HOGESCHOOL ANTWERPEN
HOGER INSTITUUT VOOR VERTALERS
EN TOLKEN
An annotated Dutch translation of the Stay Human album lyrics by
Michael Franti & Spearhead, with an introduction to
American protest songs from the 1960s.
Tine Jagers
Licenciaatsverhandeling
ingediend ter verkrijging
van de graad van
LICENCIAAT VERTALER
Promotor: Prof. Dr. A. Remael
Academiejaar: 2004-2005
Acknowledgement
First of all, I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Aline Remael for letting me choose the
topic I really wanted to do. This was really important to me and stimulated me a lot
in making this thesis. I also want to thank her for her advice on the introduction of
my thesis and for finding an answer to all kinds of questions.
Secondly, I would like to thank Rik Seniow for helping me out with American slang
words I could not easily find and for giving me some hints concerning rhythm and
rhyme, Dustin Benner for explaining biblical references or typical American
expressions, and my fellow students for helping me out whenever necessary.
I would like to send out special thanks to my family for supporting me at all times,
for supporting me in the choices I make and for stimulating me to believe in my own
creativity. I could not possibly thank them enough.
Last, but not least, I would like to thank Jelle Boets for supporting me throughout
this last year and all the previous years of my study, for now and then taking me
away from my school work and stuffy room with its ever humming computer, for
strengthening my interest and passion for music even more and for realizing the
recordings of the Dutch version of the Spearhead song Oh My God. In addition to
this, I would like to thank the musicians that contributed to these recordings: Jelle
Boets (recordings & guitar), Jeroen Van Esbroeck (recordings, synths & keys),
Phillippo Fierens (lead vocal), Cathy Van Houcke (backing vocals), Marc Pesic (bass),
Wim Vander Westen (drums) and Bruno Truyens (conga drums).
2
Table of Contents
I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 7
1. What exactly does the term protest song mean? ............................................................. 8
1.1 Music genre ............................................................................................................... 8
1.2. Culture & time ......................................................................................................... 9
1.3. The topics of protest songs ...................................................................................... 9
2. Some famous Protest songs .......................................................................................... 11
2.1. 60s’ - Bob Dylan – Masters of War (1963) ........................................................... 11
2.2. 70s’ - Stevie Wonder – Living for the City (1973)................................................ 14
2.3. 80s’ – U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday (1983) .......................................................... 16
2.4. 90s’ – Tracy Chapman – Fast Car (1988) .............................................................. 19
3. Protest songs today ....................................................................................................... 21
4. Do protest songs have any effect at all?........................................................................ 24
5. Michael Franti & Spearhead ......................................................................................... 26
5.1. Protest songs? ........................................................................................................ 26
5.2. About Michael Franti ............................................................................................. 26
6. Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 29
II. TRANSLATIONS................................................................................................................ 32
The album begins… ...................................................................................................... 32
Het album begint… ....................................................................................................... 34
Quotes ........................................................................................................................... 36
Citaten ........................................................................................................................... 39
Oh My God ................................................................................................................... 42
Oh God .......................................................................................................................... 44
Track 2 ...................................................................................................................... 46
Track 2 ...................................................................................................................... 47
Stay Human ................................................................................................................... 48
Blijf Menselijk .............................................................................................................. 50
Track 4 ...................................................................................................................... 52
Track 4 ...................................................................................................................... 53
Rock The Nation ........................................................................................................... 54
3
Beweeg De Natie .......................................................................................................... 57
Sometimes ..................................................................................................................... 60
Heel Soms ..................................................................................................................... 62
Track 7 ...................................................................................................................... 64
Track 7 ...................................................................................................................... 65
Do Ya Love ................................................................................................................... 66
Of Je Lief Hebt ............................................................................................................. 68
Track 9 ...................................................................................................................... 70
Track 9 ...................................................................................................................... 71
Soulshine ....................................................................................................................... 72
Zieleschijn ..................................................................................................................... 73
Every Single Soul ......................................................................................................... 74
Ieder’ Andere Ziel ......................................................................................................... 76
Track 12 .................................................................................................................... 78
Track 12 .................................................................................................................... 79
Love ’ll Set Me Free ..................................................................................................... 80
Liefde Zal Me Bevrijden ............................................................................................... 81
Thank You .................................................................................................................... 82
Dank Je ......................................................................................................................... 83
Track 15 .................................................................................................................... 84
Track 15 .................................................................................................................... 85
We Don’t Mind ............................................................................................................. 86
’t Maakt Ons Niet Uit ................................................................................................... 88
Track 17 .................................................................................................................... 90
Track 17 .................................................................................................................... 91
Speaking Of Tongues .................................................................................................... 92
Geen Gespleten Tongen ................................................................................................ 95
Track 19 .................................................................................................................... 98
Track 19 .................................................................................................................... 99
Listener Supported ...................................................................................................... 100
Gesteund Door Jullie .................................................................................................. 101
4
Track 21 .................................................................................................................. 102
Track 21 .................................................................................................................. 103
Skin On The Drum ...................................................................................................... 104
Het Vel op de Drum .................................................................................................... 106
III. TRANSLATION COMMENTS ....................................................................................... 108
A. Song translation in general ............................................................................................. 108
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 108
2. The balance between content, rhythm & rhyme ......................................................... 110
2.1. Content ................................................................................................................. 110
2.2. Rhythm................................................................................................................. 110
2.3. Rhyme .................................................................................................................. 111
3. Culture bound concepts or terms ................................................................................ 111
4. Translation of popular songs in Belgium & the Netherlands ..................................... 112
4.1. Belgium ................................................................................................................ 112
4.2. The Netherlands ................................................................................................... 112
4.3. Comparison of Song translation .............................................................................. 113
4.3.1. Translation by a translator ........................................................................ 113
4.3.2. Translation by a musician ......................................................................... 114
4.3.3. Conclusion ................................................................................................ 115
4.3.4. Song lyrics ................................................................................................ 116
B. Translation Comments – Spearhead lyrics ..................................................................... 119
1. Radio Segments .......................................................................................................... 119
1.1. Problematic concepts or terms in the source text................................................. 119
1.2. The use of slang ................................................................................................... 120
2. Quotes ......................................................................................................................... 120
2.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text ................................................. 120
3. The lyrics .................................................................................................................... 122
3.1. Oh My God .......................................................................................................... 122
3.1.1
Problematic concepts or terms in the source text.................................... 122
3.1.2 Culture-bound concepts or terms ....................................................................... 123
3.2 Stay Human ........................................................................................................... 124
5
3.2.1
Problematic concepts or terms in the source text.................................... 124
3.2.2 Culture-bound concepts or terms ............................................................... 125
3.3. Rock the Nation ................................................................................................... 127
3.3.1
Problematic concepts or terms in the source text.................................... 127
3.3.2 Culture-bound concepts or terms ............................................................... 128
3.4. Sometimes ............................................................................................................ 129
3.4.1
Problematic concepts or terms in the source text.................................... 129
3.5. Do Ya Love .......................................................................................................... 130
3.5.1
Problematic concepts or terms in the source text.................................... 130
3.6. Soulshine .............................................................................................................. 130
3.6.1
Problematic concepts or terms in the source text.................................... 130
3.7. Every Single Soul ................................................................................................ 131
3.7.1
Problematic concepts or terms in the source text.................................... 131
3.7.2 Culture-bound concepts or terms ............................................................... 131
3.8. Love‘ll Set Me Free ............................................................................................. 132
3.8.1
Problematic concepts or terms in the source text.................................... 132
3.9. Thank You ........................................................................................................... 133
3.9.1
Problematic concepts or terms in the source text.................................... 133
3.10. We Don’t Mind .................................................................................................. 133
3.10.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text..................................... 133
3.11. Speaking Of Tongues......................................................................................... 134
3.11.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text..................................... 134
3.11.2 Culture-bound concepts or terms ............................................................. 135
3.12. Listener Supported ............................................................................................. 136
3.12.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text..................................... 136
3.12.2 Culture-bound concepts or terms ............................................................. 137
3.13. Skin on the Drum ............................................................................................... 138
3.13.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text..................................... 138
Works Cited .................................................................................................................... 140
Articles and websites .............................................................................................. 140
Dictionaries and encyclopaedias ............................................................................. 147
6
I. INTRODUCTION
In this introduction I would like to provide the reader with a general overview of the
phenomenon of Anglo-Saxon protest songs. First of all I will try to explain what
exactly the term ‘protest song’ means, as it can cover a lot of different genres. I will
say something about the musical genre these songs are bound to, investigate
whether or not they are culture and time bound, and discuss some of the topics that
they frequently explore.
Secondly, I will briefly discuss some famous protest songs. For each
decennium I chose one famous song, starting from the sixties. I have tried to choose
four different types of artists, playing a different kind of music and singing about
different topics. I deliberately opted for two white artists and two black ones, of
which one is a woman, in order to give the reader a broader view on the variety there
is in protest songs.
Thirdly, I will look at the minimal popularity of protest songs today. How
come we do not hear a lot of them? Are most artists afraid to make a stand? And do
protest songs have any effect at all? These are all questions I will try to find an
answer to in this chapter.
To conclude, I will situate the lyrics I have translated for my thesis, i.e. the
lyrics of the Stay Human album, released by the band Michael Franti & Spearhead.
In this section I will explain why these songs can be considered as protest songs and
then I give some background information about Michael Franti. The focus will be on
his noble aim to reach as many people as possible with his critical view on the world
and to make them aware.
7
1. What exactly does the term protest song mean?
It is difficult to define the concept of the protest song exhaustively. These songs are
not bound to a certain genre of music, nor to a certain culture, time or topic. One
view is that “Protest songs grow out of almost any controversial situation, and they
can be found around the world”. Still, there must be more to them than that1.
1.1 Music genre
People often tend to connect the term protest song with folk music or other more
traditional music genres. In a way this makes sense, as famous protest singers like
Joan Baez were part of the folk and country scene, at least in their early days.
However, each music genre has its own protest songs. In pop music there is the socalled ‘Godfather’ of the protest song Bob Dylan, with famous protest songs as
Blowin’ in the Wind (1962) and Masters of War (1963). In rock music there is Bruce
Springsteen with Born in the USA (1984). In punk music there are the Sex Pistols
with Anarchy in the UK (1977), in reggae there is Bob Marley with the famous
Redemption Song (1980), in soul music there is Edwin Starr with war (1970), in funk
music there is James Brown with Say it loud, I’m black and I’m proud (1969), in jazz
there is Billy Holliday with Strange Fruit (1940), in hip hop there is Public Enemy
with Fight the power (1990) and there are no doubt many other examples.
Obviously, the protest song affects all music genres. However, it seems as though
today rap and hip hop have some sort of monopoly on protest songs, as the only
protest songs you might by any chance hear, come mainly from (black) rap artists,
with a few exceptions in pop and rock music. The famous rapper Eminem is
probably one of the most well-known examples nowadays. His lyrics protest against
the war in Iraq, against racism and other social issues. Another famous example is
the British Ms. Dynamite. She regularly performs on charity concerts highlighting
for instance the problem of Aids2.
1
2
http://www.sbgmusic.com/html/teacher/reference/historical/freedom.html
http://www.pienternet.be/archief/nieuwsbrief/december2003.html
http://www.msdynamite.co.uk/
8
1.2. Culture & time
Protest songs are also a worldwide phenomenon. In each culture people use singing
to express their feelings, which include happy feelings as well as feelings they have
to suppress due to political and social circumstances. Therefore, in my opinion,
protest songs should not consider to be culture-bound. Neither are they timebound. Although many people believe that protest songs came into existence in the
sixties, they have been around for much longer. The freedom songs of African
American slaves before the Civil war can be considered as protest songs and there
are many other historical examples. All the sixties did was put the protest song in
the footlights3.
1.3. The topics of protest songs
Protest songs emanate from “controversial situations” in society. A lot of them are
considered to be anti-war songs: against the two world wars, the Vietnam War, the
Cold War, the Gulf War, etc. War is always waged at the cost of numerous innocent
people and therefore always provokes protest.
Political and social issues form another important topic. On
http://www.fact-index.com/p/pr/protest_song.html, a website created by Wikipedia
that provides a free online encyclopedia, one can find all kinds of songs dealing with
these kinds of topics. Among them: protest songs concerning nuclear weapons,
feminism, imperialism, materialism, poverty, racism, television, the war on drugs,
the persecution of homosexuals, etc4.
As I see it, topics of protest songs are in a way culture-bound. People sing about
matters that concern them, about the things that surround them. However, at the
same time, most topics seem to be universal. The war in Iraq, for instance, provokes
protest all over the world and musicians from everywhere find inspiration in the
topic.
3
4
http://www.sbgmusic.com/html/teacher/reference/historical/freedom.html
http://www.pienternet.be/archief/nieuwsbrief/december2003.html
9
Clearly, the meaning of the term protest song is quite extended and covers a lot of
different features. It is an age-old phenomenon and it will never cease to exist. I
guess that where people live together there will always be conflict situations and
because of this one could say that there will always be innumerable rewarding
topics to sing about. The protest song is here to stay.
10
2. Some famous Protest songs
2.1. 60s’ - Bob Dylan – Masters of War (1963)
Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks
You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins
You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do
Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain
Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul
You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud
And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead5
5
http://bobdylan.com/songs/masters.html
11
In 1963 young Bob Dylan released the album The Freewheelin’
Bob Dylan. It contained the songs Blowin’ in the Wind and
Masters of War and contributed to Dylan’s worldwide success.
He became the spearhead of the protest song and was linked
to the 60s protest movements against war and for peace. His
relationship with Joan Baez, the famous Mexican-Scottish
protest singer who was a well-known member of these protest
movements, only strengthened this link. However, Dylan himself was not all too
keen on his reputation as folk-singer of the protest movement. He therefore released
new work with fewer political statements and it turned out that not all fans were
that satisfied with the change. The folk music of his early years changed as well and
Dylan now became a pop icon. I assume that Dylan only wanted to make a
statement with his first songs, wanted to give his opinion on the situation in the
world back then. He never intended to become some sort of ‘protest guru’ and did
not want to live up to this image people had created for him6.
The song Masters of War was written in 1963. The lyrics protest against war in
general and refer to the World wars in specific (A world war can be won you want me
to believe). At the time the Vietnam War provoked a lot of protest and this was no
doubt a source of inspiration for this song as well. Many American soldiers were
sent out to Vietnam to fight against the “threatening” influences of communism and
a great number of them never came back. All over the world protest movements
were crying out for peace and were protesting heavily against the chemical warfare
the Americans used in Vietnam and the degrading way prisoners were treated. After
years of innumerable losses and bloodshed the war finally came to an end in 1973.
Vietnam was a destroyed country and the Americans lost their war as well as
thousands of soldiers7. The song protests mainly against politicians not hesitating to
send thousands of people into war for their own benefit. The human cost of a war
does not seem to matter to them, as long as they or their own families are not
affected.
6
7
http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/new_site/biography.php?id=285&showgroup=
Encarta Encyclopedie, Basiseditie, Winkler Prins.
12
In my opinion this is still how war works. In the documentary Fahrenheit 9/11
(2004) director Michael Moore invites various politicians to send their own sons and
daughters to Iraq.
Of the songs I discuss in this chapter only Bob Dylan’s has been translated into
Dutch by a Flemish singer, Willem Vermandere, as “Oorlogsgeleerden” (1997). There
is no translation of Stevie Wonder’s song and the other two songs have a literal
translation on the Nedtlyrics.nl website. This site provides literal translations
allowing fans to understand the songs, but they are not written to be sung.
However, issues related to the translation of songs will be dealt with in greater detail
in the comments on my own translation8.
