I seldom write songs about contemporary topics because they require a certainty of viewpoint that I seldom feel these days. This one is an exception.....

Song is here:

https://youtu.be/2CI9dqcPUjQ

Lyric is below.

Scott


The Giant Ain’t Sleeping Anymore
© 2019 by S.W. Campbell

Streets in Miami are filling with water
And Greenland’s getting green
Oceans keep on getting hotter
And they’re making more wind and rain
So say goodbye to your tropical storm and hello to
Your category four
Cause the giant ain’t sleeping anymore

Wildfires race cross California
While tundra thaws in Nome
In tornado alley there’s no time to warn ya
You’re about to lose your home
But the ticks and mosquitos love every minute
As they bring disease up north
Cause the giant ain’t sleeping anymore

Politicians who say, “No one knows the answer”
Are playing us for fools
Telling us that windmills are causing cancer
So let’s burn through all our coal
We don’t need no eggheads doing science
We don’t need no dumb accord
Well the giant ain’t sleeping anymore

At the rate that things are changing
We’ll still be here to catch the blame
And listen to our grandkids curse our name

When did we all become such chickens?
Scared to take a dare
Dare to start making good decisions
‘Stead of sending thoughts and prayers
There was a time when the frog in the water being heated
Was just a metaphor
But the giant ain’t sleeping anymore

But Scott, climate change is a Chinese hoax.

Great lyric, great hook and the driving, slightly ominous beat is a perfect match. You really get your message across. I like it!

F C S: First Class Song

Have fun!

Al Gore would be proud....

Hey Scott,

Having a great time in Fiji here but also missing JPF.

My friend, that was the BEST song I've ever heard you write and perform.

Nailed it !

cheers, Geoff

Hello Scott,


You sure make performing look easy, GOOD JOB !


Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Good topic for our times.
When Threatening Change, capital T, capital C, came to the planet Earth of the time of the dinosaurs, they enacted tactics in a strategy of Adaptive Response. Their Adaptive Response was too-little/too-late to compete with Threatening Change coming too-much/too-soon.
The Human Phenomenon will have to find Leadership Decision-Makers in commerce and government possessed of the requisite intellect and integrity to enact tactics in a strategy of Adaptive Response to Threatening Change if living things, including The Human Phenomenon, are to survive.
The Human Phenomenon is a recent factor in the closed eco-system of planet Earth, but is Causing Effects of such significance that the period 1850 to 2020 qualifies as a new geologic epoch; The Anthropocene.
Homo Sapiens, 'Knowing Man', did NOT 'know' that his Industrial Revolution was actually an Industrial-Scale Burning Revolution, and that byproducts of his burning of mountains, mountain ranges of coal over the last 170 years, rivers of oil, great swaths of forests, animal fat, animal dung, anything that will burn, would go up in the atmosphere and form a heat-trapping bubble. Homo Sapiens, 'Knowing Man', had become Homo Ignitius, 'Burning Man'.
Another factor was Homo Plasticius, 'Plastic Man', producing plastic, designed to last 'forever', yet used for the most temporary of purposes, getting a product from seller to consumer, and then thrown 'away'. Every piece of plastic ever made is out there, somewhere, because, in the closed system of planet Earth, there is no 'away'.
Burning Man, Plastic Man, Concrete and Asphalt Man, The Human Phenomenon is complex with its "Mine! All mine!" attitude toward planet Earth's resources. We pave over the surface so no other creature, flora or fauna, can use it. We pave highways to lay there until we want to use them. We cut whole forests down, denuding the land beneath. Agroforester people can harvest 200 tons of food and fiber and materiel from an acre of Amazon Rainforest in a year, and again next year, as long as that Rainforest is left in its Natural state. But other people cut it down, put up fences, plant grass, and raise cattle. In a couple years the soil is exhausted and the grass is no good, so the cattle can't graze, and these people cut down another swath of Rainforest to stay in the cattle business. Or palm oil. Or coca leaves. Anything but the Natural abundance of the original forest,planet Earth's 'lungs', inhaling carbon dioxide, exhaling oxygen.
Now the heat escaping from Earth's molten core, through the land, the sea, into the atmosphere, and solar radiation are melting polar ice. What happens to a spinning object when trillions of tons melt off the poles and flow into the oceans?
The oceans are warmer, with high concentration of The Industrial-Scale Burning Revolution's carbon dioxide, acidified, globally, not just the 70% surface of planet Earth's oceans, but deep into the seas. Every plant and animal living there lives in an acidic bath, constantly. Cancer grows in the absence of oxygen, and acid chases oxygen out of living tissues. Temperature is a factor in breeding, breathing, hatching, migration, feeding. Warmer air makes warmer oceans. Warmer oceans make warmer air. Warmer water evaporates. Micro-particles of man-made plastic evaporate and fall as rain. Acid rain acidifies lakes, streams, soils. Acid rain eats away stone, buildings, statuary.
There were 1 billion Humans all alive, all at the same time in 1850. In just 75 years (1925) there were 2 billion, a doubling. In 37 years (1962) there were 3 billion of us, burning, throwing plastic 'away', burning anything that would burn. We burn things just to get them out of our sight. In 14 years (1976) there were 4 billion. In 10 years, 5 billion. The exponential increase of the population factor of The Human Phenomenon seems to have been interrupted, with 7.7 of us in 2019. Why? Birth control? Cancer from the ubiquitous pollution of petrochemicals used to make plastic and contaminating food and water and air on a planetary scale? Republican wars for fun and profit? Something.
But exponential increase in burning and plastic production has not stopped. Coal trains have rolled for 170 years. They're rolling today, delivering fossil fuel to places of burning. Oil has flowed, rivers, great lakes, oceans of oil, to places of burning, since John D. Rockefeller drilled in 1859, and became the richest Human in The Human Phenomenon on planet Earth supplying the Industrial-Scale demand for things to burn. Rather than stopping burning people who make their money selling things to burn are looking for new things to burn, corn converted to ethanol, hemp, hydrogen gas.
Meanwhile alternative energy sources are neglected. There's geothermal energy in the ground at your feet. The Sunstar has done the nuclear burning a safe 93 million miles away. Mother Nature moves her wind and water, doing all the work. All YOU have to do is capture that energy.
An Adaptive Response to Threatening Change, converting to these Natural energy sources where you can, would preserve fossil fuels to supply demands you can't Adapt away from readily, serving The Human Phenomenon further into the future. Ironically, the people who make their money in the old energy supply ways are the best equipped and financed to make the Adaptive Response, but their Leadership Decision-Makers are determined to keep going until planet Earth is uninhabitable, or they run out of things to burn.
If The Human Phenomenon is to survive, it has to leave the 'sitting duck' of planet Earth, which is subject to destruction in the chaos of the universe. First we have to go into cities in orbit around Earth, the Moon, other planets and moons in the solar system. Eventually, if we don't kill them first, we may find Leadership Decision-Makers to devise technology to go on an interstellar migration to another Sunstar, to colonize another planet, perpetuating The Human Phenomenon to live at large in the universe. Or, we may keep letting them mislead us into war against each other, destroying the brains that could make these Star-Trekky imaginings come true.
I hope The Human Phenomenon can find those rare combinations of intellect and integrity, and elevate them to Leadership Decision-Making positions in commerce and government. Such a marvelous creature should not come so far, only to go extinct. Good luck, Humans.

Wow Gary...... You know, the world is much larger that your TV screen. Here’s some facts for you to contend with....
- 95% of the world's population is concentrated on just 10% of the world’s land. The planet earth is 70% water, do the math.
- Despite the "human industrial revolution", man made Co2 in the atmosphere has never equaled more that 2%. However, even All Gore's ice cores prove that "overall" Co2 levels in the past (pre human) have been higher than today.
- The greatest contributors to greenhouse gases in our atmosphere have always been rotting vegetation and water.

Thanks Gavin. I should have worked Chinese hoax into the lyric.

Scott

Thanks Guy. I'm tryin'

Scott

I doubt it. He'd probably say, "too little, too late"

Scott

Thanks Nite. I probably got it on the third take but did eight just because I was enjoying it. Hope all is going well with your venture.

Scott

I dunno, Gary. It's a little long and I'm not catching the meter or rhyme scheme. Maybe the lyric forum would be a better fit for this - those folks know a lot about lyrics.



Scott

I find myself nostalgic for the days when people would comment on songs in the mp3 forum.

Performing will never be easy for me Calvin. But if it looks like it is, that's a good thing, I reckon. Thanks!

