When Windmills Return

[bnewman]

The threat of climate change calls for a particular kind of hero...

lyrics by Benjamin Newman

ttto: "Man of La Mancha (I, Don Quixote)" by Joe Darion and Mitch Leigh

 

listen to this song

/ Am - G Am / - G E - / 1st / C G E7 - /

 

/ A - - - / F#m C#m E - / Am - - - / -G CEm7 Am - /

 

/ Am - - - / C E7 Am - /

 

When I lay down to sleep at the end of my quest

I put all dreams of glory aside

But I wake to a world that is still in distress

And a call that cannot be denied

 

For where giants once wandered, great dragons now smolder

The sky bleak and black with their smoke

Until no one remembers a sky without embers

And the world is beginning to choke

 

Shall I stand by and watch the world burn?

I shall not!  It is time I returned!

 

I see dragons reach out with their terrible claws

To devour the world's coal and oil

Then they lie on the beach belching fire without pause

Bringing vast iron kettles to boil

 

And they boil so much water, the world's grown much hotter

No sword can compel them to yield

I must call upon those who had once been my foes

O, giants, come take to the field!

 

They're windmills, not giants, you say?

Let the windmills charge into the fray!

 

Does the dragons' great strength fill the people with fright?

Do they say we are destined to lose?

Do they say only they can make power and light?

Well, I say that the people must choose!

 

Windmills do the same duty, but wind's much less sooty

Far cleaner than coal-fired steam!

If we only begin this, the windmills can win this

It's not an impossible dream!

 

Decide ye whose banner you'll fly:

Decide ye whose lightning you'll buy!

 

Now, I am not the only one sparing a thought

For the day when the dragons are trounced

But most folks turn away and they call us "quixotic"

When that's not how my name is pronounced!

 

I am I, Don Quixote, the lord of La Mancha!—

Or at least that's who I used to be

And I swear on my honor I'll master these monsters

And I ask you to fight them with me!

 

Don't stand by and watch the world burn!

Let the windmills rise up to return!