No Sir, we will not… (für Greta Thunberg) (2018/19)
for girls' choir
Text collage Iris ter Schiphorst
Duration: 7 min.
Kompositions-Auftrag der Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover, finanziert durch die Ernst von Siemens Musik-Stiftung
WP: UA: 19.5. 2019 Hannover, Hochschule, Festival ‚Unter dem Radar’Hanover Girls' Choir, conducted by Gudrun Schröfel and Andreas Felber
Performance material available from Boosey & Hawkes
Textcollage: Iris ter Schiphorst (u.a. aus Reden von Greta Thunberg)
Intro:
Here we are, melted carefully down for,
exquisite and as real as a cast iron pot.
1. Stophe:
No SIR, we will not,
humble ourselves with the fly
buzzing like the mother of the engine
No SIR, we will not rejoice with the goldfish
for it swallows the sunset from its little glass bowl
No SIR, we will not come forth with an exit sign
so that all those entering will know the way out.
Zwischenteil
Nicht der
Nicht der
Nicht Kinder
Nicht
Messer Gabel Schere Licht dürfen kleine Kinder nicht
Messer Gabel Schere Licht dürfen kleine Kinder nicht
Messer Gabel Schere Licht dürfen kleine Kinder nicht
Wer A sagt muss auch B sagen?
Wer nicht hören will, muss fühlen?
It takes two to Tango?
auf Deutsch: es gehören immer zwei dazu?
No Sir!
Refrain:
you are behaving like children
you are behaving like mad
you are behaving like children
because the most important facts
mean nothing to you
you are behaving like children
you are behaving like mad
you are behaving like children
because the most important facts oh Sir
mean nothing to you No!
2.Strophe
No Sir, we have not
come here to beg you to care for our future.
No Sir, youhave ignored us in the past and you will ignore us again.
No Sir, we will not ask you anything, anymore.
No Sir, youhave ignored us in the past and you will ignore us again.
Zwischenteil
Nicht der
Nicht Kinder
Nicht
Messer Gabel Schere Licht dürfen kleine Kinder nicht
Messer Gabel Schere Licht dürfen kleine Kinder nicht
Messer Gabel Schere Licht dürfen kleine Kinder nicht
Wer A sagt muss auch B sagen?
Wer nicht hören will, muss fühlen?
It takes two to Tango?
auf Deutsch: es gehören immer zwei dazu?
No Sir!
Refrain:
You are behaving like children
you are behaving like mad
you are behaving like children
because the most important facts
mean nothing to you
you are behaving like children
you are behaving like mad
you are behaving like children
because the most important facts
mean nothing to you
You say you love your children above all else.
yet you are stealing our futures right before our very eyes.
Zwischenteil
Messer Gabel Schere Licht dürfen kleine Kinder nicht
There is no time, Sir, for your madness,
No time!
Coda
Change is coming, wether you like it or not!
Reviews
Hannoversche Allgemeine, 21 June 2019, Juliana Moghimi
"The biggest surprise in the programme of the concert evening was "No Sir, we will not" by Iris ter Schiphorst, written especially for the Mädchenchor Hannover and dedicated to climate activist Greta Thunberg. The Hamburg composer set individual concise English sentences from her speeches to music, skilfully countered them with hollow German phrases and accompanied the whole thing with the cooing of pigeons and ticking of clocks. The result is a ludicrous piece of musical climate politics, and the girls clearly had fun accusing the audience of the childish ignorance of the adult world."