8
http://home.planet.nl/~elder180/strijdlied/oorlogsgeleerden.htm
13
2.2. 70s’ - Stevie Wonder – Living for the City (1973)
A boy is born in hard time Mississippi
Surrounded by four walls that ain't so
pretty
His parents give him love and affection
To keep him strong moving in the right
direction
Living just enough, just enough for the
city...ee ha!
His father works some days for
fourteen hours
And you can bet he barely makes a
dollar
His mother goes to scrub the floor for
many
And you'd best believe she hardly gets
a penny
Living just enough, just enough for the
city...yeah
His sister's black but she is sho 'nuff
pretty
Her skirt is short but Lord her legs are
sturdy
To walk to school she's got to get up
early
Her clothes are old but never are they
dirty
Living just enough, just enough for the
city...um hum
Her brother's smart he's got more
sense than many
His patience's long but soon he won't
have any
To find a job is like a haystack needle
Cause where he lives they don't use
colored people
Living just enough, just enough for the
city...
Living just enough...
For the city...ooh, ooh
[repeat several times]
His hair is long, his feet are hard and
gritty
He spends his love walking the streets
of New York City
He's almost dead from breathing on
air pollution
He tried to vote but to him there's no
solution
Living just enough, just enough for the
city...yeah, yeah, yeah!
I hope you hear inside my voice of
sorrow
And that it motivates you to make a
better tomorrow
This place is cruel no where could be
much colder
If we don't change the world will soon
be over
Living just enough, just enough for the
city!!!!
La, la, la, la, la, la,
Da Ba Da Da Da Da Da Da
Da Da Da Da Da Da
Da Ba Da Da Da Da Da Da Da
[Repeat to end]9
9
http://steviewonder.free.fr/html/frameset_songs.
html
14
Stevie Wonder started his career at a very young age. He was a child prodigy, who
played the piano and the harmonica, scoring his first n°1 hit at the age of 12. In the
seventies, as a young man, he became an icon in R&B and
popular music, rivalled only by Marvin Gaye. He blended
soul, funk, jazz, reggae, rock’n roll and African elements. It
is often said that without Stevie Wonder there would have
been no Michael Jackson and no Prince. Although the
blind singer is known for his joyous positivism, he does not
merely addresses romantic topics in his lyrics, but racial,
social and spiritual issues as well. He received a lot of
support from the black community during his career for bringing up the problem of
racial inequalities10.
The song Living for the City was written in 1973 and became a number one hit in the
R&B charts. The lyrics protest against the social status of black people in America:
most black people at the time were poor, lived in bad conditions (Surrounded by four
walls that ain't so pretty), tried to keep their children on the right track, worked hard
for little money (He barely makes a dollar, she hardly gets a penny) or were
unemployed because of their colour (they don't use colored people). They had hardly
any rights (He tried to vote but to him there's no solution) and lived in run-down
neighbourhoods. All these issues are taken up by the song. In the concluding stanza
Wonder wants to encourage people to take note of all these inequalities in society
and to do something about them.
When Wonder wrote the song Living for the city in 1973, Martin Luther King and
many others had already tried to give the black community a voice. They had
already tried to get rid of the segregation laws that divided black citizens from the
‘superior’ white ones. And although their actions opened up the way to equality for
blacks and whites, the social conflict and inequality are still a reality today. One can
only hope that a protest song such as Living for the City gives people hope and
encourages them to continue the peaceful struggle11.
10
11
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/music/biography/stevie_wonder_biography.html
http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/wonder_stevie/bio.jhtml
http://steviewonder.free.fr/
15
2.3. 80s’ – U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday (1983)
I can't believe the news today
I can't close my eyes and make it go
away.
How long, how long must we sing this
song?
How long, how long?
'Cos tonight
We can be as one, tonight.
How long, how long must we sing this
song?
How long, how long?
'Cos tonight
We can be as one, tonight.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Broken bottles under children's feet
Bodies strewn across the dead-end
street.
But I won't heed the battle call
It puts my back up, puts my back up
against the wall.
Wipe the tears from your eyes
Wipe your tears away.
I'll wipe your tears away.
I'll wipe your tears away.
I'll wipe your bloodshot eyes.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday,
Sunday,
Sunday,
Sunday,
Oh, let's
And it's true we are immune
When fact is fiction and TV reality.
And today the millions cry
We eat and drink while tomorrow they
die.
bloody
bloody
bloody
bloody
go.
Sunday.
Sunday.
Sunday.
Sunday.
And the battle's just begun
There's many lost, but tell me who has
won?
The trenches dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers,
sisters
Torn apart.
The real battle just begun
To claim the victory Jesus won
On...
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday12.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.
12
http://www.u2.com/music/lyrics.php?song=23&li
st=s
16
Although it is not an American band, U2 is probably one of
the most famous rock bands of our times and therefore
worth mentioning. The Irish band was founded in 1978
when all the members were still at high school. It is said
that they were a band before they could actually play. In
1983 the band broke through with the album War. More
albums followed and they worked themselves up to become
one of the best-selling bands in the world. Furthermore, the
band is known for their politically tinted lyrics. They write about what is going on in
the world and more specifically about the Irish situation. They are Catholics
themselves. The singer of the band, Bono, is known as a real advocate of freedom
and peace. He has met most of the world’s political heavyweights and has tried to
encourage many artists and activists to take a stand on all kinds of social and
political issues. U2 has done a lot of charity concerts as well, e.g. Live Aid (1985)
and the Conspiracy of Hope tour to support Amnesty International (1986). The band
is aware of the political influence music can have on society and therefore want to
make use of this influence13.
Music can be more. Its possibilities are great. Music has changed me. It has the
ability to change a generation. Look at what happened with Vietnam. Music changed
a whole generation’s attitude towards war14. Bono – U2
The song Sunday Bloody Sunday was released in 1983. It refers to January 30
1972, also known as Bloody Sunday, when soldiers from the British Army opened
fire on unarmed and peaceful demonstrators in the Bogside, Derry, Ireland. 13
People were killed and many others injured. The British authorities defended
themselves by claiming the march was illegal and therefore the soldiers were found
not guilty. The Irish were shocked. As we all know, the “Troubles”, as the conflict in
Northern Ireland came to be known in Britain, did not end with Bloody Sunday.
Many attacks followed and up to this very day people are getting killed because of
the protestant–catholic conflict situation.
13
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/U2-Biography/305B87FB8A2812FD482568960029CCED
http://www.atu2.com/band/bono/
14
http://www.u2.com/music/index.php?album_id=4&type=lp
17
Only recently Robert McCartney, a catholic father of two children, was brutally
murdered outside a bar by IRA terrorists. Around 70 people must have been in that
bar at the time, but none of them wanted to come forward as a witness. His five
sisters and his fiancée, known worldwide as the McCartney sisters by now, dared to
speak up and insisted that those who knew anything more should come forward.
They openly questioned the IRA and its intentions nowadays and were even invited
by president Bush at the White House for St Patrick’s Day, instead of Gerry Adams,
president of Sinn Fein (the political arm of the IRA). Many Irish now believe that the
armed struggle for Irish unity by IRA members has been replaced by some criminal
gangs murdering people, even their own people, in the name of the IRA.
How long, how long must we sing this song? Bono asks himself in the song. Sadly
enough, for the Irish it seems to be a song without an end15.
15
http://larkspirit.com/bloodysunday/
http://www.u2.com/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1527801,00.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/16/eveningnews/main681058.shtml
18
2.4. 90s’ – Tracy Chapman – Fast Car (1988)
You got a fast car
I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere
Any place is better
Starting from zero got nothing to lose
Maybe we'll make something
Me, myself, I got nothing to prove
You got a fast car
I got a plan to get us out of here
Been working at the convenience store
Managed to save just a little bit of money
Won't have to drive too far
Just 'cross the border and into the city
You and I can both get jobs
And finally see what it means to be living
You see my old man's got a problem
He live with the bottle, that's the way it is
He says his body's too old for working
His body's too young to look like his
My mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life than he could
give
I said "somebody's got to take care of him"
So I quit school and that's what I did
You got a fast car
Is it fast enough so we can fly away?
We gotta make a decision
Leave tonight or live and die this way
I remember we were driving, driving in
your car
Speed so fast I felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my
shoulder
And I had a feeling that I belonged
And I had a feeling I could be someone, be
someone, be someone
And I work in a market as a checkout girl
I know things will get better
You'll find work and I'll get promoted
We'll move out of the shelter
Buy a bigger house and live in the
suburbs
'Cause I remember we were driving,
driving in your car
Speed so fast I felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my
shoulder
And I had a feeling that I belonged
I had a feeling I could be someone, be
someone, be someone
You got a fast car
And I got a job that pays all our bills
You stay out drinking late at the bar
See more of your friends than you do of
your kids
I'd always hoped for better
Thought maybe together you and me
would find it
We got no plans and ain't going nowhere
So take your fast car and keep on driving
'Cause I remember when we were driving,
driving in your car
Speed so fast I felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my
shoulder
And I had a feeling that I belonged
I had a feeling I could be someone, be
someone, be someone
You got a fast car
Is it fast enough so you can fly away?
You gotta make a decision
Leave tonight or live and die this way16
You got a fast car
We go cruising to entertain ourselves
Still ain't got a job
16
http://www.about-tracychapman.net/debutalbum_lyrics.htm#fastcar
19
With her multi-platinum debut album of 1988 Tracy
Chapman
re-introduced
the
political singer-songwriter
genre of the 70s. The album contained Fast Car, the song
that contributed to her fame. This first album was followed
by many others, but they never surpassed her first success.
Therefore many critics claim that Chapman has fallen into
a cult status ever since. Her lyrics deal with social issues,
such as poverty, racism or injustice, and they proved
enormously influential on American college campuses in
the late '80s. Although most of her songs treat the subject of social injustice
Chapman describes herself as a hopeful cynic17, still believing in a better society.
She participated, together with some other artists, in major live events like the
Amnesty International’s Human Rights tour (1988) and the London’s Freedomfest
honouring Nelson Mandela (1988). According to the music magazine Rolling Stone,
she is “one of the most socially relevant songwriters of our time and has become one
of our generation's most unique voices18”
The song Fast Car was released in 1988. Initially, I wanted to choose one of
Chapman’s 90s songs for discussion, but chose Fast Car instead because the song
deals with poverty and the social problems of the so-called lower classes, which is a
theme I have not yet dealt with.
Chapman sings about someone trying to escape her faith, trying to improve the life
she is living, and more specifically her standard of living. The ‘drinking father’ in the
song symbolizes the fact that many people try to escape from their lives by the use
of alcohol. Another problem Chapman sings about here is young people leaving
school, because their home situation in a way forces them to do so. Unemployment
is a theme as well. The man in the song does not seem to find a job and starts
drinking as well. The woman has to pay all the bills and look after the children.
17
18
http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/tracy_chapman/
http://tracychapman.by-dvb.com/biography.php
http://www.mp3.com/tracy-chapman/artists/3273/biography.html
http://www.about-tracy-chapman.net/biography.htm
20
At some point in the song there is hope for a better life (“And I had a feeling that I
belonged, and I had a feeling I could be someone”), but the female singer ends with
the sentence “You gotta make a decision, Leave tonight or live and die this way”. In
other words, the song appears to imply we do have a degree of choice: change the
lives we lead or just accept them and die. The lyrics are very straight forward, not
too complicated, but in my view, their strength resides in the fact that they are so
true to life.
3. Protest songs today
So what about protest songs nowadays? How come that only a handful of artists use
their positions as public figures to make a stand, to give their opinion on what is
going on in the world? After all, million of Americans have already marched the
streets in protest against President Bush and the war in Iraq? And why do bands
that do write on political and social issues usually belong to the alternative music
scene?
First of all, one must consider the metamorphosis of the music industry.
Unlike in the 60s, music nowadays is almost exclusively the product of a capitalist
society. Profit is its main motivation. An artist does not necessarily have to be
talented anymore, what matters is that people buy the product. And it just happens
to be so that most people like easy tunes, with simple lyrics they do not have to
think about too much. This is exactly what contemporary pop culture is producing.
Indeed, most popular songs now have a catchy melody and a few catchy lines, but
no meaning at all. It seems as though people are not waiting for another protest
song.
Secondly, there is censorship. This is probably the most important reason
why there are so few protest songs these days. A lot of artists are afraid their music
will be banished from radio stations, which is important publicity for them.
Especially smaller bands or artists who still have to work their way up to the top,
cannot afford bad publicity or more limited radio time.
The American band Dixie Chicks, for instance, dared to speak out against the war in
Iraq and was banished from radio stations and even from entire radio networks.
MTV even avoids broadcasting “any music videos depicting war, soldiers, war
planes, bombs, missiles, riots and social unrest, executions and other obviously
21
sensitive material”. When it comes to music, especially Clear Channel, owning 1,200
radio stations, contributes to the censorship of musicians speaking out against war
and politics in general. The American Clear Channel not only has its influences in
the United States but in Europe as well. Think of Belgium’s most popular rock
concert Werchter, which is since a couple of years partially owned by Clear Channel.
However, there are many alternative festivals as well that do make it possible for
artists to express their opinion and bring protest songs to the public, but in America
many of these festivals too are being dominated by censorship. At a recent concert of
Ani Difranco, another politically conscience artist, Clear Channel told her that she
was not aloud to give any political information and even threatened her to close
down the concert when she would. Therefore only a few really famous artists like
Bruce Springsteen or Bono from U2 dare to speak openly about the current
situation in America19.
However, let there be no mistake; there are many protest songs, only they are
harder to find than the run-of-the-mill pop song, because of the censorship which
pushes a lot of bands into the underground music scene. Especially in America
there is strict control over which songs are aloud and which don't.
A good example of such a band is Michael Franti & Spearhead. The band is
confronted with censorship all the time because their music contains such an
outspoken vision upon American society. That is one of the reasons why they are
not too famous in America. The mother of one of the Spearhead members was even
threatened by a couple of military officers claiming that her son had better moderate
his statements on Bush’s policy. Such officers need to control every move the band
makes, even when they only make a stand for human rights. Probably this is just
mere intimidation, but it works; a lot of artists avoid speaking out on war or political
issues. The idea of Freedom of Speech obviously is limited in various ways. Indeed,
many protest songs might never be heard on radio stations, but there are many
19
http://www.artistsnetwork.org/artandpolitics/ap1.html
Strauss, N. MTV is Wary on videos on War, New York Times, March 26, 2003.
http://www.righteousbabe.com/ani/index.asp
22
websites now, like for instance www.protest-records.com, where you can download
free protest songs. This way the songs can be heard anyway20.
Censorship not only means people are being controlled all the time for what they say
about political issues, it also implies that they get biased information through the
media on the themes they might protest against. According to Tom Morello, guitarist
of the band Rage Against the Machine, this no doubt has its influence on
contemporary protest songs as well.
One of the crucial differences between now and the late '60s and early '70s, when
there was a lot of protest music reaching the top of the charts, is the access of the
average American to information about what is really going on. In 1971, you were
able to see firsthand TV news footage of little naked Vietnamese girls who had been
burned by napalm paid for with U.S. tax dollars. You won't see the Afghanistan
equivalent or the Iraq equivalent on TV today; instead, it's all this kind of sanitized,
Orwellian talk of 'freedom' and 'hope' and 'desert flowers blooming21 (Tom Morello)
In America the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is responsible for this
kind of censorship. The organization decides on what people can see, read and hear
on television, radio stations and in newspapers. The FCC determines what is
important for the American public to know and even hides information whenever it
might cause damage to the American dream, which means they hide certain
negative information about America. Tom Morello’s example of national television
never showing any images of the destruction, human and material, the American
army caused in Afghanistan and now in Iraq, illustrates this perfectly well. Michael
Franti too notices this difference and states in an interview with the collage
foundation (an organization that wants to make young people aware) “During the
Vietnam War, you saw pictures of kids screaming and homes being burned; we
haven't seen an image of one body on TV. An Amnesty International report says
there's between 7,000 and 9,000 civilians who've died in Iraq. We've had over 500
Americans and god knows how many Iraqi soldiers killed and we haven't seen one of
20
Van Dyck, P. Michael Franti. Focus Knack, 20 Aug. 2003.
http://www.artistsnetwork.org/artandpolitics/ap1.html
http://www.protest-records.com
21
http://www.geocities.com/morellofiend/
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/03/13/music-epstein.php
23
them.” People do not seem to have such a clear idea about the real effects of the
current war, whereas in the sixties they could not avoid the images and information
the media provided. It seems as though they should not be allowed to think about
what exactly is going on in the world.
