A new recording of ‘They Told Me This Is Africa’
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african sun poured down like rain upon my skin
the door to change kicked open
and i stumbled in
traded in the freeway
and the smell of the salt-sea air
learnt to walk the red-dust road over there
over there
and they told me this is africa
they told me this is africa
and they said that this is how it’s done
limousines and beggars
cries of peace behind the pointed gun
african song flowed down in a river of hope and tears
and the children smiled at me
sheltered by their years
and the people wrote their dreams
in shades of black and white
no berlin wall was made to fall
across the line between day and night
and they told me this is africa
they told me this is africa
and they said that this is how it’s done
limousines and beggars
cries of peace behind the pointed gun
african journey brought me half a universe away
as i stepped into the night in bombay
a thousand fingers clutched my hands
and begged to walk with me
someone threw some pennies down and said
“hey, just let it be’
and they told me this is india
they told me this is india
and they said that this is how it’s done
limousines and beggars
cries of peace behind the pointed gun
african sun came down, bled its colours across the sky
i looked out on the red dust road
and said goodbye
then the silence that held me
was broken like a toy
as a city fell in flames
and the gun reached for the boy
and they told me this is bosnia
they told me this is bosnia
and they said that this is how it’s done
limousines and beggars
cries of peace behind the pointed gun
In the ten years since this song was recorded, tragically nothing has really changed, especially on the continent of Africa. When the words to this song began flowing out one night, not long after I had returned from a year living and working in Zimbabwe, my experiences and memories of that beautiful country were ones of peace and stability.Zimbabwe was a country where wars had taken place, but which were now ‘history’ to be told around the table after dinner or around a camp set up on the banks of the Zambezi River, after a day of fishing and safariing.
A starkly different country it is now, and just in the last month Kenya has seen the outbreak of civil unrest and ethnic cleansing within its borders. One reporter has gone so far as to compare what is happening there now with what took place in Rwanda in the ’90’s.
The journey this song has taken, from the time I first played it to a dear friend on her piano, to now, has surprised and amazed us. I have often said to friends that I could easily write a book about the places it has traveled to and the extraordinary people we have met through it.
This is, in fact, the song that introduced us to Crossroads and eventually brought us as a family to Hong Kong. As we prepare to record a new version of this song, we realise totally that the original recording will always be THE recording and cannot be replaced or, I suspect, bettered. It will remain a testimony to the passion, dedication and skills of our friend Nonda, who engineered and produced the entire album, and of the musicians and singers who gave themselves so unreservedly to its recording.
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