Emergency on Planet Earth

Emergency on Planet Earth is the debut album from the band Jamiroquai. The band consists of Jay Kay (vocals), Toby Smith (keyboardist), Stuart Zender (bassist), Nick van Gelder (drums), Wallis Buchanan (didgeridoo), and producer Mike Nielsen. The album is specifically an acid jazz and funk album, the mix of the two creating a unique yet energetic sound.

1. When You Gonna Learn? 

“When You Gonna Learn?” starts the album off with a didgeridoo before breaking into a calm, steady beat. I believe that the song talks about the circumstances of Earth and how global warming is slowly killing us. I interpret the lyrics, “People right across the world/ Are pledging they will play the game/ Victims of a modern world” as people pledging that they are trying to save the world (playing the game) when in reality they're too late. The song continues with how, “Circumstance has brought us here/ Armageddon's come too near/ too too near, now.” I believe that the circumstances mentioned are talking about how easily the world has accepted pollution as a viable answer to getting rid of waste. Being left with the massive problem of a dying planet, like how Armageddon would be. The reason I further believe this is reinforced by the lyrics, “Foresight is the only key/ To save our children's destiny.” How in foresight dumping mass amounts of waste into the earth isn't a good idea, and how we have to come up with a way to unite as people and save the next generations before it's too late: “So, my friends, to stop the end/ On each other, we depend/ Oh, we depend.” The second verse strengthens my thoughts as the lyrics ring out “Cause there's no fish left in the sea/ Greedy men been killing all the life there ever was/ Oh, you've upset the balance, man/ Done the only thing you can/ Now my life is in your hands” telling how greedy business men are killing the nature around us and how only they can help us with their money and influence if they were to stop their greedy ways. 

2. Too Young To Die  

The next song is an anti-war song talking about how the author doesn't want to lose the people around him as well as his own life: “Everybody/ Don't want no war, no/ No, no, no/ We're too young to die/ Too young to die…So many people/ All around the world, yeah/ All around the world/ Seen their brothers fry/ I seen your brother fry.” He explains the harsh reality of losing people in war, followed by “So politicians better keep your distance,” outlining how specifically in war it is usually the politicians who force others to fight, so they don't have to do anything. “Little children/ Never said a word, now/ You know they never said a word/ Still they have to die.” This continues the anti-war message with the very unfortunate but true reality of kids being stuck in the crosshairs of war when they shouldn't even be close to war. 

3. Hooked Up

 “Hooked up” immediately talks about the usage of drugs and the lead singer talks to the audience as if they're an old friend, “I'm so glad I got you hooked up on my drugs/ Everybody, sings to the music/ Ha, are you feeling well, now you've caught this bug?/ Everybody dance to the music.” The “bug” he refers to is either getting high off the drugs or it could be the feeling of addiction to drugs. “It can seem to have no relevance/ Bet you wish you'd danced to the music/ What you'll want to do is kill yourself/ So you don't dance to the music.” I believe that the phrase “dance to the music” is another way of saying to give in to your addiction. “I can look at you/ And hear you scream/ Come on dance to the music/ And you'll tell me that your needle's clean/ Ah, come on dance, dance.”

4. If I Like It, I Do It

This next track has a standard message of wanting to break rules and be free from conformity: “If it ain't the thing you like / Know your place and fit your space/ young man you will conform/ I didn't hear my soul express those rules when I was born.” Furthermore, I believe the song talks about the restraints and laws that people put onto others. The song talks more about this rebellion with “The kids want the system breaking down/ Not higher education/ If it ain't no natural law.” The track continues talking about the need to stop laws in order to live as free as possible, “You've got to help those people break that legislation/ We can overcome this suffocation/ Execute your natural liberation/ Happy to enjoy rejuvenation/ All around hear the sound/ No one can stop us now/ A thousand rules for plastic fools.” “If I Like It, I Do It,” in summary, is about doing whatever you want, with the message being that rules can be restrictive when it comes to certain things.

5. Music of the Mind

 This next song is simply an instrumental, showing off what the band is capable of even without Jay Kay leading the group. The song starts off very calm and smooth with this mystical feel to the music. Suddenly, the song amps up and the tempo of the song rises, giving the same vibe as last time except with a more funky tone. The song sounds like a track ripped from one of the Mario Kart games with its fast-paced and bouncy tone. The song ends with the instruments finally slowing down before slowly being turned all the way down. 

