Back to 52 To Change The World Go to previous song "The Free Software Song". Go to next song "Money Don't Matter".
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January 31, 2010

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Rather Die

Filed under: Song — admin (Rob) @ 1:37 pm
Get a day job!ShakySolidGood Stuff!Awesome!! (1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
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You only get one chance to live or so they say
The question is how far I go so I can stay
Don't get me wrong I love my life as much as anyone
But you can't love yourself if you don't love others too

Them or us just doesn't happen every day
But when we're fearful we lash out and lose our way
But I take pride in being true to the very best of me
So it's with a joyful heart that I say

I'd rather die, I'd rather die today
Than know I'd clung onto my life in such a way
I know I'd die, I know I'd die today
I'd rather die than be so cruel
I'd rather die, I'd rather die today
Better off dead than chasing demons like that away
I'd rather die, I'd rather die today
I'd rather die than be so cruel

What is it you think of when you say your name
Do you feel proud or do you hang your head in shame
And did you try your very best to do no harm
Or did you stamp your feet complaining life don't treat you fair?
Week 6:

First a disclaimer. I owe my life to the skill and dedication of our modern medical profession. I also have suffered horribly and needlessly as a result of their blinkered and often plain wrong understanding of health. The same applies to other people close to me and to many people I have met, many more I have read about. Anything you read here - read it in that context.

This song more than anything makes me question my 'song a week' mission. I would simply love to spend a month playing around with it. It's sorta losely in a Lewis Taylor circa "Lost Album" style singing. Far less harmonies but the same idea that the melody carries the emotion and the singer does less expression. I really love "Rather Die" and want to play the drums live and record a real piano...

Anyway, the lyrics... ...I read a couple of the fact sheets on the kinship circle site about animal testing for medical research. It's truly abhorrent. Then I read huntingdon's site (they are an animal testing company). They would have us believe that the animal rights people are outright lying about the conditions they keep the animals they're testing in... ...maybe... who should I believe?

Instead I have decided to sidestep the whole issue. In principal, I do not believe my life or comfort is worth more than that of an animal. No doubt in a moment of desperation I would place myself above another creature but I'm not going to spend my whole life torturing animals on the offchance it *might* yield something that *might* help me live longer.

I've seen people close to me suffer horribly from disease and have had far more than my fair share of misery myself for someone my age. Firstly, my hard won experience is that there is generally a better solution than anything a pharmaceutical company has or will ever come with. The reason these solutions are not popular is because they usually involve giving up some of the luxurious trappings of modern life - food being the prime example. Also, these solutions tend not to make any money for anyone in the way that drugs do. I fear the reader will believe all that if they want to, disbelieve it if not. The most convincing set of testimonials I saw was in this book. What I'm trying to say is there are generally better solutions than causing suffering of others in order to solve a problem. And even if there aren't it's up to us to look for them. When all is said and done I would rather leave a legacy like that than a long life and a chain of labs like Huntingdon.

Here is the Diigo list. Not much in it this time. Just seems like two groups of people who say the other is flat lying.





Back to 52 To Change The World Go to previous song "Pigs". Go to next song "Rather Die".
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January 23, 2010

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The Free Software Song

Filed under: Song — admin (Rob) @ 8:22 pm
Get a day job!ShakySolidGood Stuff!Awesome!! (4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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Join us now and share the software;
You'll be free, hackers, you'll be free.
x2

Hoarders may get piles of money,
That is true, hackers, that is true.
But they cannot help their neighbors;
That's not good, hackers, that's not good.

When we have enough free software
At our call, hackers, at our call,
We'll throw out those dirty licenses
Ever more, hackers, ever more.

You'll be free hackers, you'll be free.
Welcome to "week" five of 52tochangetheworld! This week's song was originally written by free software activist Richard Stallman. There's links to information about the original in the Diigo list The song is itself derived from a folk melody "Sadie Moma". Here is a bulgarian style version more akin to the tune the song was based on. It's in OGG format (think WMA but open source) so windows media player users may struggle... No video this week. I'm rubbish at them, have a rubbish camera and am better off spending the time doing a proper recording (for now:-). Meanwhile here is a video about my studio for the more technically minded among you.

As you may know I'm a die hard linux user. I'll spend weeks fiddling with something complicated to avoid using a windows machine. Basically windows machines are no fun. Everything works... ...or doesn't... and it's totally out of your control. All you can do is phone up the company who provided the software/hardware and get put on hold listening to Carpenters songs in lo-fi GSM... I could go on all day about how different things are with linux but for me (with software and music too) licensing comes down to a philosophical question: Are you just trying to make vast amounts of money for yourself or are you trying to build something amazing for all of us (and of course make lots of money and have lots of fun along the way:-). I think you can guess which camp I'm in.

If there is a founding father of the free software movement it's Richard Stallman. So using Ardour and Ecasound on Gentoo Linux to record a cover based on a folk song felt like something of a homage. From a musical point of view it was a joy to dust off the trumpet and the bongos:-). Pitch bend wheels rock!

Thankyou to Tom Fotherby for the idea to cover this:-).




