The 1975 (Notes on a Conditional Form)

## *Notes on a Conditional Form* chronology

**"The 1975"** is a song by the 1975 from their fourth studio album, *Notes on a Conditional Form* (2020). The song was released on 24 July 2019, while included on the album as the opening track in May of the following year. The band's song "The 1975" has opened each of their albums and features the same lyrics and music with a different arrangement; however, this fourth version deviates entirely from previous versions and is distinguished as such by fans by the fan-title "The 1975 (NOACF)". This version uses an entirely new musical composition of piano, harp and orchestral flourishes and features environmental activist Greta Thunberg calling for civil disobedience and direct action, both personal and political, in response to climate change, in a modified version of her own speech "Our House Is on Fire" from the 2019 World Economic Forum.

## Background

*"We were talking about how we were going to do that statement—the same statement that we always make musically—and we wanted it to be us at our most modern. That first track always has to be us checking in. That got us into the conversation of what is the most modern statement, or who has the most modern statement, and Greta was the decision. I think it sounds like how a lot of us feel. There’s a lot of hope in it, but it’s quite a somber piece of music. It’s very 1975 in the way that it’s quite beautiful superficially but also quite sad, quite pretty but also quite ominous. Greta has a lot of reach, but I really wanted to see her exist formally in pop culture, not just as an anecdote of somebody."*
The band decided to focus on climate change and the ecological crisis. This iteration of "The 1975" features a spoken word from 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg as meeting her, according to Matty Healy, was "such an inspiration."

## Lyrics

Riktigt proffsigt att stryka lite grejer

Yeah

Yeah

Jag tänker det här, det hör inte riktigt hemma här

We are right now in the beginning of a climate and ecological crisis

And  we need to call it what it is

An  emergency

We must acknowledge that we do not have the situation under control

And  that we don't have all the solutions yet

Unless those solutions mean that we simply stop doing certain things

We must admit that we are losing this battle

We have to acknowledge that the older generations have failed

All  political movements in their present form have failed

But Homo sapiens have not yet failed

Yes, we are failing, but there is still time to turn everything around

We can still fix this

We still have everything in our own hands

But unless we recognise the overall failures of our current systems

We most probably don't stand a chance

We are facing a disaster of unspoken sufferings for enormous amounts of people

And now is not the time for speaking politely or focusing on what we can or cannot say

Now is the time to speak clearly

Solving the climate crisis is the greatest and most complex challenge that Homo sapiens have ever faced

The main solution, however, is so simple that even a small child can understand it

We have to stop our emissions of greenhouse gases

And either we do that, or we don't

You say that nothing in life is black or white

But that is a lie, a very dangerous lie

Either we prevent a 1.5 degree of warming, or we don't

Either we avoid setting off that irreversible chain reaction beyond human control, or we don't

Either we choose to go on as our civilization, or we don't

That is as black or white as it gets

Because there are no grey areas when it comes to survival

Now, we all have a choice

We can create transformational action that will safeguard the living conditions for future generations

Or we can continue with our business as usual and fail

That is up to you and me

And yes, we need a system change rather than individual change

But you cannot have one without the other

If you look through history

All the big changes in society have been started by people at the grassroots level

People like you and me

So, I ask you to please wake up and make the changes required possible

To do your best is no longer good enough

We must all do the seemingly impossible

Today, we use about 100 million barrels of oil every single day

There are no politics to change that

There are no rules to keep that oil in the ground

So, we can no longer save the world by playing by the rules

Because the rules have to be changed

Everything needs to change, and it has to start today

So, everyone out there, it is now time for civil disobedience

It is time to rebel

## Personnel

* **Published by:** Good Soldier Songs and Dirty Hit Songs ltd
* **Produced by:** George Daniel and Matthew Healy
* **Vocals:** Greta Thunberg
* **Keys:** George Daniel and Matthew Healy
* **Programming:** George Daniel
* **Strings:** George Daniel
* **Mixed by:** George Daniel
* **Mastered by:** Robin Schmidt
* **Engineered by:** Jonathan Gilmore

## References

1. ↑ https://music.apple.com/us/album/notes-on-a-conditional-form/1473599936