Derek Mackie: My Generation's Wind Moment

I trust The Who would approve of this renewables-inspired version of their classic song, My Generation, critiquing the why, where, when and how of wind power. 

People try to put us …. down 

     Talkin’ ‘bout wind generation 

‘Cause we don’t always spin around 

    Un-pre-dict-able rotation 

Don’t work at all when it’s calm and c-c-cold 

    Useless in tough situations 

Know I’ll die before I get old 

    Low life expectancy duration 

That’s wind generation 

That’s wind generation, baby 

When the wind dies down we …… f-f-fade away 

    Power le-vels near starvation 

When it blows too hard we start to sway 

    Shut ‘em down or devastation 

Think you feel a weird s-s-sensation? 

    Buzzin’s causin' consternation 

That’s v-v-vibration from my generation 

    Qui-ver-ing with agitation 

That’s wind generation 

That’s wind generation, baby 

Emissions free, the Greenies c-c-claim 

    They bury facts in obfuscation 

But my tower, in part from coal it came

    Steel yourself for realisation 

Huge plastic blades, crude oil made me 

    Re-fined during fractionation 

Land-fill’s my final d-d-destiny 

    Add to Nature’s degradation 

That’s wind generation 

That’s wind generation, baby 

When my arms swing round, I …. h-h-hum along 

    Showing my coordination 

But not everyone gets to sing their song 

    Our feathered friends feel trepidation 

Saving the planet is the e-e-expectation 

    Scream ‘n’ shout in adoration 

Collateral damage? That’s bird decimation! 

    Best not disclose this information 

That’s wind generation 

That’s wind generation, baby 

My energy’s low d-d-density 

    Stuff-all power in isolation 

Need lots of me to keep the grid happy 

    A boom in min’ral exploitation 

But even then, when the wind don’t b-b-blow 

    Greens ignore this complication 

Coal, gas and nuclear have to run the show 

    Reliable trumps in-doc-trination 

That’s wind generation 

That’s wind generation, baby 

Wind - wind - wind generation 

  Short - short - life expectation 

    High - high - land utilisation 

      Poor resource optimisation 

        Eye - sore - bad visualisation 

Ooh, that’s wind generation 

That’s wind generation, baby 

Derek Mackie is a former geologist with a keen interest in current affairs and a penchant for satire.