This is a beautiful song – part of a much longer one – crafted into a pearl of delight. It is catchy enough to have been a hit without losing any of its substance.  That’s a rarity. Roy does not preach. He paints pictures with words and adorns them with melody. I senses pathos behind the almost jaunty presentation. It’s a lyric with deep meaning.

This is a song in which Roy apologises on behalf of the entire human race for the abuse of the planet. The ‘I’ and ‘me’ are generic.

Throughout time we have treated the planet and the life that lives on its thin crust with disdain. We have polluted and butchered as if it is a limitless, infinite source of everything. When there were few of us it was sustainable. Now there are so many it is not. We are destroying the thing that gives us life.

As Roy puts it – ‘Turning the oxygen off in the intensive care unit’.

The world’s forests and oceans are becoming deserts.

Somehow we have to reach a point where we can sit and wonder at the beauty, watch a sunset, delight at a creature’s antics, and witness with wonder.

Given a paradise to play in we create a concrete hell of toil and misery. That’s intelligence for you.

Surely we can find a sustainable way and not destroy everything that’s good? Surely we can have a meaningful life that isn’t a drudgery?

Roy Harper – Desert Island