Scott

"When did we all become such chickens?
Scared to take a dare
Dare to start making good decisions
‘Stead of sending thoughts and prayers
There was a time when the frog in the water being heated
Was just a metaphor
But the giant ain’t sleeping anymore"

Is it not fair for me to take your song as a "call to action"... especially to those who actually DO pray? You used the word "chicken"... does that only apply to those who disagree with you? In any case, for the record....... I disagree with you. Nice video though, I like your setup!

I can see how that lyric would come across that way to someone who doesn't believe that human-driven climate change is real.

I didn't think of that because I had tunnel vision of writing to a different audience - someone who DOES believe it is real but is taking a passive (or non) response.

So your comments provide me useful information. Thanks for coming back with an elaboration.

Scott

Scott,

Love the lyric. Couldn't agree more with the sentiment. That being said, it was the driving rhythm of the music that took me in, from start to finish. It just sailed along. Loved it.

Dave

Just don’t take me too seriously OK? What I DO believe is that truth can only be found when people are free to debate... Not argue

Not a biggie, but I think this line could sing a little better with lines like these. Minute doesn't "sing" great, plus these are a tad more descriptive

Wildfires race cross California
While tundra thaws in Nome
In tornado alley there’s no time to warn ya
You’re about to lose your home
But the ticks and mosquitos love every minute (The ticks & mosquitos eat you alive) or (The ticks & mosquitos relish every bite)
As they bring disease up north
Cause the giant ain’t sleeping anymore

How about a little internal rhyme?
The ticks and mosquitoes are hearty eaters
or
The ticks and mosquitoes are ravenous eaters
or
Tick and mosquito will be happy to eat you

Hey Scott,

I like the your theme and how you present it. You demonstrate conviction without over the top passion--which IMO makes a great lyrical approach to a folk type song. Therefore your message is heard better because it is not being preached, especially to those that may disagree or those that see things more in the shades of gray. Though I was quite young, I'm sure I never originally really got the lyrics right away to "If I had a hammer," but what a great song!

What is more important, is to stop and correct abusing Mother Earth, rather than arguing about the credence or degree of those causes and abuses. We cannot dismiss Global Warming however as bunk, even if you do not believe in it--consequences potentially are too serious.......and common sense tells us to not pollute or at least reduce and minimize and develop better and cleaner ways. Are we the primary cause of global warming? I'm not sure, but I'm seriously concerned about that we "may" be. But Earth has continually evolved with cyclical changing weather patterns--and perhaps there may be a "randomness" inherent within our atmospheric wind patterns caused by many factors along with certain weather cycles that we cannot determine with our brief geologic weather history. (PS yeah - for sure hurricanes and other natural disasters could be influenced by earth's rising temps--we do need to be proactive that Global Warming is real --and led by the scientific world on this matter). The world collectively needs to protect itself from man.......the most dangerous animal on Earth.

I liked your song, and always like your performance. You have a great raspy voice that gives you a unique vox--not many can say that!

steady-eddie

Thanks Dave. Funny thing is that I was singing this in the car for days before I even sat down to work out what the chords were. And, over time, my humming between verses got more and more ominous sounding which I tried to reproduce with the bass and guitars. Didn't exactly catch it but close enough.

Scott

Whether we agree on anything else, we agree on this.

Scott

That's a good point. I didn't give that line enough attention. Thanks!

Scott

Ha - I wondered where your internal rhymes were until I realized it was mosqeeters you were singing instead of mosquitos. I'll have to go back and listen to how I sang it - I suspect it was somewhere between the two - like mosquitas - which is probably close enough that your suggestions could work.

Scott

Thanks Eddie. I'm convinced that we are a strong contributing factor. But that wouldn't be enough to make me write a song about it. Was staring down the last hurricane that made me do that.

Scott

I'm going to apologize in advance for this lol... I know global climate change is an important and even emotional political hot topic right now, but there’s another perspective on this that’s largely overlooked. In the Bible the importance of being good stewards of God's creation is emphasized from the very beginning with Cain and Abel. In revelation however, climate seismic and oceanic events are clearly God's judgement upon the earth and those who would destroy it. Despite God's demonstration of absolute power and control, men will still cling to their own wisdom and sense of authority and deny God's judgment. As a Christian, I can’t help but feel like I'm getting a little taste of that right now. You see, the reason "climate change", or being good stewards, is such an emotional issue is because it’s common sense. However, common sense has nothing to do with the government’s power and authority to dictate and enforce morality. Every time you allow government to write a law to enforce morality, you’re sacrificing your right and freedom to exercise common sense. No government should ever be powerful enough to dictate morality.

