African litany

Chorus:

Impi! wo 'nans' impi iyeza

Obani bengathinta amabhubesi?

All along the river Chelmsford's army lay asleep

Come to crush the Children of Mageba

Come to exact the Realm's price for peace

And in the morning as they saddled up to ride

Their eyes shone with the fire and the steel

The General told them of the task that lay ahead

To bring the People of the Sky to heel

Chorus

Mud and sweat on polished leather

Warm rain seeping to the bone

They rode through the season's wet weather

Straining for a glimpse of the foe

Hopeless battalion destined to die

Broken by the Benders of Kings

Vainglorious General and Victorian pride

Would cost him and eight hundred men their lives

Chorus

They came to the side of the mountain

Scouts rode out to spy the land

Even as the Realm's soldiers lay resting

Mageba's forces were at hand

And by the evening the vultures were wheeling

Above the ruins where the fallen lay

An ancient song as old as the ashes

Echoed as Mageba's warriors marched away

Chorus

African sky blue, your children wait for the dawn

African sky blue, soon a new day will be born

African sky blue

African sky blue, will you bless my life?

African sunshine, soon you will warm your children's eyes

The African river water will dance and leap in your morning light

African sunshine

African river water, will you bless my life?

Oh will you bless my life?

Oh will you bless my life?

Oh will you bless my life?

What can I know?

What can I dream?

What can I hope?

What will the future bring?

You shine through me, but will you see me through?

African sky blue

African thunderstorm, your soldiers march through the air

The African rain will fall and wash away all my tears

African falling rain

African falling rain, will you bless my life?

Oh will you bless my life?

Oh will you bless my life?

Oh will you bless my life?

The warrior's now a worker and his war is underground

With cordite in the darkness he milks the bleeding veins of gold

When the smoking rockface murmurs, he always thinks of you

African sky blue, will you see him through?

Hum-oh-hum

Hum-oh-hum...

Sizofika nini

(when will we arrive)

Kuhomhlaba wakiti

(in this[our]world)

Awu ngiphe amandla, 'Nkosi yami

(give me strength, my Lord)

Ikusasa lethu

(our tomorrow)

Lisezandlern zayo

(is in your hands)

Awu siphe amandla, 'Nkosi yami

Inde indlela yase Jarusalema

(the clear road to Jerusalem)

Asazi sizofika nini

(we don't know when we'll arrive)

Abanye bayaduka

(others lose their way)

Thina ngeke silahleke

(we will never stray)

Sihamba nomSindisi

(we walk with the saviour)

Yebo noma kade ngihamba

(and even if I left long ago)

Ngeke ngilahle ithemba

(I will never lose my faith)

Ngihamba nomSindisi

(I walk with the Saviour)

Chorus

Jarusalema! Jarusalema!

Kunzima lomtwalo

(the heavy burden)

Jarusalema! Jarusalema!

Baningi baphela kulomgwago

(many have ended at your gates)

Yebo noma kade nighamba

Ngeke ngilahle ithemba

Ngihamba nomSindisi

Sihambe nomsindisi. umame nabosisi my mother, my sisters Nabobuti and my

brothers Umamazala, umalume My mother in law, uncle,

Chorus

Awu ngiphe amandla 'Nkosi yami! (4x)

Somandla! (4x)

Kuzo kube nini ngiphile lempilo? (repeat)

So'fika nini eJarusalema? (4x)

Bayakhala omame

(they are crying, my mothers)

Nabosisi, nabobuthi

(and my sisters, and my brothers)

Omamazala, omalume

(mothers in law, uncles)

Ogogo, nobabamkulu

(grandfathers and grandmothers)

Bathi: "Maye! Maye! Maye! Maye! Mayebabo!"

(They say "mayebabo" [a severe warning])

Trapped in a moment of history

You changed the world and the day was yours

Laughing sun flashing from your smile

Your beach-bronzed body braced against the wind

But you forgot the wheel keeps turning

And one day the dawn left you behind

And though I tried to love you

I really have to go

'Cause the world is leaving you behind

The world is leaving you behind

The world is leaving you behind

Chorus

I'll sing an African litany for you

An African litany for me

An African litany for you

And I hope we see these times through

I think this dream is going to end

The past is no longer your friend

Memory upon memory binds you into a timeless web

'Cause you forgot the wheel keeps turning

And one day the dawn left you behind

And now you're trapped there forever

Till the embers of that glowing day have died

Till the embers of that glowing day have died

Till the embers of that glowing day have died

Chorus African! Litany!

African! Litany!

I'll sing an African litany for you

Fare thee well and fond adieu

An African litany for me

I hope we see these times through

Baba, ngizwe isimanga, mina

Ngizwe isimanga

Baba, ngizwe isimanga, mina

Ngizwe isimanga

Isoka ladlala ngentombi, isoka (repeat)

Isoka alikhiphanga inkomo, isoka (repeat)

"I am bull-man-free, I am pelepele

I am enjeni-thaya, I am othomatiki

I am Shay'isibhagela, I am Khahlela

I am Khahlamba-moon, I am coming soon"

Chorus He spins his words and fashions his web

Hoping she will fall for him

But she turns and smiles and looks and beguiles

She was not born this morning

(repeat the verse)

Chorus

She's tired and she's bored with young macho lords

Desperately after her awnings

Bull-man-free has beautiful words

But she was not born this morning...