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Back to 52 To Change The World Go to previous song "Christmas is not just for Christmas". Go to next song "The Free Software Song".
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January 12, 2010

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Pigs

Filed under: Song — admin (Rob) @ 9:43 pm
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Welcome to week four of 52tochangetheworld! This song is the first where I've actually researched a specific topic. I tried to broaden my knowledge base a bit in the process. Here ( Diigo - 52tochangetheworld - Pigs ) are some of the more interesting results of that exercise. You can read my comments as well hopefully. If you fancy joining Diigo (it is pretty awesome IMO:-) and chipping in this could turn into more of a discussion. Be sure to use the 'pigs' tag (case sensitive) for anything you share so it appears in this list. Alternatively leave a comment on this post or email me. I want to learn from you.

Researching for this song was a little shocking for me. I thought I was cynical enough but watching some of the videos of the conditions these poor animals are forced to live in - even the videos/descriptions by the meat industry themselves were beyond cruel - for once even I don't have words for something. It struck me as odd that we use the word 'pig' as a derisory term and yet 'humane' somehow is used positively. It is us humans who regularly commit inhumane acts such as these. So I walked a mile on piggy trotters and here's the result. Enjoy.
Just because we're so smart
We don't have to be dull
See it's cool here in the mud so we play
We may have trotters for feet but we dream just like you
You know at night we even sing to our babes
We may have been bred, to be bacon and ham
But that don't mean that we're not worthy of life
So we'd appreciate a little discernment from you as to
Where you stick your fork and your knife

Who you callin' Pigs?
You're gonna spoil our good name
You gotta be kiddin me
When you say humane

You lock us in crates
To give birth to our young
We never even get to see the outside
200 of us in ten meters by twelve
You wouldn't do this to the worst of our kind
We may have been bred
To be sausage and pork
But that don't mean we should be tortured and killed
Five months of hell then you slaughter our hides
That's why I hope you burn yourself on your grill!


If the flash player doesn't work then you can download here




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Back to 52 To Change The World Go to previous song "Last Human". Go to next song "Pigs".
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December 24, 2009

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Christmas is not just for Christmas

Filed under: Song — admin (Rob) @ 12:35 pm
Get a day job!ShakySolidGood Stuff!Awesome!! (1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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Welcome to week three of 52tochangetheworld! This week finds me with a sore throat, worn out old guitar strings and almost no rehearsal time! Hopefully this cheerful song will still shine through...
I haven't seen anyone use this guitar technique before for a whole song but I guess someone must have done right? Let me know with a comment on this post or an email if you have seen it 'cos I'm really curious. I reckon the harmonics sound a bit like Christmas bells:-).
Anyway, I wasn't sure whether to make this song a Christmas card for my friends or week three of '52'. In the end I ran out of time and settled for both. Merry Christmas one and all and maybe we can bring a bit of Christmas spirit into every day of 2010! x
Decorations by the fireplace
Presents under the tree
Children laughing, dancing
In their yuletide reverie
All their stockings were full
Now they're emptied all over the floor

Board games on the table
Carols on the radio
It's warm inside still we decide
We're playing in the snow
It's December
But we could do this any time of year

Christmas is not just for Christmas
We can give all year round

Some old film on the TV
That Grandma loves to see
Aunts and Uncles Mum and Dad
Everyone can be
Together today
Seems like everybody's here

Bad jokes in crackers
But we're laughing all the same
Silly Christmas hats
You have to wear one don't complain
It's December
But it could be anytime of year

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,
Jingle all the way,
Oh what fun, our lives would be if we did this every day...

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Christmas is not just for Christmas by Phoenix Imago (Rob Kay) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

Back to 52 To Change The World Go to previous song "I Belong". Go to next song "Christmas is not just for Christmas".
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December 17, 2009

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Last Human

Filed under: Song — admin (Rob) @ 9:25 pm
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Welcome to week two of 52tochangetheworld! Did a nice slideshow for the video this week. It's at the end so listen to the whole song! For those of you who are interested I used ImageMagick on Gentoo Linux on my G3 ibook. Pretty awesome use of old technology if I do say so myself:-) As it happens the song is not unrelated to this. I had a sort of vision of the last human alive keeling over to die having left the lights turned on. (I have an odd sense of humour perhaps...) We impatiently burn away the earth's resources and we don't realise that nature is growing *for* us. It could do so much for us if we were only patient enough to let it. Don't get me wrong - I love technology. In fact I'm a bona-fide nerd... I just think it is more valuable when it encourages patience and altruism (think open source/linux) than shiny gadgets that claim they'll solve all your problems! Anyway, songwriting-wise this one reminds me pleasantly of Peter Gabriel. See what you think...
Every day we tread the capitalist techno-mill
A pseudo connection to the world for good or for ill
Shiny plastic and metal gadgets entertain us still
Circuits trained to instantaneously execute our will

The last human left the light on
And the flowers began to bloom once again
This world is bigger and older than all of us
and more majestic than any of our miscreations

There's something you should slow down and see
It matters to me, it matters to me

We worship at the altar of bigger, faster, cheaper
Economies get stronger while every day our bodies they grow weaker
Toys are wonderful things but we teach our kids they should play nice
Not tear apart our playpen with impatience, insecurity and vice

We are stewards, not lords
But together we are the earth
People are effect, not cause
Together we are the earth.


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Creative Commons License
Last Human by Phoenix Imago (Rob Kay) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
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