Us
We smile,
Chuckle and laugh
Share and create.
We frown,
Grimace and glare,
Punch and hate.
We love,
Dream and frolic,
Dance and sing.
We scowl,
Plot and scheme
Destroy everything.
We destroy everything
Everything
Opher 18.4.2025
Talk about Jekyll and Hyde. We are truly schizophrenic.
At our best we are wonderful.
At our worst we are horrific.
I fear we are destroying the world.
Roy’s best single!
The times I saw Roy perform this little ditty. Another epic. Sums up the stupidity of mankind for me. We are burning the world.
Burn The World – 1990
Awareness Records 1990
Roy Harper: producer
Roy Harper: acoustic guitar, vocals and song writing.
Dave Gilmour: guitar
Tony Franklin: bass
Kevin McAlea: keyboards
Steve Broughton: percussion
Engineer: Jacqui Harper
Photography: Colin Curwood
Roy wrote ‘Burn The World’ in 1984. When he had re-signed with EMI he presented them with this twenty minute demo. They rejected it on the basis that it was not a good commercial proposition.
However the song is an amazing concept that is even more relevant today, thirty years later, when we are experiencing the impact of global warming (we are burning the world) and beginning to realise the catastrophic effects it will have.
Roy sat on the recording for six years. He hoped that he might work more on its production, as he had successfully done with other epic songs such as ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ or ‘Me And My Woman’, but that never came about. Without a music contract to a major label Roy lacked the finances to devote the time to such a project and he knew this was unlikely to happen in the near future. Yet he believed the song was important and began including it in his live sets. He continued developing the musical arrangement and received positive response from audiences. Rather than abandon the piece altogether he decided to put the song out as it was – basically a partially completed demo.
When I first heard about Roy releasing the two twenty minute tracks – the studio version and live version – I immediately said ‘That’s a single, then Roy!’ And so it was!
The live version demonstrates the way Roy was playing the guitar aided by the use of technology through the pedals, showcasing his versatility and amazing ability to produce and sustain a piece of this length, as well as Jacqui’s ability to handle the mixing desk and use the effects to the maximum. At times it sounds like a full band. Once again Roy lives up to the epithet of a one man rock ‘n’ roll band.
The song itself is written in eight distinct sections:
I Don’t Believe
I don’t believe in humans –
A crazed bunch of chimps
Creating war and poverty
In a world of spivs and pimps.
I don’t believe in magic.
I don’t believe in God.
I don’t believe in reality.
Everything is odd!
I don’t think there’s a purpose
Any revelation to find.
But living in infinity
Really blows the mind.
I don’t believe in Angels,
Heaven or Paradise,
Even though believing
Would be very nice.
I do believe in nature
Evolution and mutation.
I don’t believe in religions
Or the theory of creation.
I think all us humans
Are as gullible as hell.
If we dumped superstition
We could do very well.
I do believe pollution
Is poisoning the Earth.
I believe in overpopulation –
Far too many births.
I don’t believe in politics
It’s all a crazy game.
I think they’re all lying
It’s such a dirty shame.
I don’t believe in fascism
Or dictatorial control.
I think Trump’s a conman
Digging us a big hole.
I don’t in communism –
Creating another elite.
I do think that Putin
Is heading for defeat.
I don’t believe in Tories
With their fabled trickle down –
A bunch of millionaires
Who own half the town.
I don’t believe in history
Or anything that’s gone.
They falsify the story.
As bad as QAnon.
I believe the crazy apes
Are busy creating war;
Chopping down the forests;
Stealing from the poor.
Paradoxically the apes
Make great music and art
Appreciate great beauty –
Matters of the heart.
They are capable of care
Love and compassion;
Of empathy and justice,
Feelings and passion.
I don’t believe in cool
Or the art of being hip.
Just another fashion
Complete with a quip.
I do believe the mad monkeys
Will turn everything to profit,
While always saying one thing
Then doing the opposite.
I do believe society
Is hanging by a thread.
A lack of belief
Could leave us all stone dead!
Opher – 16.10.2022
A mutation created a mad bunch of crazed chimpanzees.
We’re all obsessed with a greed for more.
We’ve created poems, Gods and war.
Power is more important than fairness.
All our religions and political systems have been perverted to create power systems, elites and dominance.
There’s more than enough to go around but the ones at the top are never satisfied.
They’ll wage war (using us) and destroy the planet just to have more than they can possibly need in a million lifetimes.
Human beings are insane! We value slave owners, robber barons and murderers over artists, poets and dancers.