From the Anti-Nowhere Leauge
Source: http://www.lyricstime.com/lyrics/52789.html
Johannesburg
The victims of oppression
I had a vision of a new world
Another hidden in the southern plain
Far away from the western wars
And in this land we shall start again
But in his anger...is a nation broken in two
And the doors of ? shall be open for the chosen few
And we call this land South Africa
The Cape of hope to a northern star
But that hope and peace will never be far
Johannesburg
Johannesburg
And we raise our children
By the blade and bullet they learn
But unrest in the homeland
Crowds gather, the township burns
We stand divided
But together we will show them all
We can stand for so long
We break away for the good of us all
And we call this land South Africa
The Cape of hope to a northern star
But that hope and peace will never be far
Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Here's to the future
To a future we may never see
Here's to the brave new world
May we live in harmony
And we call this land South Africa
The Cape of hope to a northern star
But that hope and peace will never be far
Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Here's the song .... I remember hearing
somewhere:
Gil Scott Heron
Source: http://www.gilscottheron.com/lyjohannesburg.htm
JOHANNESBURG
What's the word?
Tell me brother, have you heard
from Johannesburg?
What's the word?
Sister/woman have you heard
from Johannesburg?
They tell me that our brothers over there
are defyin' the Man
We don't know for sure because the news we
get is unreliable, man
Well I hate it when the blood starts flowin'
but I'm glad to see resistance growin'
Somebody tell me what's the word?
Tell me brother, have you heard
from Johannesburg?
They tell me that our brothers over there
refuse to work in the mines,
They may not get the news but they need to know
we're on their side.
Now sometimes distance brings
misunderstanding,
but deep in my heart I'm demanding;
Somebody tell me what's the word?
Sister/woman have you heard
'bout Johannesburg?
I know that their strugglin' over there
ain't gonna free me,
but we all need to be strugglin'
if we're gonna be free
Don't you wanna be free?
Fred Small, Album: I will stand fast
Source: http://www.jg.org/folk/artists/fredsmall/i.will.stand.fast.lyrics.html
http://www.fredsmallmusic.com/
Diamonds of Anger
The boy rolls the hoop past the barricade
Pushing it fast with a stick that he made from a coathanger
The hoop is a wheel of rusted steel from a junkyard bicycle
The girl on the corner plays the guitar
It's a petrol can with strings of wire
She sings a song from the tribal days
But the words are new -- she sings "amandla."
Blond surfers on white sandy beaches
Wait for the perfect wave
The sky has no clouds at sunset they go home
The signs say no dogs or natives allowed
Nervous white boys in combat gear
Speed through the township in armored trucks
People scatter but the soldiers run them down
Kick them until blood runs from their mouths
Crossroads
We are diamonds of anger we are brilliant gold
Every blow makes us stronger the chain cannot hold
We are rocks against tear gas we are songs against guns
We are life against terror we have already won.
The old woman waits for the broken down bus
To take her from this shantytown of tin and paper
No toilet no running water
The street is already hot
She rides to the white homes of Johannesburg
To mop the kitchen tile polish the silver
Wipe the babies' bottoms she must leave by nightfall.
Sixteen on trial for plotting revolution
Charged with singing songs of freedom
Or being present when these songs were sung
Or writing pamphlets or speaking at meetings
Botha tells the whites what they want to hear
The only votes he needs are theirs
Crazed with their backs to the sea
Drunk with the fear of retribution.
Crossroads
We are diamonds of anger we are brilliant gold
Every blow makes us stronger the chain cannot hold
We are rocks against tear gas we are songs against guns
We are life against terror we have already won.
Black babies white babies still reach for each other
Fingers stretching from a passing pram
Eyes amazed and smiling through doors and broken windows
Straining to touch
Behind the silence of Pollsmoor Prison
Nelson Mandela reads the international press
Receives foreign visitors
The chief in exile, the lion at bay
Give up violence say the key-jangling jackals
He answers let those who shoot my people
Beat with whips torture with electrodes
Let these renounce violence and I will walk free.
Teenagers born since he was imprisoned
Hear his voice though they have never seen him
Feel the tremor of righteous fury
A vision burning a tidal wave coming
New leaders born in the schoolyards and churches
Forged in the mines singing at funerals
Turning to block the blow as it's falling
Seizing the whiphand standing rejoicing
Crossroads
We are diamonds of anger we are brilliant gold
Every blow makes us stronger the chain cannot hold
We are rocks against tear gas we are songs against guns
We are life against terror we have already won.
