By Henry Lipput
Starting out with what seems to be an apology to a friend for
not visiting them in the hospital during their last days, Graham Parker’s new song
“We Did Nothing” (Big Stir Records ) is instead an acknowledgement of what we have done,
and continue to do, to Planet Earth. It’s the second single before the release
of his new album with his band The Goldtops, Last Chance To Learn The Twist, out
on September 8th (Big Stir Records).
Strumming an acoustic guitar, and with an understated backing
from The Goldtops, Graham sends an urgent, if late, message about what we are
seeing as a result of our less-than-caring global stewardship: “I knew you were
slipping away by the day/What did I do?/I did nothing/The tone of your sky was
a gun-metal grey/What did I do?/I did nothing.” And then there’s swimming in
the cool waters of a melting ice cap.
The first time I listened to “We Did Nothing” I thought of the
quote/prose poem by German Pastor Martin Niemoller which begins “First they came
for the socialists and I did not speak out.” Whether Parker used these words as a template
for his song I have no way of knowing. Following the devastation of World War II
Niemoller had hoped things would be different in the future.
But Parker knows there may not be a next time because of where
we are with climate change. We’re already there. And it’s not looking good.
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