6. Emergency on Planet Earth

The title track of the album starts off with a calm and otherworldly vibe before breaking into that groove sound that's been relevant on the album. The lyrics talk about the huge problem on earth when it comes to everything as a whole: “The kids need education/ And the streets are never clean.” The problems are of some kids not getting the proper education needed and they are severely disadvantaged in life,  as well as the problem of pollution. “Is that life that I am witnessing/ Or just another wasted birth?” These lyrics talk about how every everytime new life is created, there's no certainty to whether or not they will have the chance to succeed or be a “waste.” The lyrics go on to talk about the injustice we have in our society and how some people advocate for it without realizing how bad the system really is, “Think we're standing for injustice/ White gets two and black gets five years/ Took me quite a while to suss this/ But now I know my head is cleared.” When the lyrics describe how “White gets two and black gets five years,” this obviously is about how our society has deeply embedded racism, as people who are not white are immediately disadvantaged in the court of law. While people who are white can get nothing compared to 5 years or just a slap on the wrist for breaking the same law. “And a little boy in a hungry land/ Is just a picture in the news/ Change shoe/ Won't see him in the TV advertising/ Cause it might put you off your food.” The lyrics further describe the problems of starvation across the world. Specifically, how starving children are so common to see and so normalized, where it's “just an image” to people not in that situation. Then the lyrics go on to tell how we don't see it on more TV advertising because of how it will “put you off your food.” This mentality of ignoring a huge issue for the sake of not wanting to think about it is what puts this system of obliviousness into place.

7. Whatever It Is, I Just Can’t Stop

This song in whole talks about the problems of addiction: “If I pick it up I can put it down/ Whatever it is I just can't stop …/ Now I got a choice but I can't choose/ Insistent as you are, is no guarantee that you'll go far/ Rock steady if you can/ But I've never been a steady man/ People, want to shoot you down.” The lyrics clearly show how, no matter what, the person in this story can't relinquish this addiction and how he's trapped with it. The lyrics acknowledge the fact that the person in the story isn't going to get far, but still he succumbs to his addiction. He stays with it because it keeps him “Rock Steady.” The lyrics after this quote show that this person has been through a lot mentally due to past experiences. Continuing on, when some people hear that someone has an addiction, they often look down on them and treat them as inferior just because someone has a problem. I believe that the song talks about addiction as well as the side effects to not enabling this addiction: “If you can't swim then you will drown/ In sorrow, can't get any medical attention till tomorrow.” The person in the story will drown in sorrow if they aren't able to enable their addiction, and will start having withdrawals with no one to help because of how any access to medical attention is not available.

8. Blow Your Mind

This track is the second-longest track on the album, but this specific song doesn't have too many lyrics. The lyrics describe the love that someone has for their companion. The love song is very simple but still very meaningful: “Ohh, oh, yeah/ Don't you know/ That you blow my mind/ Honey, you're sweeter/Than anything, I need you/ Want to get closer to you, to you/ I want to get closer to you now.”

9. Revolution 1993

This is the longest track on the album, being about 10 minutes long. The song talks about the fact that in order to get change in the world, we need to start a revolution against those higher up and those in power. Specifically, that we can't wait for an outside force to help us, and that we are on our own. “Yes you've got to stand up, stay strong, start moving in the right direction/ Don't wait too long, for people promising divine intervention/ Nineteen nine three, now I'm taking matters into my own hands/ So fast (so fast), I can't see (can’t see), a revolution is the only way we can change, change, change/ I want to fight the power.” The next part of the song continues this notion, describing how young kids are starting to be associated with gun crimes because of cocaine. The song proceeds to talk about how there are more war zones rather than no homes. “Well, it's hard times, white lines, kids of nine getting down with gun crime/ War zones, no homes.” The song also describes how politicians don't do anything besides smile at cameras and shake hands, making deals but never benefiting those in unfortunate circumstances. As well as how, in poorer communities, children have to sell drugs to earn money because of the lack of jobs. “Question, answer, shake your hand and smile for the camera/ But it's no good you should spend time in your neighborhood/ Where black kids, white kids/ Now you're working overtime to be a crack kid/ No job, no cash a revolution is the only way we can change, change, change.” All in all, this song is directed towards wanting to make a change, but feeling useless unless we unify and put power back into the people's hands.

10. Didgin’ Out

This is the last track of the album, and it includes a steady and calm beat with the sound of a didgeridoo playing overtop. The mix of these instruments is interesting work very well as it adds a contrast of sound.

Summary:

 Emergency on Planet Earth is a masterpiece when it comes to almost every aspect. The use of instruments to create an other worldly funk sound is almost hypnotising in my opinion, as well as the upbeat and groovy nature of a lot of the songs. Overall, the album had me encapsulated and pleasantly surprised with how political the lyrics are in a funk album. The lyrics are all still very relevant to this day, and very worth listening to as they are masterfully written with good intentions behind them. The album itself, I believe, is a political commentary on how we as a people are all failing as humans and how we must unite in order to get the better circumstances we deserve. We have pollution killing our planet, politicians sending people off into a war that no one wants to fight, topics of racism, as well as topics of drugs and addiction. This album has quickly become one of my favorite albums because of how well the instruments work together and how the lyrics are very real and not just nonsense.