We are life against terror we have already won.
TITLE Johannesburg
ALBUM · The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death
(1987)
Source: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/h/housemartins/66088.html
Please don’t show your soul to me
I think I’d see the light shine through
And please don’t greet me on the street
I’d like to see a world without you
Please don’t change your uniform
And start to mourn the thousands dead
And please wear what you’ve always worn
And don’t be drawn by what I’ve said
’cause I’ve found there’s nothing more
That I could say to you
Nothing I could do to change your mind
Change your ways and your tune
So please don’t feel you have to sway
Or move away from how you feel
And please say what you mean to say
And always stay with a heart of steel
Group: Love Like Blood
Source: http://www.lyrics.net.ua/song/16381
http://www.love-like-blood.com
Johannesburg
highly armed the white police
are blowing away little knees
crushed bones and finger tips
are forming words on bleeding lips
blue eyes are watching them
blue eyes are killing them
but there's no hope when they pray
the Lord seems to be miles away
we saw the spirit of johannesburg
filthy smoke covering the sun
a bullet left another gun
a nation screams in agony
in pure fear pure apathy
lord oh lord where have you gone
see what your children have done
but there's no hope when they pray
the lord seems to be miles away
and thought the days of fascism
and racism had gone
i'd never thought that there would
be things like oppression
humiliatiion and persecution
that a dump white male minority
could rule over a black majority
south africa you're only
the top of a lethal flood
south africa ruled by die hard fanatics
but still there's a mass of people
who are protesting, fighting
and demonstrating against a system
which degrades them to animals
but animals fight back when they're
in life danger also human beings fight back
so fight back in the name of freedom
fight back in the name of human rights
for a redemption, for a solution
hoist the flags of revolution!
my lord when will the white bastion fall!
Rage Against the Machine
Source: http://www.ratm.net/lyrics/tow.html
TOWNSHIP REBELLION
Rebel, rebel and yell
'Cause our people still dwell in hell
Locked in a cell
Yes, the structure's a cell
Mad is the story I tell
How long can we wait?
Come on, seein' what's at stake
Action for reaction
If your mind's in a somewhat complacent state
Get a check up
This is a stick up
Our freedom or your life
Lord, I wish I could be peaceful
But there can be no sequel
Now freedom must be fundamental
In Johannesburg or South Central
On the mic, 'cause someone should tell 'em
To kick in the township rebellion
Yeah, what about that, sucker?
Yeah, so you thought you could get with the hardlines
That fill your mind
Thoughts, battles fought
And lessons taught
Yes I'll display the fitness
And flip like a gymnast
Raise my fist and resist
Asleep, though we stand in the midst
Of a war
Gotta get mine
Gotta get more
Keepin' the mic warm against the norm
'Cause what does it offer me?
I think often it's nothin' but a coffin
Gotta get wreck
Till our necks never swing on a rope
From here to the cape of no hope
Now freedom must be fundamental
In Johannesburg or South Central
On the mic, 'cause someone should tell 'em
To kick in the township rebellion
Why stand on a silent platform?
Fight the war, fuck the norm
Fight the war, fuck the norm
Fight the war, fuck the norm
Fight the war, fuck the norm
Why stand on a silent platform?
Fight the war, fuck the norm
Fight the war, fuck the norm
Fight the war, fuck the norm
Fight the war, fuck the norm
What's it gonna take?
Euuurrrggghhhhh!
Shackle their minds when they're bent on the cross
When ignorance reigns, life is lost
Shackle their minds when they're left on the cross
When ignorance reigns, life is lost
Shackled our minds when we're bent on the cross
When ignorance reigns, life is lost
Shackled our minds when we're left on the cross
When ignorance reigns, life is lost, lost, lost!
Shackle your minds and you're left on the cross!
When ignorance reigns, life is lost!
Just shackle your minds when you're bent on the cross!
When ignorance reigns, life is lost, lost!
Why stand on a silent platform?
Fight the war, fuck the norm
Fight the war, fuck the norm
Fight the war, fuck the norm
Fight the war, fuck the norm
