Kofi Annan Rocks! 'Beds Are Burning' re-mixed as climate change anthem

categories: Activism, International Action, Politics, Popcult

Published October 01, 2009 @ 09:53AM PT

Above: Stirring climate anthem, or earnest do-good dirge?

Long Live Rock Dept: The Tck Tck Tck "countdown to Copenhagen" campaign has re-recorded the Midnight Oil guitar rock anthem "Beds Are Burning" into a call for action on climate change. The song is available for free download on the web and on iTunes, too.

"Every download will count as a unique digital petition with people adding their names to demand world leaders reach an ambitious, fair and global deal at the UN Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen," says the campaign in a statement.

The star-studded video features Duran Duran, Mark Ronson, Jamie Cullum, Melanie Laurent, Marion Cotillard, Milla Jovovich, Fergie, Lily Allen, Manu Katche, Bob Geldof, Youssou N'Dour, Yannick Noah, Jet Li, Suketu Metha, Amadou et Mariam, and more -- all framed by voiceovers from Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations and now a big league anti-poverty advocate, and Bishop Desmond Tutu.

"Climate change is the greatest humanitarian challenge facing mankind today. And it is a challenge that has a grave injustice at its heart," said Annan at an event today introducing the video, according to the campaign. "It is the major developed economies of the world which contribute the overwhelming majority of global greenhouse emissions. But it is the poorer and least developed nations that are hit hardest by its impact."

"This will be the first time ever that a musical petition has been created to demand decisive action from our world leaders. I believe it can become the Band Aid for the internet generation."

(Band Aid, for my younger readers, was a British/Irish supergroup recording in 1984 for famine relief in Ethiopia -- its single "Do They Know It's Christmas" features dozens of rock and pop luminaries using their fame for good, and hit the top of the charts that year.

The effort was not without its critics: "'I'm not afraid to say that I think Band Aid was diabolical. Or to say that I think Bob Geldof is a nauseating character," said Morrissey famously. "In the first instance the record itself was absolutely tuneless. One can have great concern for the people of Ethiopia, but it's another thing to inflict daily torture on the people of England. It was an awful record considering the mass of talent involved. And...it was the most self-righteous platform ever in the history of popular music.")

Does this re-make of the once-pounding song stir you up? Is it too earnest? Too vague? Or just right?

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