Cruel crazy beautiful world

Bayeza abafana bancane wema

Bayeza abafana bancane wema

Baphethe iqwasha, baphethe ibazooka

Bathi "Sangena savuma thina,

Lapha abazange bengena abazali bethu

Nabadala, bayasikhalela thina ngoba asina voti."



(The young boys are coming,

the young boys are coming.

They carry homemade weapons and a bazooka.

They say "We have agreed to enter a place

that has never been entered before

by our parents or our ancestors

and they cry for us, for we do not have the right to vote.)



Hayiyaah!



The west is sleeping in a fragile freedom

Forgotten is the price that was paid

Ten thousand years of marching through a veil of tears

To break a few links in these chains

These things come to us by way of much pain

Don't let us slip back into the dark

On a visible but distant shore -- a new image of man

The shape of his own future, now in his own hands -- he says:



Chorus:

One 'man, one vote -- step into the future

One 'man, one vote -- in a unitary state

One 'man, one vote -- tell them when you see them

One 'man, one vote -- it's the only way



Bayeza abafana abancane

(The young boys are coming)



Hayiyaah!



In the east a giant is awakening

And in the south we feel the rising tide

The soul inside the spark that gives breath to your life

Can no longer be made to hide

These things come to us by way of much pain

Don't let us slip back into the dark

On a visible but distant shore -- a new image of man

The shape of his own future, now in his own hands -- he says:



Chorus

You have to wash with the crocodile in the river

You have to swim with the sharks in the sea

You have to live with the crooked politician

Trush those things that you can never see

Ayeye ayeye jesse mfana (jesse boy) ayeye ayeye



Chorus:

It's a cruel crazy beautiful world

Every time you wake up I hope it's under a blue sky

It's a cruel crazy beautiful world

One day when you wake up I will have to say goodbye

Goodbye -- It's your world so live in it!



Beyond the door, strange cruel beautiful years lie waiting for you

It kills me to know you won't escape loneliness,

Maybe you lose hope too

Ayeye ayeye jesse mfana ayeye ayeye



Chorus



When I feel your small body close to mine

I feel weak and strong at the same time

So few years to give you wings to fly

Show you the stars to guide your ship by



Chorus



It's your world so live in it

You are a dreamer of dreams walking a lonely shore

Dream if you will but remember there are iron laws

However much you seek to solve this mystery

No one ignores the iron vice of history

All those gone before dreamed to escape

They tried to fly over the palisades



Chorus:

Standing at the gates

This is Jericho

And the walls reach up to the stars

And outside we were singing psalms

Such a strange, strange place

For we are the prisoners

Of the prisoners we have taken

And the prophets' dreams are now forsaken



Sing me the songs of a world that I once knew

Recall the legends once so proud and true

My people used to live here not so long ago

But they fled into the night and I was left alone

I guard these walls for you and me

Dream on, sail on my memory



Chorus

One day I looked up and there you stood

Like a simple question looking for an answer

Now I am a whale listening to some inner call

Swimming blindly to throw myself upon your shores

But what if I don't find when I have landed

Would you leave me here to die on your shores stranded?

I think I know why the dog howls at the moon.

I think I know why the dog howls at the moon.



I say:

"Dela! Dela! Ngiyadela!

(Content, content I am content)

When I am with you!

Dela! Sondela mama!

(Closer, closer, come closer mama)

I burn for you!



Chorus:

I've been waiting for you all my life -- waiting for a miracle

I've been waiting day and night -- waiting for redemption

I burn for you



A blind bird sings inside the cage that is my heart

And the image of your face comes to me when I'm alone in the dark

If I could give a shape to this ache that I have for you

If I could find the voice that says the words that capture you

I think I know, I think I know

I think I know why the dog howls at the moon.



I say:

"Dela! Dela! Ngiyadela!

(Content, content I am content)

When I am with you!

Dela! Sondela mama!

(Closer, closer, come closer mama)

I burn for you!



Chorus

Hawu baba ngashada intombi yami esikolweni emoliva

(Oh father I married my girl at the school on Mooi River)

Kwashunqa uthuli kwandlovu madoda silwela lobuhle

(The dust was rising with all the preparations at Ndlovu's home)

Usipho wakipha izinkomo ezamalobolo ezinamasondo

(Sipho paid the bride price with a motor car)

Wadlala umukwa wami, wadlala engalindile

(And my father-in-law performed an unexpected war dance

on the spur of the moment)

Wadlala umukwa wami engalindile kwakhikhiza abafazi

(My father-in-law performed an unexpected war dance

and the women encouraged him with shrill cries)

Ngisho izulu eliphezulu lalihleka kancane

(Even the Heaven above - i.e. the Zulu King - gave a small laugh)

