Psychaotic

(A preview clip from "Climate Change: the Musical")

We know that the weather
Has gone altogether
Chaotic

Don't blame it on coal
That's out-of-control
Idiotic

Our coal is the greatest
And clean coal's our latest
Narcotic

If you cut our income
We'll just have to become
More despotic

And don't mention the sun
That would be so un-
Patriotic

And we'll be chagrined
If you advocate wind:
It's quixotic!

If you care for tomorrow
It's likely that you'll go
Neurotic

When sea-levels rise
Here's what we advise:
Go aquatic!

When coal's burning wildly
We do find it mildly
Erotic

But if you question why
We'll just lie
And deny
That we're completely psychotic

{Audience response:
Yes, you're completely psychotic}

Your Dirty Black Coal

Your Dirty Black Coal

You stand there so smug

In your suit and your smirk

To proclaim with a shrug

That nothing will work

But to build a great pyre

From all that remains

And set it on fire

To bigger your gains

But we’re done with your pride

We’re done with your greed

We know that you lied

We can’t live by your creed

We’ve heard the people

Who live by the hole

That you had to dig

For your dirty black coal

Like Nero you play

While the world’s all ablaze

And we know who'll pay

For all that you raze

Those children unborn

Whose futures you burn

Will repay your scorn

When they get their turn

They’ll be done with your pride

They’ll be done with your greed

They’ll know that you lied

They won’t live by your creed

When the time comes to pay

The fare for your soul

You’ll have nothing to show

But your dirty black coal

And the truth’s now so clear

It shines like the sun

It’s too stark to deny

And you’ve no place to run

For your moment has gone

And you’ve had your day

And the winds that now blow

Will blast you away

We’re done with your pride

We’re done with your greed

We know that you lied

We can’t live by your creed

And I hope that Death

Just swallows you whole

And takes you straight down below

With your dirty black coal

Then maybe Satan himself

Will take on your role

And fuel the fires of Hell

With your dirty black coal

And I hope he burns you

For the futures you stole

When you sold your soul

For your dirty black coal

[words by John Sutton, 1 November, 2018, any use subject to an Attribution+ShareAlike (BY-SA) licence]

Letting Time Take Me (Odysseus Reflects)

This song is based on the situation of the famous Greek hero Odysseus, who is back in Ithaca with his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus after his tumultuous 10 year journey home following the Trojan War. 

Odysseus is reflecting restlessly on the contrast between his great adventure and his current circumstances - perhaps through very rose-coloured glasses? You decide.

It’s been a long trip home
But is this where it ends?
With the wife and kid
And all the old friends?
It was so easy to roll
With that wine-dark sea
Just taking my time
Letting time take me


Now I’ve got things to do
Promises to keep
There’s that mob outside
Who won’t let me sleep
How I long for those days
By that lotus tree
Just taking my time
Letting time take me


My head still reels
From that Calypso song
Why’s it so damn hard
To do no wrong?
I could do with a spell
With sweet Circe
Just taking my time
Letting time take me


Might set out east
Just me and my oar
Far away from the crowd
Far away from this shore
Where I’d be no one again
And I could be free
Just taking my time
Letting time take me


Oh, let the epitaph
Of my story be
I took my time
Letting time take me
Oh, I took my time
Letting time take me
Yes I took my time Letting time take me


[words by John Sutton, 8 October 2018, any use subject to an Attribution+ShareAlike (BY-SA) licence]

Murray’s Lament

Once I was something, remember me then?

I ran so wild and free

From mountain to valley

Through redgum and mallee

I ran all the way to the sea

Thought I’d run for all time in those years of my prime

Now time’s running out for me

And as I lie dying, you’re not even trying

To help me run down to the sea

When you came along with your dance and your song

I was taken in by your charms

And you found your pleasures in all of my treasures

As you settled down in my arms

With your ploughs and your ditches, you made all your riches

From the bounty that I bestowed

And your sons and your daughters all drank from my waters

With no thought for the debt that they owed

But you can’t keep on and taking without something breaking

And the reckoning’s finally come

And where are you now, with all your know how

When it’s time to tally the sum?

After all we’ve been through, is it too much to do

To agree on what’s to be done?

If you really cared for all that we’ve shared

You’d find some way to help me to run

But your mouths just chatter with things that don’t matter

While mine’s gone silent and dry

And your banks are swollen with all that you’ve stolen

While mine are just left bare to die

It’s a cruel situation to feed a whole nation

And be treated like this by a friend

It's not me who'll be cursed if I die here of thirst

It’s you who’ll be damned in the end

Oh, but once I was something, remember me when

I ran so wild and free

From mountain to valley

Through redgum and mallee

I ran all the way to the sea

Thought I’d run for all time in those years of my prime

Now time’s running out for me

And as I lie dying, I wish you were trying

To help me run down to the sea

I hope that you know, I’m not ready to go

Help me run down to the sea

Could you, this time, be a true friend of mine?