To sum up, political commitment among artists is not a phenomenon bound to the
sixties at all. Artists nowadays just appear to be more restricted by control and
censorship than in the sixties22.
4. Do protest songs have any effect at all?
Apparently, they do. In times of war and misery, no matter in which country or
continent one lives in, people always fall back on music. It gives them the strength
to go on in spite of all trouble they have been through and have to go through still.
In an article on protest songs in the magazine LA Weekly the importance of music is
described as follows: “People turn to music for solace, for the strength to face down
our demons and for proof that we’re not alone in the universe.” The description
makes sense. In times of misery people indeed try to find companions in distress.
Protest songs assure them that they are not alone, that many people feel the way
they do, and in this they find solace23.
The political effect of a protest song on the other hand, is hard to prove. However,
there are many examples of protest songs that did accelerate the process of political
or social change. In the article “Songs about war: what are they good for”, published
in the Sunday Herald they give two significant examples of such songs24:
The campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday into a national holiday was
going nowhere until Stevie Wonder wrote the song ‘Happy Birthday’ and included it
on his 1980 album ‘Hotter than July’. In 1982 he addressed a crowd of 50,000
which had assembled to celebrate the birthday. Four years later it was a fact25.
22
http://www.fcc.gov/aboutus.html
http://www.collagefoundation.org/people/people-mfranti.html
23
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/03/13/music-epstein.php
24
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2788263.stm
http://www.sundayherald.com/45243, 04 April 2005
25
http://www.sundayherald.com/45243
24
Special AKA’s 1984 hit ‘Nelson Mandela’ reminded the world that Mandela had been
in a South African jail since 1962 and helped raise the profile of the international
struggle against apartheid. Its chorus – “Free-eee Nelson Mandela!” – became the
rallying cry of the anti-apartheid movement and on June 11, 1988, 72,000 people
assembled at Wembley stadium for a 70th birthday concert that was televised in 63
countries across the globe. Two years later, Mandela was out and facing the world’s
press at the gates of his former prison. There’s no doubt that music helped get him
there26.
26
http://www.sundayherald.com/45243, 04 April 2005
25
5. Michael Franti & Spearhead
5.1. Protest songs?
For my thesis I translated the lyrics of the Michael Franti & Spearhead album Stay
Human. The music genre is a mixture of reggae, rap, funk and soul. The album
deals with the topic of the death penalty in the USA and the fact that innocent
(black) people often become the victims of the judicial system. Michael Franti &
Spearhead want to protest against this by giving the listener a critical view on how
the system works. The album not only contains lyrics, but there is an introduction
to the album as well and some quotes by various artists giving their opinion on the
death penalty. Furthermore, there are some radio fragments in between the songs
dealing with the fictitious case of Sister Fatima, an innocent black woman in death
row. I translated the introduction, quotes and radio fragments as well.
Clearly, the entire album can be considered as a statement against the death
penalty system in America, against racism and against injustice in general. With his
powerful and poetical lyrics Michael Franti tries to make the listeners aware and
tries to warn them for the often biased and deceiving information that the media
provide. He wants to make people think critically and act, rather than keep their
voices down and to go with the flow. All the same, not all Franti’s songs deal with
political topics. Michael Franti also sings about love, about the little but valuable
things in life and about life in general.
5.2. About Michael Franti
Michael Franti was born in Oakland, California to a single mother of Irish, German
and French descent and an African-American and Seminole Indian father. He was
given up for adoption at his birth, because his mother thought her family would
never accept a black child. During his youth he felt like an outsider in his adoption
family and that is where his political interests grew. “I’ve always grown up writing
songs and connected politically with people seen as the outsiders,” is how Franti
explains this27.
27
http://ukhh.com/features/interviews/michael_franti/index2.html
http://www.collagefoundation.org/people/people-mfranti.html
26
His career started in 1986 in San Francisco with the band Beatnigs, which already
gave a voice to social criticism in its lyrics. Franti wanted to make a statement right
from the start. His second project was called The Disposable Heroes of HipHoprisy,
and in 1992 the album Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury was released, containing
lyrics dealing with subjects as diverse as gay tolerance and government corruption.
The album was a great success and gave Franti a worldwide audience of listeners
and fellow artists. Bono from U2, for instance, was really impressed and asked the
band to join U2 on the huge Zoo TV tour (1992) which led to Franti’s final
breakthrough.
In 1993 the band split up. At this point Michael Franti decided to try a different
approach. He still wanted to bring up social and political
issues in his lyrics but wanted to make people enjoy the
music so they could dance as well. Instead of just
confronting people all the time with what was going wrong
in society, he wanted to make them feel good, rather than
leave them with a depressed feeling. The idea manifested
itself in Franti’s new band Spearhead. Their first album
Home (1994) was a success. It contained the hit singles
Hole in the Bucket and Positive, the first record in the rap community dealing with
the subject of HIV & Aids. They toured around the world for about two years. In
1996 they released their second album Chocolate Super Highway, to which our own
Belgian Marie Daulne of Zap Mama contributed. With the album the band started
another world tour. In 2001 they released Stay Human, of which I translated the
lyrics, and finally in 2003 they released the album Everyone Deserves Music, which
protests openly against the war in Iraq.
Like some other artists Michael Franti wants to use his position as an artist to do
whatever he can. In June 2004 Franti lead a delegation of peace workers, artists
and film makers to Iraq and Israel on a two week journey. They wanted to see the
effects of the war first-hand and tried to meet as many Iraqi musicians and artists
as possible, as well as students and other youth organizations. “Through learning
more about the crisis from both sides I can better serve as a voice for change and
27
peace to those who only hear about the region on the nightly news”, was one of
Franti’s motivations. The artist has recently made a documentary about the trip
called I know I’m not alone. The documentary gives a voice to the people living with
the harsh conditions of war and occupation day after day. It also shows how Franti
and the group of artists were welcomed by everyone, from proud Iraqi families and
youngsters, to US Occupation Forces all wanting to share their stories, hear the
music and just dance28.
28
http://www.spearheadvibrations.com/index.html.
http://www.slamdance.com/2005/festival/film_detail.asp?film_id=608
http://www.iknowimnotalone.com/home.htm
28
6. Conclusion
Although many people claim that artists nowadays do not want to commit
themselves politically anymore in the way they did in the sixties, the protest song
still exists, if mostly on the alternative music scene. Indeed, music lovers who care
to look will find that there are a lot of beautifully written songs out there, dealing
with all kinds of social and political issue. The Spearhead lyrics, which convinced
me to make this thesis, are but one example.
By translating them I wanted to contribute to the process of making people who do
not understand English aware of what is going on in America. Obviously, most
people know, or think they know, what is going on there because of all the
information they get from television, radio and newspapers. But music and poetry
give people a different perspective and stimulate them to think. In my opinion,
protest songs are therefore anything but useless, even if they cannot change the
world.
29
II. TRANSLATIONS
The album begins…
THE CASE OF SISTER FATIMA
Every year hundreds of important events go under-reported, or get completely and
intentionally ignored by the mainstream media. The case of Sister Fatima is one such case.
The fact of the matter is that even within circles of the most aware social justice advocates
and underground media journalists, Sister Fatima’s name is rarely uttered or discussed. I have
not been able to pinpoint exactly why.
Over the past thirty years there have been a large number of high profile cases involving
African American political prisoners in the United States, that while grossly unreported and
biasly slandered still received at least a modicum of media attention. So why is it that the case
of this one revolutionary woman has received no media attention? How is it that one
Governor could almost single-handedly send to death row a sixty-one year old woman simply
as means to get re-elected? And most shockingly, why is it that the general public has become
so desensitised to capital punishment that only a handful of people have even bothered to
make themselves aware of the case of Sister Fatima?
For those of you who do not know, Sister Fatima was accused and convicted of the 1991
slaying of prominent business couple James and Ellen Buchanan. There was very little
physical evidence submitted in the trial, as their bodies have yet to be located and no murder
weapon was found. The evidence used to condemn Sister Fatima was the testimony of
“eyewitnesses” who claimed to have seen Sister Fatima having an argument with the
Buchanan’s the week of the murder. According to witnesses the nature of the argument was
over the lease agreement of the medical marijuana office Sister Fatima ran, which was housed
in a building owned by the Buchanan’s.
At a later date, blood was found and an anonymous note was mailed to the police officials
from someone claiming to have shot and buried the Buchanan’s.
32
Many now believe Sister Fatima, who had been a police target since the late Sixties because
of her outspoken views on racial equality, police violence, environmental issues, gay, lesbian,
bisexual, transgender rights, and the compassionate use of medical marijuana, was framed as
a means of silencing her.
Since the trial, all six of the “witnesses” have come forward and have completely recanted
their testimonies, stating for the record that they had been coerced at the time of interrogation
and had never seen Sister Fatima arguing with the Buchanan’s on any occasion.
In spite of the fact that Sister Fatima’s case was clearly an organized set-up, and there is now
overwhelming evidence to clear her of all charges, neither the Governor’s offices nor the
judicial system will allow her case to be retried. Rather they are intent on executing her as
quickly as possible as a means of acquiring votes from a deceived and paranoid public.
An innocent woman, only few have heard of, awaits her death by lethal injection…why?
33
Het album begint…
DE ZAAK VAN ZUSTER FATIMA
Elk jaar krijgen honderden belangrijke items te weinig aandacht of worden ze
geheel en bewust genegeerd door de toonaangevende media. De zaak van Zuster
Fatima is zulk een item. In feite wordt de naam Zuster Fatima zelden geuit of
besproken; niet door mensen die sociale rechtvaardigheid hoog in het vaandel
dragen en al evenmin door alternatieve journalisten. Ik ben er nog niet helemaal uit
hoe dat precies komt.
De voorbije dertig jaar zijn er in de Verenigde Staten tal van belangrijke zaken
geweest waarbij Afro-Amerikaanse politieke gevangenen betrokken waren. Deze
kregen weliswaar beperkte media aandacht waarin laster welig tierde, maar de
aandacht was er wel. Hoe komt het dan dat de zaak van deze revolutionaire vrouw
totnogtoe geen media aandacht kreeg? Hoe komt het dat een Gouverneur bijna
eigenhandig een eenenzestig jarige vrouw naar death row kan sturen simpelweg om
herkozen te worden? En bovenal, hoe komt het dat de publieke opinie zo ongevoelig
is geworden voor de doodstraf dat er slechts een handvol mensen zich de moeite
getroost om zich te informeren over de zaak van Zuster Fatima?
Voor zij die het niet weten; Zuster Fatima werd beschuldigd van en veroordeeld voor
de moord op het bekende zakenkoppel James en Ellen Buchanan in 1991. Er zijn
maar weinig materiële bewijzen voorgelegd in het proces, aangezien noch de
lichamen noch het moordwapen gevonden werden. De bewijzen die leidden tot de
veroordeling van Zuster Fatima waren getuigenissen van “ooggetuigen” die
beweerden gezien te hebben dat Zuster Fatima verwikkeld was in een conflict met
de Buchanans een week voor de moord. Volgens getuigen had de kern van het
conflict te maken met de huurovereenkomst van het bureau voor medische
marihuana dat Zuster Fatima runde in een gebouw dat de eigendom was van de
Buchanans.
Wat later werd er bloed gevonden en kreeg de politie een anoniem bericht van
iemand die beweerde de Buchanans te hebben neergeschoten en begraven.
34
Velen geloven nu dat Zuster Fatima, die al sinds eind jaren zestig een politiedoelwit
was omwille van haar openhartige visies op rassengelijkheid, politiegeweld,
milieukwesties, rechten voor homo’s, lesbiennes, biseksuelen en transseksuelen en
het gebruik van medische marihuana om pijn te verlichten, in een valstrik gelokt
werd om haar het zwijgen op te leggen.
Sinds het proces hebben alle zes de “getuigen” zich aangemeld en hun
getuigenissen volledig ingetrokken. Ze verklaarden officieel dat ze onder druk gezet
waren tijdens het verhoor en dat ze nooit een conflict tussen Zuster Fatima en de
Buchanans gezien hadden.
Ondanks het feit dat Zuster Fatima’s zaak duidelijk een georganiseerde valstrik was
en dat er nu verpletterend bewijsmateriaal is dat het mogelijk maakt haar vrij te
spreken van alle beschuldigingen, laten noch de administratie van de Gouverneur,
noch het juridisch systeem toe dat de zaak heropend wordt. Integendeel, ze willen
haar liefst zo snel mogelijk executeren als een middel om meer stemmen te krijgen
van een misleid en paranoïde publiek.
Een onschuldige vrouw, over wie slechts enkelen iets weten, wacht op haar dood
door dodelijke injectie … waarom?
35
Quotes
“Solomon’s law of an eye for an eye blurs our vision of greatness. Is that how justice
got blind? ”
KRIST NOVOSELIC – Nirvana
“With the passage of time, the number of executions has increased exponentially in
the U.S.A, from one in 1977, to 74 in 1997, to 610 in 1999.”
“I’ve been against the death penalty since I was a very small child, for one simple
reason. What if they’ve got the wrong person? And what if it happens to be me?”
JELLO BIAFRA
“It doesn’t matter what you think of the death penalty in the abstract; in the real
world, race and class determines who lives and dies in death penalty cases. So until
racism and economic inequalities are gotten rid of in America, they should get rid of
the racist death penalty, which targets minorities and the poor.”
TOM MORELLO – Rage Against the Machine
“The death penalty sucks. It’s absolutely barbaric. It’s wrong, period. It’s proven not
to deter murder, it’s racially and socio-economically biased, and it’s cruel.”
AMY RAY – Indigo Girls
“One in 27 people executed are later found to be innocent -- at least two a year.
There is no evidence that it is an effective deterrent. And it is twice as expensive to
administer the death penalty as it is to offer life without parole.”
KENNETH COLE – activist & designer
“I really hope that the USA will soon ban the death penalty so that they can be an
example for the rest of the world and so that they will be leaders not just in
economy and in democracy but also in respect of the human life and in the quality
of the human life.” LORENZO JOVANOTTI – Italian Hip Hop artist
36
“Questions about capital punishment often tend to revolve around tangential issues –
whether, for example, death should be painful or not. So that now, death by lethal
injection is represented as the best, least painful, and thus most humane death. This
doesn’t confront the real issue, which is whether there is something profoundly wrong
with giving the state the right to kill. No method of state death can eradicate the fact
that capital punishment is racist and class-biased.” ANGELA DAVIS – prison
industrial complex activist
« In order to stop murderers from murdering, you must execute the mentality that
causes murderers to murder. Down with this rotten-assed system. The death penalty
is dead wrong.”
