RHYTHM SAFARI

THIRD WORLD CHILD

 

Bits of songs and broken drums

Are all he could recall

So he spoke to me

In a bastard tongue

Carried on the silence of 

The guns

 

“It’s been a long long time

Since they first came

And marched thru’ our 

Village

They taught us to forget

Our past

And live the future in 

Their image

 

Chorus:

They said

‘You should learn to

Speak a little English

Don’t be scared of a suit 

And tie

Learn to walk in the

Dreams of the foreigner - 

I am a Third World child’

 

The out world’s dreams

Are the currency

That grip the city streets

I live them out

But I have my own

Hidden somewhere deep

Inside of me

 

In between my father’s fields

And the citadel of the rule

Lies a no-man’s land which

I must cross

To find my stolen jewel

 

Chorus:

They said I should

‘Learn to speak a little

Bit of English

Maybe practise birth control

Keep away from

Controversial politics

So to save my Third World soul’

 

They said

‘You should learn to

Speak a little English

Don’t be scared of a suit 

And tie

Learn to walk in the

Dreams of the foreigner - 

I am a Third World child’

 

Wo ilanga lobunzima

Nalo liyashona

Ukuthi nini asazi

Musa ukukhala

Mntanami

 

Bits of songs and broken drums

Are all he could recall

But the future calls his name

Out loud

Carried on the violence

Of the guns

 

“I can speak a little bit of English

I am the seed that has survived

I am the fire that has been woken

I am a Third World child.”