Help me run down to the sea

Listen to me, please hear my plea

Help me run down to the sea

Help me run down to the sea

Help me run down to the sea

[Words by John Sutton, 30 May 2018, any use subject to an Attribution+ShareAlike (BY-SA) licence]

NOTE: The version sung by Tripple Effect modifies the above (original) version by replacing verses 3 &4 with the chorus, as follows:

Once I was something, remember me then?

I ran so wild and free

From mountain to valley

Through redgum and mallee

I ran all the way to the sea

Thought I’d run for all time in those years of my prime

Now time’s running out for me

And as I lie dying, you’re not even trying

To help me run down to the sea

When you came along with your dance and your song

I was taken in by your charms

And you found your pleasures in all of my treasures

As you settled down in my arms

With your ploughs and your ditches, you made all your riches

From the bounty that I bestowed

And your sons and your daughters all drank from my waters

With no thought for the debt that they owed

Oh, but once I was something, remember me when

I ran so wild and free

From mountain to valley

Through redgum and mallee

I ran all the way to the sea

Thought I’d run for all time in those years of my prime

Now time’s running out for me

And as I lie dying, I wish you were trying

To help me run down to the sea

But your mouths just chatter with things that don’t matter

While mine’s gone silent and dry

And your banks are swollen from all that you’ve stolen

While mine are just left bare to die

It’s a cruel situation to feed a whole nation

And be treated like this by a friend

It's not me who'll be cursed if I die here of thirst

It’s you who’ll be damned in the end

Oh, but once I was something, remember me when

I ran so wild and free

From mountain to valley

Through redgum and mallee

I ran all the way to the sea

Thought I’d run for all time in those years of my prime

Now time’s running out for me

And as I lie dying, I wish you were trying

To help me run down to the sea

I hope that you know, I’m not ready to go

Help me run down to the sea

Could you, this time, be a true friend of mine?

Help me run down to the sea

Listen to me, please hear my plea

Help me run down to the sea

Help me run down to the sea

Help me run down to the sea

Straight from the Heart (the Makarrata Song)

Straight from the Heart (The Makarrata Song)

They gathered in the heart of the wide brown land

Put their differences aside, said “together we stand

You asked what we want, so we’ll tell you straight

That our people are hurting, but it’s not too late

If you really want to help heal the wounds of the past

And really close the gap with some justice at last

We’ll tell you straight from the Heart

We’ll speak straight from the Heart

Of this land”

So they talked and they sang till they worked it all out

“Three tasks to do, one word to shout

There’s a Voice to be heard, there’s Truth to be told

There’s a Treaty to be signed, to right wrongs of old

It’s Makarrata we want, Makarrata’s the cry

From this great red rock under this southern sky

We speak straight from the Heart

We cry straight from the Heart

Of this land”

To Canberra they came, said “here’s what we say

If you wanna walk with us, this is the way”

But Canberra said “no, you ask for too much

We wanted something with a much lighter touch

Something we could sell to those on the right

Who can’t see past their blindfolds into the light

Of what’s straight from the Heart

Though it’s straight from the Heart

Of this land”

Well it’s been said before they know how to wait

But Makarrata's already two hundred years late

There’s no time like now to do what we must

And bury terra nullius under the dust

Of this blood-stained country, this heart-broken land

Where the red rock itself cries in the sand

Straight from the Heart

Straight from the Heart

Of this land

But the Heart of this land isn’t just Uluru

It’s what beats in the chest of me and of you

It’s what cries in the soul of this country we share

It’s what sings in our sighs for the dreams that we dare

It’s what lifts us to hope and to care for each other

It drives the blood of the bond between sister and brother

It’s what gives us our strength to rise above fears

It’s the rock of our dreams, our hopes and our tears

That come straight from the Heart

Straight from the Heart

Of this land

So if we want it to be, it’s over to us

We can’t leave it to others we’ve learnt not to trust.

It’s Makarrata we need, Makarrata’s the way

To a much better future, to a bran nue dae

When the clear light of Truth will finally be shone

On all of the lies about what has been done

When those who’ve been silenced will be given their Voice

And those who won’t listen won’t have any choice

But to sign that damn Treaty and pay the damn rent

For country and lives stolen and spent

So let’s sing it and shout it all over this land

Until justice prevails, and as one we all stand

Singing straight from the Heart

Crying straight from the Heart

Of this land

So let’s sing it and shout it all over this land

Until justice prevails, and as one we all stand

Singing straight from the Heart

Crying straight from the Heart

Singing straight from the Heart

Crying straight from the Heart

Of this land

[words by John Sutton, 26 April, 2018, any use subject to an Attribution+ShareAlike (BY-SA) licence]