PAM AFRICA - Move
“Over sixty nine people have been released from death row since 1972 as a result of being wrongly
convicted…”
“…that is more than one wrongly convicted person for every hundred people on death
row”
“What is the death penalty? It’s a lot of things. It’s when we turn the justice system
into a criminal. It’s becoming a monster. It’s not right; it’s not smart.” BONO – U2
“The average murder rate per 100,000 population in 1997 among death penalty
states was 6.6; the average murder rate among non-death penalty states was only
3.5”
“In 1995, prison building expenditures jumped by $926 million while university
construction dropped by $954 million.”
“What justifies anybody taking another’s life today? What you have is a whole
system of people thinking they have the upper hand on death and nobody really
does.” CHUCK D - Public Enemy
37
“The death penalty is at the core of what it means to be human. To be alive, to be
dead. To give life or to end it. The truth is always there when we need it.
MICHAEL FRANTI
“Although the story of Sister Fatima is fictitious, it is based on the horrific reality of
our time. Stay Human, MICHAEL FRANTI.”
38
Citaten
“De wet van Salomo die zegt:oog om oog, vertroebelt onze visie op grootsheid. Is dat
waarom rechtvaardigheid blind werd? ”
KRIST NOVOSELIC – Nirvana
“Met het verstrijken van de jaren, steeg het aantal executies in de V.S. exponentieel,
van 1 in 1977, tot 74 in 1997, tot 610 in 1999.”
“Al sinds ik heel klein was, ben ik tegen de doodstraf om een eenvoudige reden. Wat
als ze de verkeerde persoon hebben? En wat als ik het toevallig ben?”
JELLO BIAFRA
“Wat je van de doodstraf vindt in theorie heeft geen belang; in de echte wereld
bepalen ras en klasse wie in leven blijft en wie sterft in strafrechtszaken. Met andere
woorden, zolang racisme en economische ongelijkheid niet afgeschaft zijn in Amerika,
moet men die racistische doodstraf afschaffen, die minderheden en de armen
treft.”TOM MORELLO – Rage Against the Machine
“ De doodstraf is klote. Ze is gewoonweg barbaars. De doodstraf is fout, punt. Het is
bewezen dat ze moordenaars niet afschrikt, het is een raciale en socio-economisch
bevooroordeelde straf en ze is wreed.” AMY RAY – Indigo Girls
“1 op de 27 geëxecuteerden blijkt later onschuldig te zijn -- minstens twee per jaar.
Niets bewijst dat het een effectief afschrikmiddel is en het is tweemaal duurder om
een doodstraf uit te voeren dan een levenslange celstraf.”
KENNETH COLE – activist & ontwerper
“Ik hoop echt dat de VSA snel de doodstraf afschaffen zodat ze een voorbeeld kunnen
stellen voor de rest van de wereld en ze niet alleen leiders blijken te zijn op het vlak
van economie en democratie, maar ook op het vlak van respect voor het menselijke
leven en de kwaliteit ervan.” LORENZO JOVANOTTI – Italiaanse Hip Hop artiest
39
«Discussies over de doodstraf gaan vaak over bijkomstigheden – bijvoorbeeld over of
de dood pijnlijk moet zijn of niet. Daarom wordt een dodelijke injectie nu voorgesteld
als de minst pijnlijke en dus meest menselijke dood. Maar zo vermijd je waar het echt
om gaat, namelijk of er niet iets essentieel verkeerd is als je de staat het recht geeft
om te doden. Geen enkele vorm van officiële doding kan tenietdoen dat de doodstraf
bepaalde rassen en klassen harder treft.” ANGELA DAVIS – activiste tegen de
gevangenisindustrie
«Om ervoor te zorgen dat moordenaars stoppen met moorden, moet je de mentaliteit
executeren die moordenaars doet moorden. Wég met dit klotesysteem. De doodstraf is
doodzonde.”
PAM AFRICA - Move
“Sinds 1972 zijn ongeveer negenenzestig mensen vrijgelaten uit death row omdat
men ze ten onrechte veroordeeld had…”
“…dat betekent dat er voor elke honderd mensen die in death row zitten telkens een
iemand ten onrechte veroordeeld werd”
“Wat is de doodstraf? Het is een boel dingen. Het is het gerechtssysteem in een
crimineel veranderen. Het is een monster worden. Het is niet juist en niet erg slim.”
BONO – U2
“Het gemiddelde moordcijfer per bevolking van 100.000 bedroeg in 1997 in de staten
waar de doodstraf wordt toegepast 6,6 en in de staten waar ze niet wordt toegepast
3,5”
“In 1995 werden de uitgaven voor de bouw van gevangenissen verhoogd met $926
miljoen terwijl die voor de universiteiten daalden met $954 miljoen.”
“Wanneer is het gerechtvaardigd dat iemand een ander het leven ontneemt? Er is een
heel systeem van mensen die denken dat ze kunnen beslissen over leven en dood en
dat kan niemand.” CHUCK D – Public Enemy
40
“De doodstraf ligt dicht bij de kern van wat het betekent mens te zijn. Leven, sterven.
Leven geven of het beëindigen. De waarheid is er altijd wanneer we haar nodig
hebben.” MICHAEL FRANTI
“Ook al is het verhaal van Zuster Fatima fictief, het is wel gebaseerd op de
afschuwelijke realiteit van deze tijd. Blijf menselijk, MICHAEL FRANTI.”
41
Oh My God
(chorus)
Oh-my, oh-my God!
Out here mama they got us livin’ suicide
Singin’ oh-my, oh-my God!
Out here mama they got us livin’ genocide
Slam bam I come unseen
but like gasoline you can tell I’m in the tank
like money in the bank
I smell appealing, but I’m toxic, can send ya reeling
without an inklin’, keep ya thinkin’
‘cause you gave cash to the feds, left your school district for dead
fucked you up in the head, but still they sayin’ nothin’s wrong
sellin’ firewater but outlawing the bong
still believin’ the system is workin’
while half of my people are still outa workin’
anonymous notes left in the pockets and coats
of judges and juries from ‘Frisco to Jersey
threats and protests politicians mob debts
trumped up charges and phony arrests
stage a lethal injection, the night before the election
‘cause he got donations from the prison guard’s union
(chorus)
Listen in to my stethoscope on a rope
internal lullabies, human cries
thumps and silence, the language of violence
algorithmic, cataclysmic, seismic, biorhythmic
you can make a life longer, but you can’t save it
you can make a clone and then you try to enslave it?
stealin’ DNA samples from the unborn
and then you comin’ after us
‘cause we sampled a James Brown horn?
scientists who’s God is progress
42
a four-headed sheep is their latest project
the CIA runnin’ like that Jones from Indiana
but they still won’t talk about that (Jim) Jones
(People’s Temple mass suicide) in Guyana
this ain’t no cartoon
no one slips on bananas
do you really think that that car killed Diana
hell I shot Ronald Reagan, I shot JFK
I slept with Marilyn (Monroe) she sung me happy birthday
Singin’
(chorus)
Well politicians got lipstick on the collar
the whole media started to holler
but I don’t give a fuck who they screwin’ in private
I wanna know who they screwin’ in public
robbin’, cheatin’, stealin’,
white collar criminal
McDonald eatin’, you deserve a beatin’
send you home a weepin’, with a fat bill for your
Caribbean weekend
for just about anything they can bust us
false advertising sayin’ “halls of justice”
You tellin’ the youth don’t be so violent
then you drop bombs on every single continent
mandatory minimum sentencin’
‘cause he got caught with a pocket fulla medecine
do that again another ten up in the pen
I feel so mad I wanna bomb an institution
Singin’
(chorus)
43
Oh God
(refrein)
O God, Oh mijn God
Hier leven is als zelfmoord, mama
Zing ik: oh God, mijn God
Hier leven is als genocide, mama
Slam Bam ik kom ongezien
maar zoals benzine zit ik duidelijk in de tank
net als geld op de bank
ik ruik goed, maar ben zo giftig dat het duizelen doet
zonder ’t te weten, bepalen ze je denken
want je gaf geld aan de flikken, liet het onderwijs stikken
ze maakten je gek, en nog zeggen ze dat alles in orde is
vuurwater verkopen, maar verbod op cannabis
geloven dat het systeem effect heeft
als de helft van mijn volk nog steeds zonder werk leeft
geheime briefjes in zakken en jassen
van rechters en jury’s van ‘Frisco tot Jersey
dreigen, protest, maffiapolitici
valse beschuldigingen en schijnarrestaties
plan een dodelijk’ injectie, de avond voor de electie
want hij kreeg donaties van de cipiervakbond
(refrein)
Luister door mijn stethoscoop, naar ‘t verloop
van innerlijke liedjes, menselijke wanhoop
lawaai en stiltes, de taal van het geweld
algoritmisch, cataclismisch, seismisch, bioritmisch
je kan een leven rekken, maar het niet redden
je kan een kloon maken en die dan proberen onderwerpen?
jullie stelen DNA van de ongeborenen
en dan ons vervolgen
voor het samplen van een James Brown hoorn?
44
wetenschappers wiens God vooruitgang heet
een vierkoppig schaap is hun nieuwste project
de CIA rennend als die Jones van Indiana
maar nog steeds geen woord over die (Jim) Jones
(massale zelfmoord van Tempel sekte) in Guyana
dit is geen cartoon
niemand glijdt uit over bananen
het was echt niet die auto die de dood bracht aan Diana.
Ik schoot op Ronald Reagan, ik doodde JFK
ik sliep met Marilyn (Monroe), ze zong mij happy birthday
Zing ik
(refrein)
Wel, politiekers, hebben lippenstift op hun kragen
de hele media begon hen te belagen
maar ik geef er geen zak om wie ze privé verleiden
ik wil weten wie ze in’t openbaar misleiden
roven, bedriegen, stelen
witte boordencrimineel
McDonald eten, ze verdienen slaag
ik stuur ze naar huis, huilend, ‘n faktuur op de maag
voor hun weekend Caraïben
voor bijna alles kunnen ze ons arresteren
“gerechtshof” is een valse mededeling
jullie vragen de jeugd niet met geweld te reageren
maar dan ga je zelf continenten bombarderen
verplichte minimumstraf
want hij werd opgepakt met een zak vol medicatie
doe dat nog eens, weer tien jaar de cel in
ik ben zo kwaad, ik bombardeer nog ‘n ministerie
Zing ik
(refrein)
45
Track 2
° All right. Welcome back, you are listenin' to Stay Human Radio.
- What the others won’t say and what the others won’t play, you know what I’m
sayin'.
° We’ll play it
- We’re dedicated to free speech here and you know we’re entirely volunteer
staffed and funded
° That’s right, lots of volunteer help from the community, help sponsor this radio
station
- That’s right, that means: yours truly Brother Soulshine and…
° The Nubian Poetess
- We ain’t gettin' nothin' for doin' this radio show
° And we’re actually the only one of our kind since KBLV shut down recently
- We were the last federally non-funded station to lose their license. So, we’re
gonna keep you posted on what’s happenin' with the Governor’s race comin' up
while we gonna get in to some more music right here, so check it out.
46
Track 2
° Ok. Hallo iedereen, je luistert nog steeds naar Radio Blijf Menselijk
- Wat de anderen niet zeggen en zeker niet zullen spelen, je snapt wel wat ik
bedoel,
° dat spelen wij
- We zijn hier trouw aan vrije meningsuiting, bestaan uit een volledig vrijwillig
team en zijn gesponsord door vrijwilligers
° Inderdaad, veel vrijwilligers uit de buurt helpen ons, sponsoren dit
radiostation.
- Inderdaad, dat betekent: hoogachtend Brother Soulshine en…
° De Nubian Poetess
- We verdienen geen cent aan deze radioshow
° En we zijn eigenlijk de enige in onze soort sinds KBLV onlangs ophield
- We waren het laatste federale niet-gefinancierde station dat haar vergunning
kon kwijtspelen. Dus we houden je op de hoogte van de race voor het
Gouverneursschap die momenteel plaatsvindt terwijl we hier naar wat muziek
luisteren, dus check het uit.
47
Stay Human
(all the freaky people)
Starvation is a creation of the devil
a rebel
I’m bringin’ food to the people like a widow
bringin’ flowers to a grave in the middle
of the city isolation is a riddle
to be surrounded by a million other people
but feel alone like a tree in the desert
dried up like the skin of a lizard
but full of color like the spots of a leopard
drum and bass pull me in like a shepherd
scratch my itch like a needle on a record
full of life like a man gone to Mecca
sky high like an eagle up soaring
I speak low but I’m like a lion roaring
baritone like a Robeson recordin’
I’m givin’ thanks for bein’ human every morning…
(chorus)
Because the streets are alive with the sound of Boom Bap
Can I hear it once again!
Boom Bap tell your neighbor tell a friend
every box gotta right to be boomin’
because the streets are alive with the sound of Boom Bap
can I hear it once again!
Boom Bap tell your neighbor tell a friend
Every flower gotta right to be bloomin’!
Stay Human!
48
Be resistant
the negativity we keep it at a distance
call for backup and I’ll give you some assistance
like a lifesaver deep in the ocean
stay afloat here upon the funky motion
rock and roll upon the waves of the season
hold your breath and you underwater breathin’
to be rhymin’ without a real reason
is to claim but not to practice a religion
if television is the drug of the nation
satellite is immaculate reception
beaming in they can look and they can listen
so you see don’t believe in the system
to legalize you or give you your freedom
you want rights ask ’em they’ll read ’em
but every flower gotta right to be bloomin’…
stay human…
(chorus)
All the freaky people make the beauty of the world
You see Y2K ya know is a moment
in time we find that we can open
up a heart that’s locked or been broken
by the pain of words not spoken
or shot by guns a still smokin’
Cartwrights out on the ponderosa
or drive by bang in Testarossa
we need to heed the words of Dalai Lama
or at least the words of yo mama
take a mental trip to the Bahama’s
steam your body in a stereo sauna, sauna, comma…
(chorus)
49
Blijf Menselijk
(alle maffe mensen)
Hongerdood is een creatie van de duivel
een rebel
Ik breng voedsel naar de mensen als een weduwe
bloemen brengt naar een graf in het midden
van de stad is isolatie een raadsel
door een miljoen andere mensen omringd zijn
maar eenzaam zijn als een boom in de woestijn
uitgedroogd als de huid van een hagedis
maar kleurig als de vlekken van een luipaard
drum en bas leiden me als een herder
krabben me als een naald op een plaat
vol leven als een man net terug van Mekka
hoge toppen scheren als ‘n zwevende adelaar
ik spreek zacht, maar ben als een brullende leeuw
een bariton op een Robeson opname
elke morgen weer, dankbaar om menselijk te zijn
(refrein)
Want de straten leven met het geluid van de boom-bap
laat het me nog eens horen!
boom-bap vertel’ t je buur of een vriend
elke box heeft het recht om te loeien
Want de straten leven met het geluid van de Boom-bap
laat het me nog eens horen!
boom-Bap vertel ’t je buur of een vriend
elke bloem heeft het recht om te bloeien
Blijf menselijk
50
Bied weerstand
de negativiteit houden w’ op een afstand
vraag ondersteuning en dan help ik je een hand
als een reddingsvest diep in de oceaan
blijven drijven op de funky beweging
rock ’n roll op de golven van het seizoen
hou je adem in boven en onder water
want rijmen zonder enige notie
is als ‘t verkondigen zonder beoefenen van religie
als televisie de drug is van de natie
dan is satelliet de zuivere ontvangenis
waardoor ze kunnen kijken en luisteren
zo zie je maar, vertrouw niet op het systeem
voor legalisatie of om je je vrijheid te geven
wil je rechten, vraag ze, ze kennen hen
maar elke bloem heeft het recht te bloeien
blijf menselijk
(refrein)
Alle maffe mensen maken de schoonheid van de wereld
Want Y2K, weet je, is een tijdsmoment
Waarop w’ ontdekken dat we ’n hart kunnen openen
een hart gesloten of gebroken
door de pijn van ongesproken woorden
of neergeschoten door geweren die nog roken
de Cartwrights in de ponderosa
of schietend vanuit een Testarossa
schenk aandacht aan ‘t woord van de Dalai Lama
of ten minste aan de woorden van je mama
maak een mentale trip naar de Bahamas
neem een stoombad in een stereo sauna, sauna, komma
(refrein)
51
Track 4
- Yes, yes, all the freaky people do make the beauty of the world
° And we’re freaky and beautiful here at Stay Human Radio
- That’s right. Keepin’ the freak goin' on
° That’s right, what the others won’t play and what they definitely won’t say
- That’s right. Anyway, just to keep you informed on what’s happenin' out there.
