What Are You Listening To?

[Jerome]

And now for something a little different. Something from South Africa from way back when. You have to know a little of the history behind this song. The main performer, Johnny Clegg, was known as the 'white' Zulu. This is about the 'crossing over' of his friend and collaborator Dudu who was assassinated. http://youtu.be/aBpMHxtZeMA

I have included the lyrics with the translation from Zulu.


Through all the days that eat away
At every breath that I take
Through all the nights I've lain alone
In someone else's dream, awake
All the words in truth we have spoken
That the wind has blown away
It's only you that remains with me
Clear as the light of day

Chorus: o siyeza, o siyeza , sizofika webaba noma
(we are coming, we are coming, we will arrive soon)
O siyeza, o siyeza, siyagudle lomhlaba
(we are coming, we are coming, we are moving across this earth)
Siyawela lapheshaya lulezontaba ezimnyama
(we are crossing over those dark mountains)
Lapha sobheka phansi konke ukhulupheka
(where we will lay down our troubles)

A punch drunk man in a downtown bar
Takes a beating without making a sound
Through swollen eyes he sways and smiles
'cause no one can put him down
Inside of him a boy looks up to his father
For a sign or an approving eye
Oh, it's funny how those once so close and now gone
Can still so affect our lives

I wish I could find a copy of this track in true stereo as opposed to this mono YT crap. (See EvilB's post down below for a better version of this)

An interesting fact - At the height of the band's success in 1988, Michael Jackson had to cancel his show in Lyon, France, as he attracted a smaller audience than Johnny Clegg and Savuka. A newspaper headline in France read "white man singing black music, outsells black man singing white music"