Runrig — Our Earth Was Once Green
Album: The Cutter And The ClanAvg rating:
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Total ratings: 310
Length: 3:55
Plays (last 30 days): 2
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Across the skies the monuments stand
Shrines of wonder, man worshipping man
Computer ethics mock a dying land
Down below like rats in a cage
Success, survival, two needles in hay
It's Romans One facing satan's stare
Pull down the forests we need more wood
Extend the grazing we need more food
Burning our bridges before the flood
Out on the oceans where it's relatively safe
It's not so easy being big as a whale
We're all in a race on a bigger scale
Homosapien, I've had enough
Homosapien, I'm giving up
At best your wisdom's a shot in the dark
So make yourself pretty, make yourself rich
Leopardskin, sealskin, money and sex
Apartheid, genocide, thalidomide, life
It's your choice
But mountains
Are holy places
And beauty is free
We can still walk
Through the garden
Our earth was once green
Shrines of wonder, man worshipping man
Computer ethics mock a dying land
Down below like rats in a cage
Success, survival, two needles in hay
It's Romans One facing satan's stare
Pull down the forests we need more wood
Extend the grazing we need more food
Burning our bridges before the flood
Out on the oceans where it's relatively safe
It's not so easy being big as a whale
We're all in a race on a bigger scale
Homosapien, I've had enough
Homosapien, I'm giving up
At best your wisdom's a shot in the dark
So make yourself pretty, make yourself rich
Leopardskin, sealskin, money and sex
Apartheid, genocide, thalidomide, life
It's your choice
But mountains
Are holy places
And beauty is free
We can still walk
Through the garden
Our earth was once green
Comments (41)add comment
Another band no one around me knows, where I own at least one of their albums. This is why I love RP. Found Runrig on a trip to Scotland in the 90s and enjoyed them until they disbanded. This isn't their best song, but still enjoyable.
So they are Scottish. That explains why they have a Big Country kind of sound, or the other way around.
Sounds like Big Country. And a prophet. Our Earth was Once Green. They sang. 31 years ago. Little Did They Know.
ScottishWillie wrote:
Which does much to explain the beggared state of Scotland.
This band are a Scottish institution!
Which does much to explain the beggared state of Scotland.
This band are a Scottish institution!
igwanna wrote:
It amaaaaazes me how often Americans relate (European) music to Hollywood productions.
This sounds like an intro song for a TV series - much like playing the Battlestar Galactica intro song here - but with more Cheese.
It amaaaaazes me how often Americans relate (European) music to Hollywood productions.
Would be good to hear some more First Nations artists on RP, particularly in these days of TRC.
Not a Runrig song I particularly like but it makes me happy to hear something by them at all on RP.
Trite and waaaay overproduced. Drivel like this just embarrasses the serious environmentalists.
This sounds like an intro song for a TV series - much like playing the Battlestar Galactica intro song here - but with more Cheese.
Think this is the first Runrig song I've heard on RP. I'd love to hear Siol Ghoraidh.
wtango wrote:
Agreed - especially w/ Boylan Heights. An interesting North Carolina - Scotland sound link of the times.
I like it.
Reminds me of The Connells.
Reminds me of The Connells.
Agreed - especially w/ Boylan Heights. An interesting North Carolina - Scotland sound link of the times.
Carl wrote:
Runrig were formed in 1973, so I think if anything Future Islands would be Runrig-ish.
Love Runrig, but they gave one of the worst gigs we have ever been to.
I think it was the crowd, no reaction nothing for the band to feed off IMO.
2 weeks later same venue for Richard Thompson and that was excellent.
Future Islands-ish. Nice, in a quirky sort of way.
Runrig were formed in 1973, so I think if anything Future Islands would be Runrig-ish.
Love Runrig, but they gave one of the worst gigs we have ever been to.
I think it was the crowd, no reaction nothing for the band to feed off IMO.
2 weeks later same venue for Richard Thompson and that was excellent.
Future Islands-ish. Nice, in a quirky sort of way.
I like it.
Reminds me of The Connells.
Reminds me of The Connells.
ppak wrote:
not Napoleon, Bonaparte!
Runrig and TMTCH are both milestones in my post teen musical journey. Great rehear.
Reminds me of The Men They Couldn't Hang - Waiting for Napolean - cut'em some slack here!
not Napoleon, Bonaparte!
Runrig and TMTCH are both milestones in my post teen musical journey. Great rehear.
And I will walk five-hundred miles and I will walk five hundred more.
I'm just sayin'!
I'm just sayin'!
A nice surprise to hear our favourite band on RP.
A very nice to surprise to hear Runrig. Bring on more Scots.
Mardler wrote:
Seconded. I'd love to hear more Runrig on RP, particularly some of the famous Gaelic language tracks such as Sìol Goraidh. They really capture the spirit and culture of modern, inclusive, progressive Scotland, and particularly of the Gàidhealtachd. Siùthad, Bill!