Governor Franklin Shane, the current Governor in this election has been really
trailing in the polls
° Now you know he’s been tryin' to use the pending execution of Sister Fatima as
some sort of political tool. You remember she was convicted of the 1991 slaying
of that business couple… eh…what was it…James and Ellen Buchanan?
- That’s right. Anyway her execution is set for the night before the election,
imagine that.
° Oh, how ironic, isn’t that convenient
- Anyway, the phone lines are open at 415 641 12 55
° Call us up, tell us what you think
- That’s right. Send in your request, shout out whatever you got. Stay human.
° Keep listenin’
- Rocking the nation.
52
Track 4
- Ja, ja, alle maffe mensen maken echt wel de schoonheid in de wereld.
° En we zijn maffe schoonheden hier bij Radio Blijf Menselijk.
- Inderdaad. We houden het maffe in beweging
° Inderdaad, wat de andere niet spelen en wat ze zeker niet zullen zeggen
- Zo is dat. Maar goed, om jullie even op de hoogte te houden van de
verkiezingen; de huidige Gouverneur Franklin Shane ligt sterk achterop, zo
blijkt uit de opiniepeilingen.
° Zoals je weet misbruikt hij daarom de aanstaande executie van Zuster Fatima
als een soort van politiek instrument. Jullie weten dat ze veroordeeld was voor
de moord op dat zakenkoppel…euh…wat was het ook alweer…James en Ellen
Buchanan?
- Inderdaad. In elk geval, haar executie is gepland op de nacht voor de
verkiezingen, stel je voor.
° Hoe ironisch, als dat niet goed uitkomt
- Hoe dan ook, je kan ons bereiken op het nummer 415 641 12 55
° Bel ons op, zeg ons wat je ervan denkt.
- Zo is dat. Stuur ons je verzoekje, roep er maar uit wat je kwijt wil. Blijf
Menselijk
° Blijf luisteren.
- Beweeg de natie.
53
Rock The Nation
We livin’ in a mean time and an aggressive time
a painful time, a time where cynicism rots the vine
in a time where violence blocks the summer shine
lifetimes go by in a flash
in a search for love, in a search for cash
everybody wanna be some fat tycoon
everybody wanna be on a tropic honeymoon
nobody wanna sing a little bit out of tune
or be the backbone of a rebel platoon
it’s too soon to step out of line
you might get laughed at you might get fined
but do you feel me when I say I feel pain everyday
when I see the way my friends gotta slave
and never get ahead of bills they gotta pay
no way no way!
some make a living doing killing Colombian penicillin
some are willing to play the villain they just chillin’
to pass the time, pass the information
or pass the wine, pass the buck or pass the baton
but you can’t pass the police or the pentagon
the I.R.S or the upper echelon
I think it’s time to make a move on the contradiction
(chorus)
Bom-Bom, rock the nation
take over television and radio station
Bom-Bom, the truth shall come
give the corporation some complication!
54
This is the dawning of our time I say it one more time
to emphasize the meaning of my rhyme
to rise above all the dirt and grime
add the right spice at the right time
fuck the constitution
are we part of the solution or are we part of the pollution
sittin’ by and wonderin’ why
things ain’t the way we like to find them to be, to be
for you and for me the people over there and the ones in between
check our habitation are we a peace lovin’ nation
peace lovin’ nation
I have a reasonable doubt I think I’ll just spell it out
there’s no need to scream or to shout
the N.R.A just bought a man’s soul
then he jumps up and shouts gun control
the government says that killin’ s a sin
unless you kill a murderer with a lethal syringe
so I ask again “are we peace lover’s then”
some of them slang guns when they six years old
some of them end up in some six foot hole
this whole damn place seems to lost control
so I raise my voice before I lose my soul
(chorus)
This is the way I’ll express my feelings
vibe revealed and revolved spinnin on a record y’all
try to confiscate take what I communicate with
it’s ancient gift of the lip steady creating
activating passin’ vocal vibrations to the blind plus the seeing
human doesn’t mean just being Becoming don’t
believe it just belife it Belongings or beloved
rehearse it or recite it
while shining drop your guns and move your tongues
battle motivation in no time lyrics come
sometimes fun other run their mouth or away
my minds co beaming like an early sunray
55
One day we’ll get the picture and all combine
less the talking bout mines is mine and becoming one mind
every piece of the puzzle has its place
to build the piece of the puzzle called the human race
Taking it long enough we crush the formal journalistic
dyslexic critters talk backwards to rap words
I’m sure raising my hands with questions and demands
statements and a plan with a map of the land
(chorus)
56
Beweeg De Natie
We leven in een slechte tijd, ‘n agressieve tijd
‘n pijnlijke tijd, een tijd waar cynisme de wijngaard verrot
een tijd waar geweld zonneschijn afblokt
levens gaan voorbij in een flash
op zoek naar liefde op zoek naar cash
zo’n vette magnaat wil iedereen wel zijn
op ‘n tropische huwelijksreis wil iedereen zijn
niemand wil ook maar een beetje uit de toon vallen
of de ruggengraat zijn voor ’n rebels peloton
’t is té vroeg om uit de rij te stappen
ze kunnen met je lachen of j’ erbij lappen
maar begrijp je me als ik zeg de pijn is amper te verdoven
als ik zie hoe mijn vrienden zich uitsloven
en nooit al hun rekeningen kunnen betalen
vergeet het!!
sommigen doen in dodelijke Colombiaanse penicilline
sommigen spelen graag de verrader, dat is relax
de tijd doorbrengen, info doorspelen
of de wijn doorgeven,
de verantwoordelijkheid of de stok doorgeven
maar je kan niet boven politie noch het Pentagon
de fiscus of het hoogste echelon
het is tijd, denk ik, voor ‘n reactie op deze contradictie
(refrein)
Bom-Bom Beweeg de natie
start ’n televisie -en radiorevolutie
Bom-Bom de waarheid komt
bezorg de corporatie wat complicatie
57
Dit is ‘t begin van onze tijd, ik zeg het nog een keer
waarbij ’k de zin van mijn gerijm accentueer
boven alle vuil en viezigheid uit
op ’t juiste moment, juist gekruid
fuck de constitutie
vormen we een uitweg of vormen we de pollutie
toekijken en je afvragen waarom
de dingen niet zijn zoals we zouden willen dat ze zijn, zijn
voor jou, en voor mij of de mensen daar en diegenen daartussen
check waar we wonen, zijn we een vredige natie,
vredige natie
ik heb een sterk vermoeden, ik leg het je uit
‘t heeft geen zin dat je roept of tiert
de NRA kocht eerst een mans ziel
dan springt die op en roept wapenbezit
de regering zegt: doden is ’n zonde, ronduit
tenzij je ‘n moordenaar doodt met een dodelijke spuit,
dus ik vraag het nog eens “zijn we vredelievend dan?”
zesjarigen zwaaien met geweren
anderen eindigen in ‘n hol van twee op twee
dit hele oord lijkt wel op hol te slaan
dus verhef ik mijn stem voor ik m’n ziel afsta
(refrein)
Dit is hoe ik mijn gevoelens eruit laat
de vibe onthuld, gedraaid en tollend op een plaat
ze proberen me af te nemen hoe ik communiceer
via de oeroude gave van de lip die rustig creëert
vluchtige vocale vibraties activeert voor de blinden en
zij die zien mens zijn betekent niet gewoon zijn,
worden, geloof het niet beleef het
bezittingen en dierbaren herhaal’ t of declameer ‘t
schitter en beweeg je tong, leg je wapens neer
strijdmotivatie in geen tijd pen ik teksten neer
soms grappig, soms onzinnig of soms vluchtig
mijn gedachten schijnen als een vroege zonnestraal
58
Op een dag snappen we ‘t wel, dan komt alles samen
minder praten over jezelf, meer één mening vormen
elk stukje van de puzzel heeft zijn plaats
in de puzzel genoemd het menselijk ras
Als we ‘t lang genoeg rekken gaat journalistiek verloren
dyslectische mensen rappen achterstevoren
ik steek zeker mijn hand op, stel vragen en eisen
een verklaring en ‘n plan met een kaart van het land
(refrein)
59
Sometimes
(chorus)
Sometimes, I feel like I can do anything and
sometimes, I’m so alive
sometimes, I feel like I can zoom cross the sky and,
sometimes, I wanna cry
Most people try to aim to please
but a lot of them are kinda weak in the knees
learnin’ late about the birds and the bees
fallin’ in love and wanna be set free
playin’ ball at the age of thirteen
everybody’s growin’ up with a dream
I never noticed what could happen to me
time flies when you ’re walkin’ the streets
one minute gotcha holdin’ an ace
the next minute gotcha fall on yer face
a mean city is a nasty place
only a rat can win a rat race!
peace to the people who be fallin’ away
to make it home today
and peace to the people who be tryin’ to find
some kinda life
(chorus)
Sound body and sound of mind
sound of the rhythm and sound of the rhyme
somebody marchin’ all out of time
biggest mistakes are the humanest kind
judge not, lest you be judged
the court room or the billy club
blood bubblin’ thicker than mud
the heartbeat rub-a-dub-dub
show love and love who you know
family wherever you go
60
Tokyo to Acapulco
bravissimo, magnifico
peace to the people who be losing their head
peace to the people who be needin’ a bed
love to the people who be feelin’ alone
spreadin’ love upon the microphone
hope to the people who be feelin’ down
smile to the people who be wearin’ a frown
faith to the people who be seekin’ the truth y’all
all of the time, and I say
(chorus)
61
Heel Soms
(refrein)
Heel soms, lijkt het alsof ik alles aankan
heel soms, bruis ik van ‘t leven
heel soms, lijkt het alsof ik door de lucht kan zweven
heel soms, wil ik huilen
De meeste mensen willen behagen
maar velen lijken eerder verward te zijn
ze leren laat over de bloem en de bij
worden verliefd en willen vrij zijn
een balletje werpen op je dertien jaar
als je opgroeit jaag je je dromen na
‘k wist nooit wat er van mij worden zou
tijd vliegt wanneer je rondhangt op straat
‘t ene moment kan je alles aan
terwijl je meteen erna op je gezicht kan gaan
‘n gemene stad is een smerige plaats
enkel een rat wint de rat race
vrede aan de mensen die ’t noorden kwijt waren
zodat ze snel weer thuis geraken
en vrede aan de mensen die zich proberen te vinden
in een soort van leven
(refrein)
Een gezond lichaam een gezonde geest
gezond van ritme en gezond van rijm
iemand die uit de maat marcheert
de grootste fouten zijn die die menselijk zijn
Hij zonder zonde werpe d’ eerste steen
‘t rechtssysteem of de gummistok
bloed borrelend, modderdik
de hartslag klop-klop-klop
toon liefde, heb lief wie je kent
familie overal waar je ook bent
62
Tokio tot Acapulco
bravissimo, magnifico
vrede aan de mensen die hun hoofd verliezen
vrede aan de mensen zonder plaats om te wonen
liefde aan de mensen die eenzaam zitten kniezen
liefde verspreiden door de microfoon
hoop aan de mensen met ‘n down gevoel
lach naar de mensen met ‘n frons op hun smoel
vertrouwen aan de mensen op zoek naar waarheid
de hele tijd, en ik zeg
(chorus)
63
Track 7
- Yes, yes, we’re back here on Stay Human Radio. We have a very special guest
with us today. Franklin Shane, the current Governor. Mr. Shane can you here
me there?
* Yeah. I hear you, thank you.
- We would just like to hear what your comments are on the current case of
sister Fatima?
* Well, it’s a pretty open and shut case, really. Sister Fatima was convicted by a
jury of her peers. She killed James and Ellen Buchanan, two fine, upstandin'
citizens of this state and she’s going to get the maximum.
- The maximum being…
* What she deserves, which is the death penalty.
- There’s been a lot of new evidence out there surfacing which shows that Sister
Fatima is possibly innocent
* I didn’t become Governor of this great state to let women like Sister Fatima run
around, dealin’ narcotics, pretendin' to be healers and killing people
° What about your constituents, governor, that don’t back you on this. What
about your constituents that believe her innocent?
* Well, I can’t just cow down to every person who calls themselves my
constituent. I have to do what’s right and this is right in this case.
° Are you sayin', Governor, then, that there is no chance of a pardon in this
case
* There’s no chance of a pardon, no.
64
Track 7
- Ok, goed, we zijn er weer hier op Radio Blijf Menselijk. We hebben een zeer
bijzondere gast bij ons vandaag. Franklin Shane, de huidige Gouverneur.
M. Shane kan u me goed horen ginder?
* Ja. Ik hoor je goed. Dank je
- We zouden graag even uw mening willen horen over de zaak van Zuster Fatima?
* Wel, het is eigenlijk een heel eenvoudige zaak. Zuster Fatima werd veroordeeld
door de volksjury. Ze doodde James en Ellen Buchanan, twee goede,
gerespecteerde burgers van deze staat, en ze krijgt daarvoor het maximum
- Het maximum zijnde…
* Wat ze verdient, en dat is de doodstraf
- Er is nu een hele hoop nieuwe informatie die aan het licht zou brengen dat
Zuster Fatima mogelijk onschuldig is.
* Ik werd geen Gouverneur van deze machtige staat om vrouwen als Zuster
Fatima vrijuit te laten gaan, verdovende middelen te laten dealen, en te doen
alsof ze genezers zijn, terwijl ze mensen vermoorden.
° En wat met uw kiezers, Gouverneur, die u hierin niet steunen. Hoe moet het
met de kiezers die geloven dat ze onschuldig is?
* Wel, ik kan onmogelijk buigen voor elke persoon die zich mijn kiezer noemt. Ik
moet datgene doen wat juist is en dit is juist in deze zaak.
° Wil u daarmee dan zeggen, Gouverneur, dat er geen kans is op gratie in deze
zaak?
* Er is geen kans op gratie, nee.
65
Do Ya Love
So many times, people turn their backs to you
‘cause they don’t wanna see, what’s inside of you
‘cause lookin’ inside of you
they might realize there’s something inside of them
they might not wanna find
But it ain’t about who you love, (who ya love)
See it’s all about do you love (do ya love)
(chorus)
Well well well well
sunshine, and loveliness
ain’t nobody feeling no ugliness tonight
ain’t it fine like sippin’ sweet Georgie wine
see I’m just chillin’ with some friends of mine
I ain’t tryin’ a bother you
so why ya gotta bother me
what goes on in your bedroom, ain’t no mess to me
you say your God don’t like my God
‘cause you don’t like my friends
but your friends tryin’ to kill a man
and I don’t understand
But it ain’t about who ya love (who ya love)
see it’s all about do ya love (do ya love)
Ooh one two three
say yeah say yeah feels so good to me
Ooh! And ya one two three, say yeah, say yeah
feels so good!!!!
