Songs: 2020

Tuesday, 29 September 2020

We’re Christian You Know

We’re Christian, You Know

Verse 1

When those refugees come we spare no expenses

Turn back their boats and buff our defences

Bolster the borders round our white picket fences

They’re not neighbours to love, we tell them to go

We know what’s right, we’re Christian you know

CHORUS

We’re Christian you know, and oh don’t we just glow

With what we bestow on those far below

We’re the status quo, and our manifesto

Is we know what’s right, we’re Christian you know

Yeah we know what’s right, we’re Christian you know

Verse 2

When those kids in our care look to our preachers
For models of virtue and love for all creatures
They learn the places the holy hand reaches
We suffer the children, our faith is on show
We know what’s right, we’re Christian you know

CHORUS

Verse 3

When we march those soldiers away off to war
God knows what all the killing is for

And the blood it flows so holy and pure

Thou shalt not kill - unless we say so

We know what’s right, we’re Christian you know

Yeah, we know what’s right, we’re Christian you know

CHORUS

Reprise

They’re not neighbours to love, we tell them to go

We suffer the children, our faith is on show

Thou shalt not kill - unless we say so

We know what’s right, we’re Christian you know

We know what’s right

We’re Christian you know.

Saturday, 18 April 2020

Jola Man Drummer (Kaani's Song)

Hey Jola, hey Jola, hey Jola man

Down south Senegal there’s a man known well

As the Jola man drummer from Thionck-Essyl

He can make you sing, he can make you dance

He’s the Jola man drummer of Casamance

Hey Jola, hey Jola, hey Jola man

I know that Jola man drummer well

And I know his story enough to tell

It’s a story best told by the beat of his hands

As they pound to the pulse of African lands

Hey Jola, hey Jola, hey Jola man

You might hear every sound that passes ears

You might listen to the music of the spheres

But you’ve heard nothing till you’ve heard the thrum

Of the rhythm and the beat of that Jola man’s drum

Hey Jola, hey Jola, hey Jola man

When that Jola Man drummer comes to play

His people come from near and far away

They know what he feels, they know what he gives

As his drum marks the time of the lives that they live

It’s the beat of their blood, the rhythm of their breath

It’s the dance of their souls from birth to death

It’s the story they sing that’s in every part

Of the rhythm and the beat of that Jola man’s heart

Hey Jola, hey Jola, hey Jola man

You might move the sky, you might move the sea

You might move the earth, but I guarantee

You’ve moved nothin’ till you’ve moved your feet

To the rhythm of life in that Jola man’s beat

Oh the rhythm of life in that Jola man’s beat

Yeah the rhythm of life’s in that Jola man’s beat!

*******

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SPECIAL VERSE (for Kaani only)

You might see all the wonders of the world

You might see all the glory of life unfurled

But you’ve seen nothin’ till you get to see

That Jola man drummer play his ukulele

(Yeah Kaani Badji plays a ukulele)

This song was written for and about my friend, Kanni Badji, a proud Jola man, and the main ceremonial drummer for the area in which he lives, around Thionk-Essyl, in the Casamance region of southern Senegal. Drummers such as Kaani play a central role in the key ceremonies and rituals of the communities who live in that area, where the drum is pretty much the sacred instrument. Quite aside from being a beautiful person, Kaani is a very fine drummer, and is dedicated to his craft and role.

As for the special verse, my partner, Carrie, introduced Kaani to the ukulele when we visited him in 2017, and it was certainly something to see him play it (the girls of the Badji household found it particularly hilarious, and were kept entertained for hours by Kaani's ukulele concerts).

Us

There’s a part of me that wants to hide when the world just gets me down

Part of me that wants to run to a place I can’t be found

To a cavern deep and far away from circumstance and care

Where darkness can enshroud me in my own valley of despair

But off the path that leads that way there’s a voice I always hear

That whispers to me through the dark of another place that’s near

A place of peace and solace, where I can take my rest

And sing a song of love and hope from the part of me that’s best

And I find it in a part of me that I always come back to

A part of me that knows my heart, and knows what’s real and true

The part that shines the guiding light that always gets me through

The part where love is infinite; the part of me that’s you

And I hope that in these days of gloom, when hope seems thin and bare

It's a place where you’ll find comfort in a song that we can share

A song that whispers through the dark of a better place to be

A song of hope, that whispers to the part of you that’s me

Together we can face the dark and sing in harmony

A song of hope that calls out from the love of you and me

And let our song fill the air in peace and harmony

This song of us

We sing because

Part of you is me

Notes:

This is a fairly self-explanatory song, essentially about the redemptive power of love, hope, unity and song.

Sunday, 12 April 2020

Lockdown Blues

Lockdown Blues

This Covid-19 has caused quite a scene

Its spiky protein is meaner than mean

But I must have been down some ravine

Has anyone seen one to eighteen?

Now I keep to myself, keep my hands clean

My life’s now ruled by Covid-19

It’s badder than colds, badder than flus

But what’s badder for me are these lockdown blues

My house has a sheen, it’s the glow of chlorine

Hand hygiene’s now my daily routine

I’m overdosed on the screen and caffeine

I need a vaccine against quarantine

I don’t know or care about its genome

Just know it’s the bug that’s keeping me home

And it’s bugging me bad what I see on the news

But what’s bugging me most are these lockdown blues

Got time on my hands, nothing to do

And I’d sure like to get my hands on you

But it’s gonna have to stay an affair of the heart

I can’t squeeze you from two metres apart

And I know we’re all in, taking a hit

Staying at home and doing our bit

And it’s knowing you’re there, though it’s not what you’d choose

That helps me get through these lockdown blues

Yeah, that’s how we’ll lose these lockdown blues

[April 2020]

[Written during the self-isolation period of the 2020 Covid-19 crisis.
Not really autobiographical - my personal experience of the lockdown didn't leave me with "the blues",
but I know it did have that effect on others]