Ngiyesaba kwelamaBhaca, ngiyesaba

KwelamaBhaca, ngiyesaba (repeat)

Gijim'beke, kwelamaBhaca, gijim'beke

Chorus

Gijim'beke, kwelamaBhaca, gijim'beke

Wo-hum

Wo-hum-um

Wo-hum

Wo-hum-um

I want to look into the heart of the dancer

His movements have a magic mystery

They must have a message and a meaning

'Cause he's doing something to me

Please don't let the drum stop beating

I have to understand

How he dances our future and our destiny

And how we became part of this land

Chorus

Sizodlala! nani 'mabungu!

Sizodlala! nani 'mabungu, helele!

(repeat)

Dlala wemadlalingo...

Dlala wemadlalingoma (repeat)

Dlala wemadlalingo-yo-yo-yo

Dlala wemadlalingoma (repeat)

When you were just a witless child of wonder

He showed you the glory of his past

He weaved for you a dance of the thunder

That shook the mountains and the craglands

He dances the children playing in the rubble

He dances the hollow victory

He dances the powerful people ambushed by history

Chorus

The dance wants to dance the dancer

But the dancer wants to dance the dance

There's a war between the puppet and the master

Between the master and the puppet-dancer's heart

Have you seen the gunfire flash across the news in the night?

Have you seen the bedroom scene in the ballet?

Oh the dancing bear can't bear to dance much longer

And soon the puppet will be the dance's master

Soon the puppet will be the dance's master

Wemagith' ingoma!

Wemagith' ingoma!

There's a girl who lives in the high country

Where the willows do not weep

And the rain falls softly and gently

And does not disturb her sleep

There's a girl who lives in the high country

Who lives on tea and dreams

And I know that she does not love me

But she plays the game so well

"Sit by my side and tell me boy

Is the Milky Way that far? Is the universe really expanding?

Tell me who you are?"

I am a bondsman - a poor man

I am a ghettoman - I am a thief

Who saw the gutterman who has no compassion

Who heard the widow who cannot weep

In the backstreets, in the poor towns

I hear a thunder which cannot roll

Mine are the eyes that steal from the orphanage

A groveller, groping in the grime

Inside is a Congo-jungle-beast-lion-leopard-man

A tiger-man from Timbuktu

Even a lover-man strutting down the avenue

A winding river searching for the sea...

And she said that she understood me

She thought I was complex and sensitive

"Here" she said, "hold my hand,

And have a muffin!"

"Do you see the clouds boy?

Do you see the ship?

Do you see the duck?

Do you love me?"

Brick by brick the empire is crumbling

Stone by stone it cracks and folds

Dreams of phantoms plotting in the jungle

Vengeance in the elephant grass

Someone's been at the liquor cabinet

She's sure someone's been wearing her shoes

All around her chaos and anarchy

Light and reason overthrown

"I'm sure" she says, "they will attack the embassy,

Take me home, take me home!"

There's a wind that blows through the high country

Where the mansion used to stand

And it blows through the broken down garden

Where she once held my hand.

La, la, la, la...

An old lady walking down the dusty farm road

Looking for a simple home

She doesn't want anything extremely smart

And she doesn't need a telephone

She's the child of a refugee running from the Zulu war

Living from hand to mouth, dodging the wrong arm of the law

She's old and she's bent, her eyes can hardly see

And she's going home forever to Weenen County

Chorus

Uhamba njalo wemaShabala

Ukhumbula ku-phi?

Uhamba njalo wemaShabala

Ukhumbula ku-phi wena?

Ukhumbula ku-phi wena?

Uthwala 'nzima wemaShabalala

Iya-phi indlela?

Uthwala 'nzima wemaShabalala

Iya-phi indlela?

Izinto zomhlaba

Izinto zomhlaba

She's built more homes than fingers on her hands

A sharecropper's wife living on County Crown land

And then they wrested the harvest from the land and its lords

And when her man died she could cry no more tears

And she had lost everything that she ever had to lose

So she picks up her walking stick and puts on her car-tyre shoes

And she's walking in a dream listening for that special sound

The echo of the plough whip over Weenen County ground

"Weenen County you took my man" she says

"You took my home, you took my land

You left me all alone - now I'm coming home."

Weenen County in the springtime

Hadeda's on the wing

Blue morning

Blue morning

Repeat chorus and fade out

Zisho inggaba

Iyangala intombazane eShawela

Hawu! inyangala intombazana,

Womama! (repeat)

Ngeke kulunga mina

Ngiphuma leNatali, Thandiwe mama

Chorus

Hawu inyangala intombazana Womama

Mina ngiphuma leNatali, Thandiwe mama

(repeat)