66
I say do it at home or on the street
with a drag queen don’t matter to me
it ain’t about sex or having degrees
your pedigree don’t matter to me
about who ya love, (who ya love)
see it’s all about do ya love, (do ya love)
(chorus)
67
Of Je Lief Hebt
Oh zo vaak, keren mensen je de rug toe
ze willen niet zien wat er in je zit
want als ze dat zouden doen
ontdekken ze misschien, dat er in hen iets zit
dat ze liever niet willen zien
Maar het gaat niet om wie je lief hebt (wie je lief hebt)
het gaat erom of je lief hebt (heb je lief?)
(refrein)
Wel wel wel wel
zonneschijn en heerlijkheid
en niemand die zich hier slecht voelt vanavond
zo zalig als nippen aan zoete Georgia wijn
gewoon relax bij wat vrienden zijn
‘k wil geen last voor je zijn
dus waarom ben j’ er een voor mij
wat jij doet in jouw slaapkamer, bespaar het mij
je zegt dat jou God niet van mijn God houdt
want je vindt m’n vrienden maar niets
maar de jouwe trachten ’n man te doden
en dat begrijp ik niet
Maar het gaat niet om wie je lief hebt (wie je lief hebt)
het gaat erom of je lief hebt (heb je lief?)
Ooh een twee drie
zeg ja zeg ja ’t voelt zo goed
Ooh! En van je een twee drie, zeg ja, zeg ja
‘t voelt zo goed!!!!
68
Ik zeg doe het thuis of op ’t straat
met een drag queen, maakt mij niet uit
’t is niet om seks of diploma’s dat ’t gaat
je afkomst, maakt mij niet uit
om wie je lief hebt (wie je lief hebt)
het gaat erom of je lief hebt (heb je lief?)
(refrein)
69
Track 9
- You’re a Christian man, and what do you think about the Bible which says
‘thou shalt not kill’?
* Well, that’s a good question. I think…I think that at the time that the Bible was
written people could not necessarily consider the world we’d be living in now.
It’s a desperate time and it calls for desperate measures and if you ‘d think
about it too, there ‘s an overpopulation situation in the world and we 're gonna
eliminate the people who do not function within the society and we ‘re gonna
encourage those who do.
- How are you going to eliminate them?
* Well, there’s various means; there’s electrically, there's cyanide gas, there are a
lot of different options for these people. It’s relatively painless, it’s not cruel and
it makes more room in our prison systems today and frankly they’re
overcrowded so it’s an actually much more humane thing to do for the rest of
the prison population.
° If you’re accusing Sister Fatima of a crime such as murder, aren’t you therefore
committing the same crime by killing her?
* That’s a left-wing thinko philosophy, if I ever heard it.
70
Track 9
- U bent een christelijk man, wat vindt u dan van de bijbel die zegt ‘gij zult niet
doden’?
* Wel, dat is een goeie vraag. Ik denk…Ik denk dat toen de bijbel geschreven
werd, mensen niet meteen een idee hadden over de wereld waarin we nu leven.
Dit is een harde tijd en dat vraagt om harde maatregelen en zeg nu zelf, er
heerst een situatie van overbevolking in de wereld en dus moeten we zij die niet
functioneren binnen de maatschappij elimineren en zij die dat wel doen
stimuleren.
- Hoe zou u hen dan precies elimineren?
* Wel, er zijn verschillende middelen; er is de elektrische stoel, er is cyanide, er
zijn verschillende mogelijkheden voor zulke mensen. Het is redelijk pijnloos,
het is niet wreed en het maakt meer ruimte vrij in ons gevangenissysteem van
vandaag want eerlijk gezegd, het zit overvol. Het is dus in feite ook een veel
menselijkere oplossing voor de rest van de gevangenispopulatie.
° Wanneer u Zuster Fatima beschuldigt van een misdaad als moord, begaat u
dan nu niet dezelfde misdaad door haar te executeren?
* Dat is wel een erg linkse manier van denken.
71
Soulshine
The world around
gotcha down
you got high blood pressure people pushin’ you around
and some wanna tell you how you should behave
cut your hair the right way, tell you what to say,
hang out with the right folks,
become a fashion slave
But do you wanna feel free
but do you wanna feel freaky and free
but do you wanna feel free
do you wanna feel free, free, free, freaky and free
(chorus)
Take ya time
unwind ya mind
we all need a little soulshine
take ya time
unwind ya mind
we could use a little soulshine
9 to 5, people tryin’ a stay alive
hard livin’ in the city
find a diamond in the sewer but the gas bills rise
but I got to say to them what’s it all mean
ya got to take a loan
to pay the bill on the phone
educated, graduated but you can’t get a job
But do you wanna feel free
but do you wanna feel freaky and free
but do you wanna feel free
do you wanna feel free, free, free, freaky and free
(chorus)
72
Zieleschijn
De wereld rond jou
maakte je down
je hebt ’n hoge bloeddruk, mensen commanderen jou
en sommigen zeggen hoe jij je moet gedragen
knip je haar zoals ’t moet, ze zeggen wat je zeggen moet
zorg dat je juiste mensen kent
volg elke modetrend
Maar wil je ’n vrij gevoel
maar wil je ‘n freaky en vrij gevoel
maar wil je ’n vrij gevoel
maar wil je ’n vrij, vrij, vrij en freaky gevoel
(refrein)
Neem je tijd
ontspannen zijn
we hebben allemaal nood aan zieleschijn
neem je tijd
ontspannen zijn
we hebben ‘t nodig, wat zieleschijn
Van 9 tot 5 blijft een mens overeind
’t is hard leven in de stad
lichten fonkelen als diamanten, maar de gasrekening stijgt
maar ik moet aan hen uitleggen waar ’t voor staat
als je ’n lening aangaat
de telefoonrekening betaalt
gestudeerd, gediplomeerd, maar je staat op straat
Maar wil je ’n vrij gevoel
maar wil je ‘n freaky en vrij gevoel
maar wil je ’n vrij gevoel
maar wil je ’n vrij, vrij, vrij en freaky gevoel
(refrein)
73
Every Single Soul
(chorus)
No matter where I roam
whoa-oh I know every single soul is a poem
written on the back of God’s hand
Ya see Moms and Pops be copulatin’
plantin’ seeds and pickin’ weeds for another season
another reason for livin’, another reason for givin’
another reason for lovin’ and tryin’ a stay out of prison
‘cause everything in life can’t be nice and
everything you want can’t be got
but the lessons on being patient be causing the pressure to rise
and make some people suicidal
Oh no! another soul, has lost control
we pull him back into the fold
he got strung out on the material
all the superficial initials
upon his clothes
they make me wanna go Sprewell
every time I see my family locked in jail
uh-huh, the economic can be demonical oh!
keep love in your soul
(chorus)
Ya see people are so beautiful in love
that’s why I’m reminded of life’s precious moments every time
I see lovers walkin’ by in the park
close my eyes and I stop reminisce
to see a little baby suckin’ on his mama’s
milk-ey silky smoothness of a lovin’ caress holdin’ baby to breast
and blessin’ the world with another to test, test, test
Oh-yes, oh-yes Bom-bom!
74
I’d like to sing a little song
dedicated to the people who would like to sing along
‘cause every little song has little beats and notes
like every little lake has little trees and boats
all people deserve a safe and warm home ’cause every single soul is a poem
(chorus)
Right from the start in a world torn apart
a baby’s love leaves finger prints upon the heart
So many think it, but never say it
“why bring a child to this planet full of hatred?”
they might not make it like the youngest departed
or worst of all they might become a part of it
involved in it, perpetuating violence, violence
and growin’ up in silence…
seein’ things they don’t know how to deal with
and learnin’ ways, to try to cope with it,
cope with it, cope with it…and not lose hope.
(chorus)
75
Ieder’ Andere Ziel
(refrein)
‘t maakt niet uit waar ík beland
whoa-oh voor mij is ieder’ andere ziel poëzie
geschreven op de rug van Gods hand
Want weet je, mama’s en papa’s copuleren
planten zaad en wieden onkruid voor ’n ander seizoen
’n andere reden om te leven of om te geven
’n andere reden voor liefde, ’n leven uit de cel proberen
want niet alles in ’t leven kan leuk zijn
niet alles wat je wil, dat krijg je
maar door lessen over geduldig zijn, is de druk gestegen
en gaan mensen zelfmoord overwegen
Oh! Nee, weer een ziel verliest controle
we doen hem stoppen met ronddolen
hij raakte verslaafd aan het materiële
al de oppervlakkige initialen op z’n kleren
ik raak buiten mijn zinnen
elke keer er familie in de cel zit
Uh-huh de economie is vaak demonisch
bewaar liefde in je ziel
(refrein)
Want weet je, mensen zijn zo mooi als ze verliefd zijn
en daarom word ik herinnerd aan wat waardevol is in’t leven
als ik verliefden zie passeren in het park
sluit ‘k m’n ogen en stop en denk terug
aan een kleine baby sabbelend aan zijn mama’s
melk – en zijdeachtige zachtheid van het teder gebaar
van ‘n baby aan haar borst
en ze zegent de wereld met iemand nieuw die haar test, test, test
76
Oh-ja, oh-ja Bom bom!
graag zing ik ‘n korte song
opgedragen aan al wie graag mee zong
want elke korte song heeft zijn beats en noten
net als elk klein meertje bomen en boten
een veilig warm huis, is wat ieder verdient
want ieder’ andere ziel is poëzie.
(refrein)
Vanaf ’t begin in een verscheurde omgeving
laat een baby’s liefde ’n afdruk na op het hart
velen denken‘t, maar zeggen ’t niet
“waarom een kind zetten op ’n wereld vol haat?”
ze zouden het misschien niet aankunnen
of erger nog, misschien worden z’ er een deel van,
raken ze betrokken, blijven ze geweld bedrijven
en groeien z’ op in stilzwijgen…
dingen zien die ze niet verstaan
en leren hoe er best mee om te gaan,
om te gaan, om te gaan…de hoop niet verliezen
(refrein)
77
Track 12
- We have a caller on there, caller go ahead
+ Brother Soulshine, I love your show
- Thank you so much
+ Thanks for keepin' the peace! I wanna talk tonight about Sister Fatima. I just
think that it’s an awful shame the way the Governor wants to turn this into a
political circus and use this for his own benefit. I feel that Sister 's been a real
rock solid root in the community and relieved a lot of suffering.
She made a lot of people’s lives better, she’s been working with the medical
marijuana and disabled people and she's being made into some kind of devil by
people who themselves are just looking out to keep their jobs and, you know,
she's just lookin' to keep her life and there’s been a lot of new evidence and I
just want that to be heard.
- Sounds like you’ve had some experiences with her in the community. Now, just
judging on her character from what you know, do you think there is any
possibility that she could have killed these two people?
+ It would be like looking at your own grandmother and asking that question.
78
Track 12
- We hebben een luisteraar aan de lijn. Ja, zeg het maar.
+ Brother Soulshine, ik vind de show fantastisch.
- Dank u, Dank u.
+ Bedankt om de vrede te bewaren! Ik wil het vanavond hebben over Zuster
Fatima. Ik vind de manier waarop de Gouverneur de zaak wil veranderen in een
politiek circus en haar wil gebruiken voor zijn eigen voordeel een vreselijke
schande. Zuster Fatima was een echte rots in de samenleving en ze verlichtte
heel wat leed. Ze maakte het leven van velen beter, ze werkte met medische
marihuana en invaliden en ze wordt nu afgeschilderd als een soort van duivel
door mensen die er zelf enkel maar op uit zijn om hun job te behouden, weet je,
zij wil gewoon haar leven behouden en er zijn nu veel nieuwe bewijzen en ik wil
dat deze gehoord worden.
- Dat klinkt alsof je haar echt aan het werk hebt gezien in de gemeenschap. Als je
haar nu moest beoordelen louter op haar karakter, voor zover je haar kent,
denk je dan dat er een kans is dat ze deze twee mensen heeft vermoord?
+ Dat zou zijn alsof je naar je eigen grootmoeder keek en dezelfde vraag stelde.
79
Love ’ll Set Me Free
Seems like every day gets a little bit longer
seems like yesterday I was a little bit stronger
but there ain’t nothin’
nothin’ I can do
but to hold my ground
try not to come unwound
don’t wanna be let down
but it ain’t easy, no! it ain’t easy
doin’ hard time
for somebody else’s crime
(chorus)
Hate is what got me here
but I know that love sweet love is gonna set me free
all the hatred in the world is what got me here today
but I know that love is gonna set me free
Man I’ve been away for so long now
I ain’t seen no daylight for God knows how long now
I come out fightin’ when I hear that bell ring
I always hear my name
but I’d love to feel the rain come down one mo time
wash away my pain
love like a hurricane
(chorus)
80
Liefde Zal Me Bevrijden
’t Lijkt of elke dag wordt een beetje langer
en was ‘k gisteren nu niet wat sterker?
maar er is niets
niets dat ik kan doen
behalve verder gaan
geen ontspannen bestaan
‘k kan geen teleurstelling aan
maar ’t is niet simpel, nee! Niet simpel
je tijd uit doen
onschuldig boete doen
(chorus)
Haat is wat me hier bracht
maar ik weet dat liefde zoete liefde me zal bevrijden
alle haat in de wereld is wat me hier bracht
maar ik weet dat liefde me bevrijden zal
Man, ‘k ben al zolang, lang weg nu
ik zag al geen daglicht meer sinds God weet hoe lang nu
ik zit vol strijdlust wanneer ‘k de bel hoor gaan
dan hoor ik steeds m’ n naam
en ‘k zou graag nog eens weten hoe regen voelt
die m’ n pijn wegspoelt
vrijen als een orkaan
(chorus)
81
Thank You
When I was a younger man
people say don’t dream too tall
‘cause if you live your life that way
you set yourself up for big falls
I stay up late in my room at night
play my heroes on the turntable
opened me to pure phat groove
help my soul break down them walls
(chorus)
I thank you
I thank you for all the music that you’ve shown to me
I thank you
‘cause you set me free
free to simply just be me
You don’t know
all the influence
the subtle positives
that you had on me
came about like a renaissance
like a little happy dance
got into my feet
but in your time
the roads you chose
led you to your hard luck blues
I always feared what it was like
to live inside your big old shoes
(chorus)
Do ya love music? “I do!!!”
do ya love music? “I do!!!”
82
Dank Je
Toen ik nog veel jonger was
zeiden mensen me zie het niet te groots
want als je zo je leven leidt
loop je wel eens tegen de muur
‘k bleef ’s avonds laat op in m’n kamer
speelde m’n helden op de draaitafel
z’ onthulden mij pure, vette grooves
hielpen mijn ziel die muren te doorbreken
(refrein)
Ik dank je
ik dank je voor alle muziek die je toonde aan mij
ik dank je
want je maakte me vrij
vrij om gewoon mezelf te zijn
J’ hebt geen idee
van de invloed
en ’t subtiel optimisme
dat je op me had
‘t kwam tot stand als ‘n renaissance
als een vrolijk dansje dat
me dansen doet
maar in jouw tijd
leidden de wegen die je koos je
naar je melancholische blues
‘k was altijd bang voor hoe ‘t zou zijn
om in jouw grote, oude schoenen te staan
(refrein)
Hou je van muziek? Ik wel
hou je van muziek? Ik wel
83
Track 15
- You’re listenin' to Stay Human Radio and we are very, very blessed this
afternoon to be joined by a very special caller on a very sorrowful day. We have
on the line with us Sister Fatima callin' us live from death row. How are you
feelin' today Sister
§ Well, I can ‘t say I’m feeling really good, because I'm facing immanent death…
however my spirit is strong. I know the love of my people is with me and I know
that my spirit will be free in any case.
- What do you have to say to people on this last evening?
§ I have to say, and make it very clear, that I’m innocent. I did not do this crime,
I’m not a murderer and I think that people know that I’m not a murderer,
because I've been a healer, I’ve been working in the community for decades. I’ve
been serving the people, body and soul, I’ve been trying to spread love, not
hate. Politicians want to kill me, but they will never kill my spirit and they will
never kill the spirit of our people and our willingness to die for freedom.
