Music Monday: Passion by 1 Giant Leap feat. Michael Franti

Music Monday is a meme that was created by Drew from The Tattooed Book Geek. Bjørn and I will pick a song alternatively on each Monday and share our thoughts about them. Bjørn’s pick this week is Passion by 1 Giant Leap feat. Michael Franti.

After leaving Faithless, Jamie Catto formed 1 Giant Leap with Duncan Bridgeman, and travelled to… Wikipedia for the rescue… ‘areas including Senegal, Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, India, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, America and Europe’. The two recorded videos and music with the statement ‘The Unity in the Diversity’. Both the resulting movie and the album are triumphs, and the guest list on the record is longer than my average review, so you can look it up yourself.

The lead single featured Jamie’s old pal Maxi Jazz (RIP) and, somewhat randomly, Robbie Williams. I think our Queen might just about swallow (not literally) a Pet Shop Boys b-side and a feature by Kylie Minogue, but suggesting Robbie Williams would get me banned. My favourite track from the album is ‘Passion’ anyway – with vocals by Michael Franti it’s a journey in itself, multilayered, rich, and criminally underrated. Maxi Jazz had a voice that made a shopping list sound like the epitome of cool, but if someone could ever replace him, I’d suggest either Morgan Freeman or Michael Franti.

Last night I went to sleep as a child
Only to wake up this morning and find out I was a man
In my hands I discovered the tools and the rage of my father
And in my heart I found the love and the fears of my mother

Confrontation between the night and the day
The land and the sea
The fire and the air
The sacred and the profane
The holy and the unholy
The focused and the misdirected
The bully and the flesh
The mind and the spirit
The sound and the air
The oppressor and the resister
The brother and the sister

We are not walking the ghosts of the dead
We are alive
With the spirit of our passion