As a connection to those across The Pond, the current lead singer, Bruce Guthro, is from Cape Breton in Canada, an area of Highland diaspora where the Gaelic language is still used (indeed, I was once taught the lingo by a young woman from Nova Scotia).
Thanks for playing Runrig, Bill.
Comparisons with e.g. Big Country are odious as they're poles apart in what they do. (Love Big Country, too.)
Runrig celebrated their 40th anniversary last August at a wonderful gig at the Black Isle Showground near Inverness: we were there.
Keep up the good work!
Comparisons with e.g. Big Country are odious as they're poles apart in what they do. (Love Big Country, too.)
Runrig celebrated their 40th anniversary last August at a wonderful gig at the Black Isle Showground near Inverness: we were there.
Keep up the good work!
Seconded. I'd love to hear more Runrig on RP, particularly some of the famous Gaelic language tracks such as Sìol Goraidh. They really capture the spirit and culture of modern, inclusive, progressive Scotland, and particularly of the Gàidhealtachd. Siùthad, Bill!
As a connection to those across The Pond, the current lead singer, Bruce Guthro, is from Cape Breton in Canada, an area of Highland diaspora where the Gaelic language is still used (indeed, I was once taught the lingo by a young woman from Nova Scotia).
Thanks for playing Runrig, Bill.
Comparisons with e.g. Big Country are odious as they're poles apart in what they do. (Love Big Country, too.)
Runrig celebrated their 40th anniversary last August at a wonderful gig at the Black Isle Showground near Inverness: we were there.
Keep up the good work!
Comparisons with e.g. Big Country are odious as they're poles apart in what they do. (Love Big Country, too.)
Runrig celebrated their 40th anniversary last August at a wonderful gig at the Black Isle Showground near Inverness: we were there.
Keep up the good work!
rdo wrote:
Ha ha rdo! Touché
cohifi wrote:
Like is so subjective, isn't it?
It depends on your point of view.
Like is so subjective, isn't it?
It depends on your point of view.
Ha ha rdo! Touché
Wow Bill I haven't heard this since 1987 when I was visiting the Isle of Skye. Thanks for the memories!
cohifi wrote:
Like is so subjective, isn't it?
It depends on your point of view.
Like is so subjective, isn't it?
It depends on your point of view.
hippiechick wrote:
Like is so subjective, isn't it?
An unusual sound. Not sure if I lke it or not.
Like is so subjective, isn't it?
OMG I love the tribal thing.
I remember the 80s rather well, and this instantly sounded 80s, but yet I'd never ever heard it before. I guess that's what happens when you grow up in a heavy metal town.
Overall, I don't mind this.
I remember the 80s rather well, and this instantly sounded 80s, but yet I'd never ever heard it before. I guess that's what happens when you grow up in a heavy metal town.
Overall, I don't mind this.
Thoughtful lyrics.
Sounds like Guadalcanal Diary — Trail Of Tears only with different words..
A bad version of Big Country.
Bill, I totally respect your comment about this song "not getting a lot of love" from RP listeners, "but I like it." I wasn't really blown away by it, but as I've said elsewhere, some of this is why I prefer RP to autobots like Pandora. Call me old school, but I like having someone "curate" my music, because sometimes I've grown to like things that I didn't like.
If I'm going to listen to mid-eighties agit-rock I'd much rather be listening to Midnight Oil.
it sounds like german Hitparade to me, but in english..
...
..
can live without it.. for sure.
:-)
...
..
can live without it.. for sure.
:-)
Reminds me of The Men They Couldn't Hang - Waiting for Napolean - cut'em some slack here!
timo-l wrote:
bump
If my nine-year-old wrote these lyrics, I would mount them on my refrigerator only out of love and duty. Their hearts are in the right place, so I hate to be harsh, but the earnest banality of this song is painful.
bump
timo-l wrote:
I can't be more concise, so... erm...
...ditto.
If my nine-year-old wrote these lyrics, I would mount them on my refrigerator only out of love and duty. Their hearts are in the right place, so I hate to be harsh, but the earnest banality of this song is painful.
I can't be more concise, so... erm...
...ditto.
I kept feeling like I was about to like it and then...well..didn't so much.
If my nine-year-old wrote these lyrics, I would mount them on my refrigerator only out of love and duty. Their hearts are in the right place, so I hate to be harsh, but the earnest banality of this song is painful.
Caught it, but was in the middle of something else...but I noticed it was new!
I used to be a big fan of them. A bit too bombastic for my taste now, but still nice to hear once in a while.
hippiechick wrote:
I thought it different which is partly why I liked it as well as it was kinda spacey.
An unusual sound. Not sure if I lke it or not.
I thought it different which is partly why I liked it as well as it was kinda spacey.
An unusual sound. Not sure if I lke it or not.