- What do you think is the main reason that they’ve selected you as the
scapegoat in this?
§ They wanna put a stop to my advocacy. They know that I advocate revolution.
They know that I want to unite people, whereas they want to keep people
divided. They’re afraid of our unity because we are the overwhelming majority.
They’re a tiny minority now and they know that.
- Well Sister, we thank you for calling in and we 'll continue to keep you in our
thoughts and prayers and we still have faith that they will not execute you
tonight. And we thank you and pray for you.
§ Thank you very much for your concern and for your love and long live the
spirits of Malcolm and Martin, George and Jonathan. “La lucha continua,
venceremos!”
- Peace.
84
Track 15
- Je luistert naar Radio Blijf Menselijk en we zijn heel erg vereerd deze namiddag
met het gezelschap van een erg bijzondere beller op een erg treurige dag. We
hebben nu Zuster Fatima aan de lijn, rechtstreeks vanuit death row. Zuster,
hoe voel je je vandaag?
§ Wel, ik kan niet zeggen dat ik me echt goed voel, met de dood voor ogen…maar
mijn geest houdt zich sterk. Ik voel de liefde van mijn volk om me heen en ik
weet dat mijn geest sowieso vrij zal zijn.
- Wat wil je nog zeggen aan de mensen op deze laatste avond?
§ Ik wil nog zeggen, en laat dat duidelijk zijn, dat ik onschuldig ben. Ik heb dit
niet gedaan, ik ben geen moordenaar en ik denk dat de mensen dat weten, want
ik ben een genezer en heb decennia lang in de samenleving gewerkt. Ik heb
mensen gediend, lichaam en ziel, ik heb geprobeerd liefde te verspreiden, geen
haat. Politici willen me vermoorden, maar ze zullen nooit mijn geest doden,
noch de geest van ons volk of onze wil om te sterven voor vrijheid.
- Wat is de voornaamste reden dat ze u als zwart schaap hebben uitverkoren,
denkt u?
§ Ze willen beletten dat ik mensen beïnvloed. Ze weten dat ik pleit voor revolutie.
Ze weten dat ik mensen wil verenigen waar zij mensen verdeeld willen houden.
Ze zijn bang voor onze eenheid omdat we een grote meerderheid vormen. Zij zijn
slechts een kleine minderheid nu, en dat weten ze ook.
- Wel, Zuster, we danken u om ons te bellen en we houden u in onze gedachten
en gebeden en we geloven nog steeds dat men u niet zal executeren vanavond.
We danken u en bidden voor u.
§ Heel erg bedankt voor jullie bezorgdheid en liefde en lang leve de ziel van
Malcolm en Martin, George en Jonathan. “La lucha continua, venceremos!”
(de strijd gaat verder, we zullen winnen!)
- Peace.
85
We Don’t Mind
(chorus)
We don’t mind
see we been doin’ it all the time
but if you want us to sacrifice
you will not get it without a price
we don’t mind
see we been doin’ it all the time
but if you want us to sacrifice
you gotta give something back to life
you think I’m vulnerable to your pressure tactics
because I shed a tear, ‘cause I shed a tear
you think I’m vulnerable to your violence
just ‘cause I’m sittin’ here
but my babies came into this world
without a single fear, say they had no fear
‘cause the seven generations before me
they all fought to get us here
(chorus)
You can’t just come in here like that no more
and snatch up our childhood
you can’t just walk on up
and replace it yo, with you Hollywood
but I see now
how all of the words I say you’ll take and misconstrue
and I’m prepared now
to suffer the penalties for speakin’ the truth
and I speak the truth when I say
(chorus)
86
People if you here me now I wanchta to say
Naa, na-naa, na-naa, naah
People if you hear me now I wantcha to say
Naa, na-naa, na-naa, naah
87
’t Maakt Ons Niet Uit
(refrein)
’t Maakt ons niet uit
want we deden het al altijd
maar als je offers van ons vereist
dan betaal je daarvoor de prijs
’t maakt ons niet uit
want we deden het al altijd
maar als je offers van ons vereist
geef dan ons leven’ n duw vooruit
Je denkt dat ik kwetsbaar ben voor je verdrukking
omdat ik een traan laat, een traan laat
je denkt dat ik kwetsbaar ben voor je geweld
gewoon omdat ik hier sta
maar mijn baby’s kwamen in deze wereld
zonder de minste angst, niet één angst
want de zeven generaties voor mij
vochten voor onze plaats hier
(refrein)
Je kan hier niet zomaar binnenlopen
en ons onze jeugd afnemen
je kan niet zomaar aankloppen
als j’ alles vervangen moet, door je Hollywood
maar nu weet ik
dat je alles wat ik je zei, helemaal verkeerd begreep
en ‘k ben bereid nu
om de gevolgen te dragen als ik de waarheid spreek
en dat doe ik ook wanneer ik zeg
(refrein)
88
Iedereen die me horen kan, zeg
Naa, na-naa, na-naa, naah
Iedereen die me horen kan
Naa, na-naa, na-naa, naah
89
Track 17
° You’re still listenin' to Stay Human Radio where we’re waiting word right now
from Sunny Hill Women’s correctional facility on the status of the scheduled
execution of Sister Fatima. I think I hear Brother Soulshine coming down the
hall perhaps he has news of what happened, Brother?
- Eh, yes Sister, we just received word that at 12.37 a.m. Sister Fatima was
injected with a lethal dose of chemicals and at 12.45 she was pronounced dead.
So, we' re gonna keep on with the music here, but…eh…wanna encourage
everybody just to hold the vibes out there. Peace.
90
Track 17
° Je luistert nog steeds naar Radio Blijf Menselijk waar we wachten op nieuws
vanuit de Sunny Hill vrouwengevangenis over hoe het zit met de geplande
executie van Zuster Fatima. Ik denk dat ik Brother Soulshine in de hal hoor,
misschien dat hij nieuws heeft over wat er gebeurd is, Brother?
- Euh, ja zuster, we kregen net te horen dat Zuster Fatima om 00.37u. werd
geïnjecteerd met een dodelijke dosis chemische stoffen en dat ze om 00.45u.
dood verklaard werd. Dus, we gaan verder met de muziek hier, maar…euh…ik
wil iedereen aanmoedigen om de goeie vibes niet los te laten. Peace.
91
Speaking Of Tongues
You don’t have to be so scared to share what’s inside
‘cause you’re Daddy’s little superstar, and your mama’s little butterfly
Fly high…
A strange strange litany of verses and reverses
ad-libs and rehearses
clouds burst and words cursed
an argument breaks out
it’s one we’ve all heard before, it’s boring
had us all snoring from the first line
one after another chimed in perfect time
tired rehashes of petty cashes and mismatches
you shoulda coulda’s
and “why didn’tcha dida’s”
crippling snippets aimed at the heart
to inflame and impart blame
framed like Mumia
verbal diarrhea spasms
creating chasms between the souls of two
or two billion
nations torn apart,
station to station damnation,
with much deliberation and very little consideration
to the return on the damage from the altercation,
collateral condemnation
then denyin’ like colorization of an old black and white
create a revision of the recent last night
the fight that started with two words “I’m right”
(chorus)
You don’t have to be so scared to share what’s inside
‘cause your Daddy’s little superstar, and your mama’s little butterfly
Fly high…
92
But of course the fight ends with no resolution
merely a vow for retribution, substitution, execution, electrocution
ruthless, toothless, and truthless
mumbling through page after page of excuses
abuses of the gift of gab
Gabriel the trumpeter
bestowed upon us a voice with a choice
and a tongue kept moist by years of salivating
for oysters…pearls and aphrodisiacs
locked in an ugly shell always too chewy and gooey
so they get swallowed whole,
but a tongue is so much more than a vehicle for greed
or the decipherer of feed,
a tongue is for washing fur
or for licking wounds
or for welcoming newcomers into a room
or cleansing those fresh from the womb
without a tongue there’s be no croons,
swoons, Junes under the moon,
no bees pollinating no flowers to bloom,
no recitation of words at the foot of a tomb
or wills read allowed of the family heirlooms
you probably couldn’t even blow up a balloon,
and that would be a shame,
because to exhale’s the name of the game
exhale from the heart, not from the lungs
speak from the heart, not from the tongue
(chorus)
Listening is understanding
and finding compassion, love is the action
of soul satisfaction
a tongue can make wishes and also fine kisses
taste a sweet cake and also cast disses
but nothing compares to the voice from within,
without it we might just be mannequins,
up to no darn good shenanigans
93
learn to be skillful movers of the stones
that block the heart and turn humans to clones
learn to forgive, set free the bones,
touch with your flesh, take off the rubber gloves
love like your life depends on it
because it does!!!!!!
(chorus)
94
Geen Gespleten Tongen
Je moet niet zo bang zijn om te tonen wie je bent
want je bent papa’s kleine superster, en mama’s kleine vlindertje
Vlieg hoog…
Een zeer vreemde litanie van strofen en refreinen
improvisaties en herhalingen
wolken breken, woorden vloeken
een conflict ontstaat
het is ons niet onbekend, hoe vervelend
meteen bij de eerste zin overviel ons allen moeheid
’t een woord na ‘t andere weerklinkt perfect op tijd
afgezaagde ruzies over geld en relaties
je zou moeten, zou kunnen
en “waarom deed je ’t niet”
verlammende woordjes doelend op het hart
kritiek ontsteken en mededelen
vals beschuldigd zoals Mumia
krampen van al dat gezever
een kloof creëren tussen de zielen van twee
of van twee miljard
verscheurde naties,
van station naar station verdoemenis
met veel opzet en weinig begrip
als antwoord op de schade veroorzaakt door twist
toevallige veroordeling
en ‘t dan ontkennen zoals de inkleuring van een oude zwart-wit film
alles herzien van de voorbije nacht
’t conflict dat begon met 3 woorden “ik heb gelijk”
(refrein)
Je moet niet zo bang zijn om te tonen wie je bent
want je bent papa’s kleine superster, en mama’s kleine vlindertje
Vlieg hoog…
95
En natuurlijk eindigt ‘t conflict zonder ‘n oplossing
enkel een belofte van vergelding, vervanging, executie, elektrocutie
meedogenloos, krachteloos en onoprecht
pagina na pagina excuses prevelen
misbruik maken van ‘n gladde tong
Gabriël de trompetspeler
schonk ons een stem met een keuze
en een tong die nat bleef door jaren snakken
naar oesters…parels en afrodisiaca
opgesloten in een lelijke schelp, altijd te taai en slijmerig
daarom worden ze in hun geheel doorgeslikt
maar een tong is zoveel meer dan een drager van gulzigheid
of de ontcijferaar van eten
een tong dient om pels te wassen
of om wonden schoon te likken
of om nieuwkomers welkom te heten
of om hen vers van de baarmoeder te reinigen
zonder de tong kan je niet neuriën
geen flauwtes, geen juni onder de maan
geen bijen die bestuiven, geen bloemen die bloeien
geen declamatie van woorden aan de voet van een graf
of testamenten voorgelezen die erfstukken toekennen
je zou niet eens een ballon kunnen opblazen
en dat zou zonde zijn
want uitademen is waar het om gaat
uitademen vanuit het hart, niet van de longen
spreek vanuit het hart, niet vanaf de tong
(refrein)
Luisteren is begrijpen
en medeleven vinden, liefde is de actie
van zielsatisfactie
een tong kan wensen en ook zoet kussen
een lekkere cake proeven en door beledigingen iemand raken
maar niets is te vergelijken met de innerlijke stem
zonder haar zouden we gewoon etalagepoppen zijn
die enkel op stomme rotstreken uit zijn
96
leer om vaardig de stenen te verwijderen
die het hart blokkeren en mensen veranderen in klonen
leer te vergeven, bevrijd de beenderen
raak dingen aan met je vlees, weg met rubberen handschoenen
heb lief alsof je leven er vanaf hangt
want dat is ook zo !!!!
(refrein)
97
Track 19
- We have a special report from Brother Jilaal who is outside the Governor’s
house. Brother Jilaal how are you doing out there?
# Actually, I'm not doin' too good, Brother Soulshine, as you 've heard it’s official
the Governor has won by a landslide.
- I’ve just been handed a piece of paper, let’s see what it’s gonna have. Oh my
god, it says here that the real killer of James and Ellen Buchanan came
forward.
# Wait a minute, Brother Soulshine, I’m getting on my radio as well. Yeah, this is
breaking news, they say they have found, as a matter of fact he has come
forward saying that he’s the actual killer of the couple that allegedly Sister
Fatima murdered. Eh, wait a minute.
- Oh my god, so Sister Fatima was innocent? They killed an innocent woman?
# Wait a minute, he’s actually providing the authorities with the weapon that he
supposedly used to kill the couple and he’s actually showing where the bodies
were buried…this is unbelievable
- This is incredible, I can’t believe this! Has Governor Shane commented at all?
# Wait a minute, they’re going crazy, man. It’s a mass hysteria around here.
Obviously, the word has gotten out to the public and these people are going
stark raving mad around here!
- I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it…
# Hold on one second, Brother Soulshine. Unbelievable, man!
- What happened?
# Someone said they heard gunshots from the Governor’s mansion
- What?
# Hold on a second. Hold on. Obviously something is really goin' on inside the
Governor's mansion. They say they 've heard gunshots from the Governor’s
mansion.
- Oh my god, this is crazy! I can’t believe it!
# This is insane, I have no idea of what’s going on. Brother, as soon as I find out
something, I will get back to you
- All right.
98
Track 19
- Nu volgt een speciaal verslag van Brother Jilaal die voor het huis van de
Gouverneur staat. Brother Jilaal, alles ok ginder?
# Ik voel me niet al te best, Brother Soulshine. Zoals je hoorde is het officieel dat
de Gouverneur een verpletterende overwinning behaalde.
- Ze geven me hier net een papiertje, even kijken wat erop staat. Mijn God, er
staat hier dat de echte moordenaar van James en Ellen Buchanan zich bekend
heeft gemaakt.
# Wacht even, Brother Soulshine, ik hoor ook wat op mijn radio. Ja, dit is een
primeur. Ze zeggen dat ze de echte moordenaar hebben gevonden van het
koppel dat Zuster Fatima zou hebben vermoord, of beter gezegd hij heeft zich
zelf aangegeven. Wacht even.
- Oh nee, dus Zuster Fatima was onschuldig? Ze hebben een onschuldige vrouw
omgebracht?
# Wacht even, hij heeft zowaar het wapen bij de politie ingeleverd waarmee hij
waarschijnlijk het koppel vermoord heeft en hij toont zelfs waar de lichamen
begraven zijn…dit is niet te geloven
- Dit is ongelofelijk, ik kan het niet geloven! Heeft Gouverneur Shane al
commentaar gegeven?
# Wacht even, ze worden hier gek, man. Het is hier een massahysterie. Het
nieuws heeft duidelijk het grote publiek bereikt en ze worden hier stapelgek!
- Het is niet te geloven, ik geloof het niet…
# Blijf even aan de lijn, Brother Soulshine. Ongelofelijk, man!
- Wat is er gebeurd?
# Iemand beweerde geweerschoten te horen in het Gouverneurshuis
- Wat?
# Wacht even. Wacht. Er is blijkbaar echt iets gaande binnenin het huis. Ze
zeggen dat er geweerschoten klonken vanuit het Gouverneurshuis.
- Oh God, dit is waanzinnig! Niet te geloven!
# Dit is krankzinnig, ik heb geen idee van wat er aan de hand is. Brother, zodra
ik meer weet, kom ik bij jullie terug.
