tall.

 

V1

The map is shrinking

As pieces of puzzle fall

Ice to water: land to sea

No place, no place, for them or me.

Oh Ah EE Ay EE Oh ( In two part harmony)

 

Repeat Chorus

V2

The clock is ticking

The timer has all but gone

Deserts grow, forests burn

No-where, No- where, for them or me.

Oh Ah EE Ay Oh ( two part harmony)

 

Repeat `chorus

V3

The land is thirsty

Migrations as species fall

Crops to dust, rootless, homeless

Everywhere, No- where, Some where, for them or me.

OH Ay EE Ay Ee Oh (two part harmony)

 

Small instrumental Break

V4

But life is beating

Our blood is rising, searching for unity

Together we stand or together we’ll fall

One world, our world, a home for us all (this line in two part harmony)

Some of my songs have experimental and unusual ideas for instrumentation. This one really doesn’t! I want it to be a song that a performer/singer shares with the audience/protestors. The chorus is actually the starting point which we return to and is for everyone to sing along to. Each verse ends with a simple two part harmony for everyone to do. I imagine all the men taking the lower part and the women the upper part. It would be easy to teach as you went along. It is in E minor, is simple and folky  and I imagine simple guitars and possibly a violin for instrumentation. Basically instruments that are not difficult to move if this is a song that is performed in the streets. The last verse has a slight alteration in the melody to represent hopeful change.

I am going to a small party tomorrow night of friends who have been tracking my song writing journey- I am going to take it along with me and teach it to them. Many of them are also key members of the local Extinction Rebellion meeting so perhaps they have ideas of how I could further use it. Perhaps it will go further than the local town- I hope so. I hope it can be used in whatever way to create the positive ‘Tipping Point” of pressure on the government rather than the negative one of environmental cycles that have fallen apart. 

It is one small action that I can personally do……..