Our "Beds Are Burning" Again, Thanks to Global Warming. Hear the New Song

Midnight Oil's inspiring anthem launches a new climate change campaign, with support from 60+ major world stars.

October 1, 2009 at 12:07PM by Brian Clark Howard | comment

The time has come to take a stand, it's for the Earth, it's for our land.
The time has come, a fact's a fact.
The heat is on, no turning back.
How can we dance while our Earth is turning?
How can do sleep while our beds are burning?

The 1987 eco- and socially conscious-anthem "Beds Are Burning" is back, with lyrics updated by Australian rockers Midnight Oil. This time the focus is on global climate change, and the artists are backed up by a dream team of 60+ international music and entertainment stars. The reworked song is being released by Kofi Annan's Global Humanitarian Forum, with support from Melanie Laurent (star of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds) and David Jones (Global CEO, Havas Worldwide).

The song and new video are being promoted as a kind of musical petition "to demand climate justice at the UN’s Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in December." The promoters also hope the song will become the soundtrack of the Climate Justice movement, which is about linking the dangers of global warming and those who will be most affected, namely the world's poor.

This version of ‘Beds Are Burning’ was produced by The:Hours, and is to be made available on all major music download platforms for free. (Also available on the campaign’s own website. Every download is to be considered 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." Already, more than 1.3 million people have signed up to the campaign.

Artists involved (many appearing in the upbeat video) include Duran Duran, the Scorpions, Amadou and Mariam, Andre, Brazilian Girls, Mark Ronson, Jamie Cullum, Melanie Laurent, Marion Cotillard, Milla Jovovich, Fergie, Lily Allen, Manu Katche, Bob Geldof, Youssou N’Dour, Yannick Noah and many more.

I've always loved "Beds Are Burning." It's an inspiring, danceable, catchy song about remembrance, unity and the search for a better way forward. We need all those things and more to address the global threat of climate change.