[Fela mimics a police siren with his voice]
[Chorus]
Hey yeah!
Everybody run run run
Everybody scatter scatter
Some people lost some bread
Someone nearly die
Someone just die
Police dey come, army dey come
Confusion everywhere
Hey yeah!
Seven minutes later
All don cool down, brother
Police don go away
Army don disappear
Them leave Sorrow, Tears, and Blood
[Chorus]
Them regular trademark!
Them leave Sorrow, Tears, and Blood
Them regular trademark
That is why
[Chorus]
Hey yeah!
Everybody run run run...
La la la la
My people self dey fear too much
We fear for the thing we no see
We fear for the air around us
We fear to fight for freedom
We fear to fight for liberty
We fear to fight for justice
We fear to fight for happiness
We always get reason to fear
We no want die
We no want wound
We no want quench
We no want go
I get one child
Mama dey for house
Papa dey for house
I want build house
I don build house
I no want quench
I want enjoy
I no want go
Ah!
So policeman go slap your face
You no go talk
Army man go whip your yansh
You go dey look like donkey
Rhodesia dey do them own
Our leaders dey yab for nothing
South Africa dey do them own
Them leave Sorrow, Tears, and Blood...
Ah, na so
Time will dey go
Time no wait for nobody
Like that: choo, choo, choo, choo, ah
But police go dey come, army go dey come
With confusion
In style like this:
[Fela mimics a police siren with his voice]
[Chorus]
Hey yeah!
Everybody run run run
Everybody scatter scatter
Some people lost some bread
Someone nearly die
Someone just die
Police dey come, army dey come
Confusion everywhere
Hey yeah!
Seven minutes later
All don cool down, brother
Police don go away
Army don disappear
Them leave Sorrow, Tears, and Blood
[Chorus]
Them regular trademark!
Them leave Sorrow, Tears, and Blood
Them regular trademark
That is why
[Chorus]
Hey yeah!
Everybody run run run...
La la la la
My people self dey fear too much
We fear for the thing we no see
We fear for the air around us
We fear to fight for freedom
We fear to fight for liberty
We fear to fight for justice
We fear to fight for happiness
We always get reason to fear
We no want die
We no want wound
We no want quench
We no want go
I get one child
Mama dey for house
Papa dey for house
I want build house
I don build house
I no want quench
I want enjoy
I no want go
Ah!
So policeman go slap your face
You no go talk
Army man go whip your yansh
You go dey look like donkey
Rhodesia dey do them own
Our leaders dey yab for nothing
South Africa dey do them own
Them leave Sorrow, Tears, and Blood...
Ah, na so
Time will dey go
Time no wait for nobody
Like that: choo, choo, choo, choo, ah
But police go dey come, army go dey come
With confusion
In style like this:
[Fela mimics a police siren with his voice]
Contributed by Alessandro - 2008/12/10 - 09:03
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"... taken from his 1977 album ‘Sorrow, Tears & Blood’ this is the title track about political conditions in his homeland. to say that Fela was an activist and thorn in the side of the government is an understatement for a man who was beaten to within an inch of his life, imprisoned on trumped up charges and hounded at every turn. but it never stopped him making powerful, immortal slices of music that communicated on many levels.
Fela was and still is an example of how music is the most effective form of communicating the message and is, as far as I’m concerned, the only ‘language’ that transcends all ‘boundries’
“Everybody run, run, run
everybody scatter, scatter….”
from The Musicologist