Scatterlings

Chorus
Wanderers and nomads have gone to see their chieftains
Will this be the end of the rain and the birds?
Who can send an emissary to speak to the seasons?
For the ravens and the crows already soak up the skies...
I'm digging for some words beneath the stones in zimbabwe
I'm searching for a drum song in the jungles of zaire
I'm groping for the blood-moon in the mountains of malawi
Looking for the lion of ethiopia...
The setting dusk is darkened by the bark of the baboon
The frogs and the owls no longer call to the moon
The warlords have gathered, blue smoke hiss from teeth of chrome
And the baobab lies trembling in the boiling blood-loam
The fireplace is broken and the grinding stone too
Its million pieces flung across the plains of africa
Each dusty fragment a seed from which grows
The memory of a debt that only you and i will know
Chorus
Seven seasoned soldiers have been summoned from saigon
A craven walkie talkie puts their bloodshot armor on
Some drink beer milk, some drink kinky-kola
Sheep dogs live in outeniqua
Gun dogs in angola
Flames lick the corners of each hungry horseman's smile
They have locusts in their scabbards and deserts in their eyes
Passing through the air they leave a sea of fetid rumors
As they ride across the skyline on a secret trail of lies
Chorus
I found some words beneath a stone in zimbabwe
I heard a distant drum song in the jungles of zaire
The blood-moon spoke of war in the mountains of malawi
But i never found the lion of ethiopia
Chorus

Rain forest talking to the dragon-mountain-moon
Stars infest the heavens in the southern skies
Otter swim against the river, whisper in the water
The stars are dead and what you see are shining lies
Body-smoke tie the night in a misty web of blue
Simple things are all we have left to trust
An apple, a horse, some milk and a little bread
Will help time stop slipping through our fingers
Chorus
M-oh-hum-oh
M-oh-hum-oh
What you got left to trust?
Stones in the dust!
A simple thing you got left to trust
Someone in your heart singing
Crickets learn the final chorus of their night song
Standing at your door 'cause i have nowhere else to go
Tried to fill the empty spaces with my songs
Came here 'cause i know you also sometimes feel this way
I brought an apple, a horse, some milk and a little bread
I hope i will not find you smiling in a dream
For i have come too far to face again what i have

Long ago there was a sound in the night
A kwela man singing under the street light
With a cheap guitar he gave his sorrow a smile
And he sowed his songs in the alley ways mile upon mile
Chorus
Ye hum ho la lo kwela man
Ye hum ho la lo kwela man
Ye hum ho la lo kwela man
You gave it your life
Living low with the pennywhistle-tea-chest-base-gang
I followed him home and he danced as he sang
But now he's gone
Not even the slightest traces
Of a kwela song
And the street is full of empty spaces
Chorus
Nobody knows did he survive the winding road
Did he find a song that took him back to the heartland
Here i stand lost in a memory
Of a kwela man singing in the long gone twilight
Chorus
When i followed you home kwela man
You filled my soul, kwela kwela
When you sang your song kwela man
You gave it your life
Ye hum ho la lo kwela man
Ye hum ho la lo kwela man
Ye hum ho la lo kwela man
You gave it your life

Ploughed the moon reached an island
Balanced on the edge of the sky
But something always stayed the same
Deep down inside
No matter where i've been the places don't count
Summer in a mountain town
No matter where i've been the places don't count
And i feel let down
'cause nobody told me
Spirit is the journey
Body is the bus
I am the driver
From dust to dust
Spirit is a story
Body is a book
I am the writer
Together we flow
We hold on, and when the story ends
We hold on, until it begins again
We hold on, we hold on...
I never knew i had one
Till i saw yours shine
Spilling from your laughter
Sparkling in your eyes
Sharing my confusion, sharing my surprise
At finding part of me in you, alive
'cause nobody told me
Spirit is the journey
Body is the bus
I am the driver
From dust to dust
Trying to be near you
Searching for a way
Listening to your life song
Before it fades away
We hold on, and when the story ends
We hold on, we hold on.
Spirit is the journey
Body is the bus
I am the driver from dust to dust
Now i'm falling, falling away
I hear you calling, calling my name
Spirit move on, move on
Pass my eyes on, on to the next one
I will be long gone, long gone
Across the distance, this divide
I will be with you forever
Till you reach the other side
So hold on, sing this life song
Sing "hold on, hold on, hold on
Hold on!"

Chorus
Wemadiliza, wemadiliz' inkani!
Ijwanasibeki langenzani!
Wemadiliza, wemadiliz' inkani!
Ijwanasibeki langenzani!
Qed' inkani eyamadoda!
Ijwanasibeki langenzani -- zabalaza wemfana!
Ijwanasibeki langenzani -- wemaqed' inkani!
Blow whistle blow
Down you go alive
The cage is falling
Like a comet in the night
Beads of sweat glisten
In the underground light
Smoulder boudler
Rock reeks fumes
Songs of the outlands
Change colour when shift is due
And you've grown a little older
Seen bone blown smoking blue!
Chorus
Grow city grow
Ten thousand men below
Bleed the burning womb
Make the sun-rock show
In the wider horizon
Where a million lifetimes flow
And you know the secret
That glitters and glues the best
Like the feathers of a dead bird
That feather the next bird's nest
Jwanasibeki!
Tomorro, tomorro, tomorro
Wo-hum-m-wo-hum!
Wo-hum-wo-lo-lo-ma!
Chorus
Can you hear, can you hear me
Can you hear, can you hear me
In the wider horizon
There's a life-song
All my life gone
In a mine song
I shake the world beneath your feet
'cause i'm just working a little bit