Powerful message to the deaf, Dumb and blind republican'ts, but it will fall on ears so full of wax that we could harvest it to make mourning candles for the next fifty cataclysmic disasters that will strike us due to the abuse of our enviornment that is ignored for the sake of money, greed and powerful lobbyist who simply want to extend the poisoning of our lands for profit. Love the music and the gravel and grit in your voice as you beg for some sanity to the ignorant at large. Well done Scott.

Hi Scott,

Great song, great message. Preaching to the choir? I don't think so. I think music can reach beyond that choir. It can disarm when least expected. At least that's what us songwriters hope for!

I could imagine one extra sound in this. A thump, thump, thump, pounding out 1 and 3, trying to emulate the sound one could imagine a "giant" making when they are walking very slowly, very deliberately--maybe an add on to the last V and Ch. Maybe it could be achieved organically with a little Foley work with a pair of boots on concrete, pitch shifted down a bit and with a big hall reveb added.

The "frog in boiling water" reference was a double win. It works strongly to suggest how when things happen slowly we're more apt to deny their reality. "Boiling"is almost a happy coincidence, that it's slyly winking about the hotter climates we're experiencing.

Mike

I get that, Tony. There have been instances in my life where someone would tell me I had to do something. And I'd think, "I was going to do that anyway. But you've robbed me of the chance to do the right thing now of my own free will because you've made it a rule". Annoying as hell.

If people want to do immoral things, I don't get in their way - it's no skin off my nose. But what if someone else's behavior threatens your survival? And what if the problem has become so big that one person can't solve it? That's when humans that feel the same way have to band together. Even if I could build a device that would remove all the CO2 from my car exhaust, it wouldn't even be a drop in the bucket. We have to do it on an immense scale.

It's unfortunate that this issue has become politicized. Perhaps Al Gore didn't do us a favor there. He should have hired a famous front man who's political affiliation was unknown. Maybe we'd have gotten people from both sides of the aisle to get involved. Then again, maybe not - there are individuals and companies with deep pockets who are just fine with the status quo.

Scott

Thanks Matt. Only a few people will hear it anyway

Most of the time, and the case here as well, I am my own target audience. Maybe this will prod me a little to get more involved.

Scott

That's a good idea, Mike. I can hear it in my head.

I'll experiment some!

Thanks,
Scott

"Status Quo"...... You got me there

Scott,

So good to hear a new offering from you . . . driving tune, dripping with import, but still engaging and toe-tapping. Loved my listen from start to finish. Debate on content aside, folks . . . this is just good, good stuff! Killer video as always . . . and love that "frog" line lyric. Sweet!

Humble regards,

Deej

Hi Scott,

Well, this song has a great melody - very powerful lyrics also. I'm not getting much "sleep" myself due to some "giants" behind me who are drilling oil 24 hours a day (nighttime yes) and my bedroom is facing the land they are drilling oil on.

Sorry to ramble on.....

Love your video also - really well delivered.

Thanks, man.

Appreciate it

Scott

Thanks Jane.

I reckon the "drill, baby, drill" folks don't live on the edge of oil fields.

Scott

Great stuff, Scott! You write with such urgency in your lyrics, very inspiring. And you sound pretty gritty Dylan’ish on this. Great to see the video as well, very cool, I can dig it!

I enjoyed your performance, Scott:

The song has a "folk" vibe to it and I admire the way you produced it. As one who believes in natural cycles... and tends to doubt unsubstantiated "facts"... the message inspires but does not move me. I admire the fact that you believe in what you are singing about... and that is outstanding. Best wishes for success, my friend. We must all take measures to leave our Earth a better place than it was when we arrived. Plastic waste has become an enormous problem in our rivers, creeks and oceans.

----Dave

Scott,
Wonderful to see you again my friend!! Love hearing your vocal, great Background vocals on this. The Hook is wonderful and descriptive. The music is catchy and serious, very effective, wonderful production. You are a creative voice and I hope your message is heard....
Tammy

Scott,

I'll just focus on the music rather than the ancillary debate . . . because it deserves all the attention. Brilliant stuff. Enjoyed my listen immensely as it always seems I do when it comes to your songs.

Regards,

Deej

Well King Scott...you know how I feel about your music...and actually you looked like you were enjoying yourself while performing this one which made me enjoy it even more..if I could enjoy it any more...loved it...so happy I didn't miss this one..tks

glyn