'Zulu eliphezulu lalikhona lalihleka kancane

(The Heaven above was present and he gave a small laugh)

Emoliva, emoliva

(At Mooi River)



Chorus:

Yamnandi lendaba ngaze ngashada emoliva ngiyabonga webanguni

(It was a wonderful event, for I eventually got married at Mooi River

and I thank you people of the chunu clan)

Ngaze ngashada ngaze ngathola nowami

(I eventually got married, I eventually even got my own wife)



Wemzila wangincelisa amasiko ngaze ngaba wumuthu

(Mzila! you suckled me on the traditions and customs

of the Zulu and I became a person)

Hawu wemakhabela nangikhulisa ngaze ngaba wumuthu

(Oh you people from Makhabeleni you raised me until I became a person)

Kungathiwani ngani banguni nahlanganisa zonke izizwe

(And what can be said about you, Machunu people,

for you brought together all the nations)

Nahlanganisa zonke izizwe ubesehlulekile ubotha

(You brought all the nations together,

Botha long having failed to do this)

Nahlanganisa zonke izizwe ngobuhle ubesehlulekile ubotha

(You brought all the nations together in good spirit,

Botha having long failed)

Emoliva

(At Mooi River)



Chorus



(Here I call out the praise names of various people who have been

important in my life, most of whom were present at my marriage)



Chorus

Hum mmm oh, hum mm oh yehum



It's an illusion!



Once again my wings on fire

Flapping round your deadly flames

Walking on the old high wire

Trying to keep myself away

You come walking down your marble stairs

Throwing back your yellow hair

And I want you and I need you

But every time you let me near

You leave me feeling such sweet despair

'Going to keep away, keep away



Chorus:

It's an illusion

To think I can keep away from you

It's an illusion

Like eskimoes in Mogadishu

It's an illusion

This state of independence I'm in

It's an illusion

Like polar bears in Berlin



When I feel happy, you feel deep

You always go out when I want to sleep

Fire, water, sun and rain

War and peace and night and day

Who can understand

Love's magic incompatibilities?

Going to keep away, keep away



Chorus:

It's an illusion

It's just a cheap masquerade

It's an illusion

Hiding this love I can't evade

It's an illusion

Can't you see through the camouflage?

It's an illusion

Without you life is a mirage



I'm a foot without a shoe, I'm the fuzz without a clue

I'm a ship without a crew, I'm lost without you

One and one that can't make two, carrots looking for some stew

A lawyer with no one to sue, I'm lost without you

I'm the sky that's lost its blue, I'm the beer that just won't brew

I'm a stamp that has no glue, I'm lost without you

A hound with no fox to pursue, I'm a cat that's lost its mew

A star without an interview, I'm lost without you

It was a day or so ago

I saw him run into the night



And on his face, more than a trace

Of wild fear in the eye

He was haunted by a tragic dream

Of people in death machines

And he did not know which side he was on

And he hated being in between oh



Chorus:

Bombs away, bombs away

Sign of the times -- watch where you're going

What will you do -- see you if I free you

Into the night -- feel the fear

Do you know your left from your right?



He's tired of the lies

He's tired of the truth

They never give him what they say

He's tired of the fight

He's tired of the truce

The blackmail of judgement day

He believes in a magic wave

That rolls on the sea of time

That can touch every single human soul

If they could recognize it when it came -- too late



Chorus



Ye hum oh ye hum we mame, bathini? ngingenzani?

(What do they say? What can I do?)



Into the night -- feel the fear

It's so near -- look over your shoulder

Turn to the left -- turn to the right

At any time it can appear

Here we stand on the edge of the day

Faces melting in the african rain

So many seasons of silent war

So many drowned before they reached the shore

Nothing is clear to me any more in this sad and strange landscape

I've got no defense, I've got no attack

I can't leave, I can't stay and I've got no way back

Hard to deal with the way things have been

I can't lie but the truth is so extreme



Chorus:

Woman be my country, 'till my country can be mine

Hide me deep inside your borders in these dark and troubled times

Remember me my innocence before I drowned in the sea of lies

Woman be my country, 'till my country can be mine



Too many seasons of quiet rage

Too many young people just wasted away

Too many futures hanging in the balance

Too much owing nothing left to pay

A lonely flag flutters in the breeze

for the hardened hearts who still want to believe

Am I the witness or am I the crime

A victim of history or just a sign of the times

Across my heart questions and shadows still fly

But in the dead of the night I know where the answer lies



Chorus:

Woman be my country, 'till my country can be mine

I have no flag, I sing no anthem, I no longer carry an armalite

Bathe me in you sweet rivers, anoint me with your touch and your smile

To your colours I give my allegiance, I lay it on the line



Ngikhathele ngifile wena weqat' izwe

(I am dead tired of you who causes friction in the land)

Ngikhathele ngifile zindaba zakho

(I am dead tired of you, and your matters)

Yash' imizi yobada

(The homes of my fathers are burning)



Chorus

Chorus:

You are the rolling ocean

You are the mighty sea

You are the breath that brings each new day to me

You are what you are, you are

You be what you are, you be what you are



Some came to conquer

Some came to understand

Some came to live their lives as best they can

Me, I looked up at the stars to find my way

But I was young and I got them mixed up

And so forgot my name

As I tried to remember you were standing next to me

While other came seeking power

You, you had come to set them free



Chorus



Women of salt and earth

They tell the same story

They saw you walking wounded

Wearing rags of glory

And when you rejoiced they saw you smiling at your rejoicing

When you wept they saw you smiling at your weeping

When you smiled they saw you smiling at your smiling

And you said "That's the way I've survived these years of dust and

blood."



Chorus



Suffer little children

Suffer sister, brother too

Suffer mother, father

That's all the world can promise you

In our hearts we feel it

A mighty dream is coming true

Hold on and we'll dream it

Keep it up we're going to push it through

Don't give it up, don't give it up

Amambuka, amambuka azothengisa izwe lakithi, izwe lakithi

(The betrayers, the betrayers will sell our land, our land)



He was taken in the night

They came without any warning

No time to hide or fight

They came like bees aswarming

The questions start to fly

Will he break or will he defy?

Can he withstand the worst that is to come?

A child in a man's clothing

Resisting the fascist' ploy

The underground puts iron in the heart of any boy

Swimming in a sea of pain, he knows this is the end

He hears himself whisper the name of his best friend



Chorus:

I never betrayed you, and I never betrayed the revolution

I just didn't want to die alone, I needed you to see me home

And if I could save you, and if I could find a solution

I would die a thousand times, to get you out of here



Sharing the same cold cell

Betrayer and betrayed

An island with two frightened castaways

Not a word is spoken,

How can he explain?

Through swollen eyes they watch the dawn's first rays

It's all over now

They stand backs to the wall

Waiting for the fascist's sword to fall

In the desperation of a young life about to end

He turns before the bullet

And forgives a friend



Chorus

UMFOWETHU UYAHLUPHA -

ANGAZI IMPELA UKUTHI UQONDA UKWENZANI

( My brother bothers me -

I really don't know what he's up to )

UMFOWETHU UYAHLUPHA -

UKHULUMA IZINTO ENGINGAZAZI

( My brother bothers me -

he speaks of things I have never heard )

UMFOWETHU UYAHLUPHA -

WENZA SANGATHI UYAINGINGCOKOLELA

( My brother bothers me -

its as if he is trying to put me down)

UMFOWETHU UYAHLUPHA -

MAKA YEKE UKUNGIKHULUMELA KABI

( My brother bothers me -

he sould stop talking behind my back )



NAKHO - KE USETSHELA ABANGANE BAKHE

( There ! he is telling his friends )

ANGINGUYENA OWALEKHAYA , NGIWAKWA - NEXT DOOR

( That I am an illigitimate child , that I come from next door )



CHORUS

ELAKWABANI ?

( Whose child is this ? )

ELAKWABANI IVEZANLEBE

( Whose is this child with his ears sticking out ? )

SELICWAYISA AMEHLO LIVEZANLEBE

( It is blinking its eyes , this child of questionable origins )

UMFOWETHU UYAHLUPHA -

SAKHULA NAYE SAQUDELANA

( My brother bothers me -

we grew up together always competing )

UMFOWETHU UYAHLUPHA -

NGAMEHLULA NJALO NOMA NGANI

( My brother bothers me - I always beat him in every way )

UMFOWETHU UYAHLUPHA -

UMDALA KODWA UNGATHI USEMNCANE

( My brother bothers me -

he is older than me but he never acts his age )

UMFOWETHU UYAHLUPHA -

NGISUPHOTHA IKHAYA KODWA YENA AKANANDABA

( My brother bothers me -

I send money home , but he doesn't care ...)



NAKHO - KE USETSHELA ABANGANE BAKHE

( There ! he is telling his friends )

ANGINGUYENA OWALEKHAYA , NGIWAKWA - NEXT DOOR

( That I am an illigitimate child , that I come from next door )



CHORUS



BRIDGE SECTION:

KHUZANI KHUZANI

( Admonish , admonish )

KHUZANI , WEBABA NOMA

( Admonish him , Dad and Mom ! )



CHORUS