- In orde.
99
Listener Supported
Six foot six above sea level
I grab the mic because I like to take you to anotha mental level
low power frequency radio modulation
the big sound from underground anotha pirate station
we bring the truth to places truth is never heard before
we bring the sound communication of our tribal war
dark vision fly by helicopters in the night
attempt triangulation of our station in the fight
straight from the bass the deep down low precision
high crime treason we broadcastin’ sedission
like the wall street mornin’ afternoon edition
commandeering airwaves from unknown positions
(chorus)
Live and direct we comin’ never pre-recorded
with information that will never be reported
disregard the mainstream media distorted
whoop! whoop!
we comin’ listener supported
Don’t take no prisoners if you can’t afford to feed none
don’t start no fights if you cannot predict the outcome
don’t make donations where you cannot get your dough back
fuck the apathetic bullshittas send ’em all your prozac
I will not climb into your telephone tree
and “hell no you can’t put me on hold!!!”
it’s the same recorded message you been singin’ all along
keep handin’ us the bible while you walkin’ off with all the gold
the bureaucratic office sends you merry-go-rounding
while the KKK police the streets by blood hounding
interest on the credit card just keeps on compounding
but the FCC can neva shut this pirate sound down
(chorus)
100
Gesteund Door Jullie
Een meter vijfennegentig boven de zeespiegel
neem ik de micro om je te vervoeren naar ‘n andere mentale level
de radio afstemmen op een lagere frequentie
’t alternatieve geluid, nog ’n clandestiene zender
we brengen de waarheid naar onwetende locaties
we staan voor het geluid van onze tribale strijd
de sombere gedaantes van helikopters in de nacht
lokaliseren onze zender in gevecht
recht vanuit de bas de laagste, innerlijke precisie
misdadig hoogverraad, we zenden oproer uit
net als de wall street ochtend -en namiddageditie
luchtgolven opeisen vanuit ongekende posities
(refrein)
We gaan live en direct, nooit vooraf opgenomen
geven informatie die men nooit publiek zal tonen
negeren de mainstream media die alles vervormen
whoop! whoop!
worden gesteund door ons publiek
Neem geen gevangenen als je hen geen eten kan geven
begin geen gevecht als je ’t resultaat niet op voorhand kan weten
maak geen schenkingen als je niets terug krijgt van je poen
fuck de apathische zeikerds, stuur hen al je prozac toe
ik wil geen deel uitmaken van je telefoonketting
en geen sprake van dat je mij aan ’t lijntje houdt
met dezelfde opgenomen boodschap van altijd
ons de bijbel blijven aanreiken terwijl j’ er vandoor gaat met het goud
de bureaucratie stuurt je van ‘t kastje naar de muur
terwijl de KKK de straten controleert elk uur
de interest op de credit cards blijft maar stijgen
maar de censuur zal dit rebels geluid nooit doen zwijgen
(refrein)
101
Track 21
° We have more breaking news. We have recently confirmed the report that at
2.35 this afternoon Governor Franklin Shane died from a gunshot wound to
the head. The wound was apparently self-inflicted. In the aftermath of this,
reports have surfaced all over the internet about the truth to this whole story
that the mainstream media has refused to report.
- That’s right. You know I really feel that it’s time, personally, that we start to
take the media into our own hands and become the media ourselves. We need
to start opening our own stations. In fact I've heard there are a lot of stations
opening…
< Freeze, it’s the FBI, down…get out!!!
° The FBI is busting in the door!
< Shut that thing of!!
< Get your ass down on the ground!!!
° STAY HUMAN!
< This is no bull_____________________
102
Track 21
° We hebben nog een primeur. Het bericht dat Gouverneur Franklin Shane om
14.35u deze namiddag stierf aan een schotwond aan het hoofd, is net bevestigd.
Blijkbaar heeft hij het zelf gedaan. In de nasleep hiervan, verschijnen overal
verslagen op het internet over de waarheid achter dit hele verhaal dat de
toonaangevende media weigerden te rapporteren
- Inderdaad. Weet je, ik heb persoonlijk echt het gevoel dat het tijd is dat we de
media in eigen handen nemen en zelf de media worden. We moeten onze eigen
radiostations weer opstarten. Ik hoorde dat er weer veel stations opengaan…
< Blijven staan, FBI, liggen…naar buiten!!
° De FBI is binnengevallen!
< Sluit dat ding af!
< Ga liggen, verdomme!!!
° BLIJF MENSELIJK
< Dit is geen______________
Featuring:
°
*
+
§
#
<
= Brother Soulshine
= The Nubian Poetess
= Governor Franklin Shane
= Caller
= Sister Fatima
= Brother Jilaal
= FBI
103
Skin On The Drum
* I’m a little under the weather today
too much pepper spray can make a brother congested, ya know what I’m sayin’
But the harder they hit us, the louder we become
kinda like the skin on the drum *
I was born botanical
the soul of an animal
deep beneath the layers, I sink my roots,
no need for mechanical
I come strictly organical
when I need to feast, I look to the East
that’s why I’m never scared of the beast
even though they try to prey upon me
I’m protected by the one always greater than me
so now I reveal to thee
because you wanna see
the contour of my mystery
the strength of my arches
the color of my conscience
and the way that I process my diction
some fact some fiction some mystery
and some future fantasy
I’m the trunk that holds the branches
the leaves who do the dances
my flowers romantic
my love gigantic
from Africa, transplanted transatlantic
in the heat of the sun
I bring shade for everyone
like the beat on the one
I’m the skin on the drum
104
(chorus)
I keep on living with the fullness of the one
like the heat of the sun or the skin on the drum
I’m fully marinated and now I’m ready for the fire
so you can fire one!!!
fire one!!! fire two…!!!
See I been fully marinated
and now I’m ready for the fire
see I’m beginning to perspire
from deep within to the skin
yo, the feminine and the masculine
the pieces of the puzzle
see me reflections in the puddle
after the storm the purple of the sky
brings to mind another time
when we resided
below the water line
life was fine there human, divine
but in the years following
evil men came, swallowing
everything in sight
some learned to run, some stayed to fight
I kneeled at the tomb of the soldier
said I would love to behold her
the magic in store there
she touched me on the shoulder
she said, “in time all is revealed, Box of light be unsealed…
…now listen to me son, be like the skin on the drum.”
(chorus)
And as all the pepper gas clears and police and protesters go home
just as the morning dew, are teardrops of the night,
my emotions are always therefore you
and will never leave you dry…Bless…
105
Het Vel op de Drum
* Ik voel me nogal slecht vandaag
van te veel pepper spray kan je nu eenmaal moeilijk ademen, weet je
Maar hoe harder ze ons raken, hoe luider we worden
’n beetje zoals het vel op de drum *
Ik ben als een plant met
de ziel van een dier
diep onder de lagen, duw ik mijn wortels
geen nood aan het mechanische
ik doe ’t uitsluitend organisch
wanneer ik wil genieten, kijk ik naar het Oosten
en ik ben nooit bang voor het beest
ook al proberen ze te jagen op mij
toch ben ik beschermd door hij die groter is dan ik
dus onthul ik je nu
omdat je wil zien
de omtrek van mijn mysterie
de sterkte van mijn bogen
de kleur van mijn geweten
en wat ik doe met woorden
soms feiten, soms fictie, soms mysterie
en soms ook toekomstfantasie
ik ben de stam die de takken vasthoudt
de dansende bladeren
mijn romantische bloemen
mijn gigantische liefde
die vanuit Afrika verplant is, transatlantisch
in de hitte van de zon
breng ik schaduw alom
zoals de slag op d’ eerste tel
ben ik voor de drum het drumvel
106
(refrein)
Ik blijf leven door ’t volle van d’ eerste tel
zoals de hitte van de zon of het drumvel
‘k ben compleet gemarineerd en dus voor ’t vuur gereed
dus vuur maar af!!!
vuur een keer!!! vuur twee keer!!!
‘k Ben compleet gemarineerd
en dus voor ’t vuur gereed
en nu begint het gezweet
van binnenuit naar de huid
het vrouwelijke en het mannelijke
de stukjes van de puzzel
in de plas zie ik mijn reflecties
in de hemel na de storm ’n purperen projectie
die me doet denken aan ’n andere tijd
toen we woonden
onder de waterlijn
’t leven was daar fijn, menselijk, goddelijk
maar in de jaren die volgden
kwamen slechte mensen, en die verzwolgen
alles in zicht
sommige leerden vluchten, anderen bleven vechten
ik knielde bij het graf van de soldaat
zei dat ik haar graag aanschouwen had
de magie die erin opgeborgen is
ze raakte mijn schouder aan
ze zei: “de tijd zal alles uitwijzen, de Doos zal open gaan
…luister naar me zoon, wees als het vel op de drum
(refrein)
En wanneer alle pepper spray wegtrekt en politie en protesteerders naar huis gaan,
zijn de tranen, net als de ochtenddouw, van de nacht
mijn gevoelens zijn er altijd voor jou
en zullen je nooit doen uitdrogen…Wees gezegend
107
III. TRANSLATION COMMENTS
A. Song translation in general
1. Introduction
In his article The Plurisemiotics of Pop Song Translation, Dr. Klaus Kaindl,
Professor at the University of Vienna, defines the importance of popular songs as
follows:
“Popular music is part of our daily lives, both in its aural dimension, e.g. in
underground stations, shops, and restaurants, and in its visualized form, i.e. in TV
and in concerts. It is a cross-cultural phenomenon, and as such it is a segment of
high-volume translation. Popular songs are important mass media products through
which cultures are articulated and hence communicated to people of different
linguistic, historical and cultural backgrounds. Notwithstanding their presence,
popular songs have largely been neglected in translation studies” (2004: 1).
The latter indeed is quite remarkable. One would think that the translation of
popular songs would attract more attention in translation studies, considering they
are such a wide-spread phenomenon. However, there is hardly any literature on the
topic. This was confirmed by Dr. Kaindl in an e-mail addressed to me: the articles to
which he refers in his own publication are the only ones. These are mostly in
German and focus on German Schlager music. There are practically no works on
pop song translation in English or other languages.
Apparently the translation of pop songs is, like so many other translations,
culture bound. Countries that in general tend to translate a lot (e.g. dubbing on
television rather than keeping the original language with subtitles), like for instance
Germany, also seem to be more familiar with the translation of songs. Anglo-Saxon
countries on the contrary do not translate lyrics. Obviously that is because of the
monopoly of the English language in contemporary pop music. Many songwriters
write in English, even when they are no native speakers. Some possible explanations
for this might first of all be the great success of English rock ’n roll/pop/rock music
in the past and secondly the fact that English is musically a very interesting
language.
108
Compared to Dutch or French speakers, the English always need fewer words to
express themselves. This results in shorter sentences, which just happens to be
more useful for song lyrics.
In his article Kaindl tries to assess whether there are different translation
methods for popular songs. He cites Haupt who makes a distinction between two
types of song translations:
“[…]those which completely change the original text, and others which try to
reproduce the source text and only make minimal changes necessitated by musical
constraints.” (1957:3)
In the first type of translation the translator seems to rewrite the song lyrics more
than trying to look for an equivalent translation. But why would one change the
original text? According to Worbs (1963) these changes do make sense. First of all,
the content and style of the translated song have to correspond with the image of
the singer and with the rest of his repertoire. Secondly, a song has to correspond
with the specific mentality of a nation. Not all subjects are allowed in all countries.
There are still many taboos, which vary from country to country.
The second type of translation is the category in which I would like to situate
my own Dutch translation of the Spearhead lyrics. I have tried to reproduce the
source text and made only minimal changes whenever necessary. The changes I
made were always well-considered because I tried to take into account the three
main pillars of each song; content, rhythm and rhyme.
109
2. The balance between content, rhythm & rhyme
As I already mentioned content, rhythm and rhyme were the three main pillars I had
to deal with when translating the songs. It was not always possible to find suitable
solutions in my Dutch translation. Sometimes I had to choose between rhythm or
rhyme, depending on what was most important in a particular song, or verse.
Consequently, each song presented new choices. Below I go into each of the three
pillars, in order of importance.
2.1. Content
There is no doubt that the content is the most important pillar – that is, in the type
of songs I translated. In my opinion the translator would be deceiving the
reader/listener if (s)he changes the content of a song, unless the whole song is
changed. A translator of popular songs should not create the impression to give a
translation of the song when its meaning has been partially changed. That is why to
me the content was always more important than the rhythm and rhyme.
True enough, in some modern pop music the content of the song does not matter at
all. What matters is whether the lyrics sound catchy, so people can sing along
easily. However, this is not the case with the Spearhead lyrics.
2.2. Rhythm
When translating a song, it is really important to keep in mind that the translation
too has to be “singable”. One has to be aware of the number of syllables in each line,
and one has to know where the accents are in the original song. After all song lyrics
are like poetry; when the rhythm is lost, they lose some of their impact. In my
translation I tried to keep the same rhythmical structure wherever possible, as long
as I could preserve the same content as well.
110
2.3. Rhyme
Rhyme seems to be of minor importance but is nevertheless essential in the genre of
the songs I translated. It really contributes to the flow of the song. Therefore I tried
to preserve the rhyme whenever I could, e.g. by changing structures or the word
order of certain verses. When it was not possible to rhyme in the same places as in
the original version I tried to compensate this by rhyming on other places. The
translation comments will show that I have tried to rhyme whenever there was a
slight possibility to do so. Notice that the rhyming in this type of songs is quite
irregular. Michael Franti rhymes wherever he can, without following a certain
rhyming pattern, which happens in poetry too. This creates a certain freedom in the
translation as it allows the translator to compensate lost rhymes whenever possible.
3. Culture bound concepts or terms
According to Kaindl it is important with the translation of popular songs to adapt
the translation to the culture of the target language. This may be right in certain
cases, as discussed in chapter one. However, I did this only partially with my
translations. In my opinion it is important to preserve the American context in the
translation of the Spearhead songs so as to preserve the political references. The
translation has to give the listener an idea about the situation in America
concerning the death penalty, so there is no point in adapting the translation to our
Dutch culture.
Still, the translation of culture-bound concepts or terms is often problematic.
Sometimes there is just no equivalent for them in the target language. I have tried to
translate most occurrences, and left the original terms in only when I could not find
any equivalent. It seemed a better solution to me than replacing them by concepts in
the target language that deviate too much. Some listeners will therefore not
understand everything right away, but the preservation of the American context is
important as well.
111
4. Translation of popular songs in Belgium & the Netherlands
Since I was translating into Dutch I tried to find out whether or not there is a
market for the translation of popular songs in Dutch speaking areas. Another thing I
wondered about was, who translates pop songs? Is this done by translators or
mostly by musicians?
4.1. Belgium
In Belgium there is not much of a market in song translation, perhaps because we
are just a small country, familiar with the English language. And when occasionally
a song is translated, this is usually done by the author himself, if possible, or
musicians and singer songwriters. A good example of this might be the new album
of the Flemish singer Yasmine, which is an album full of translations of Leonard
Cohen songs. All the songs have been translated by musicians. Not one of them by a
translator. In a way this makes sense; the translation of popular songs requires
some musical knowledge, next to some essential language knowledge.
4.2. The Netherlands
In the Netherlands song translation appears to be more current than in Belgium.
Perhaps there is a bigger market. There is even a Dutch website full of translated
song lyrics, www.nedtlyrics.nl. Readers can send in requests and have any song
translated for them. All translations are made by translators, not musicians, and
this is noticeable. I checked the translation of some songs I knew and found out that
the translation given was in most cases quite literal. Rhythm and rhyme seemed not
to be considered and even the content was not always clear. When I read the
translation it did not feel like a song at all. Literal translations make pop songs lose
their poetic touch. But of course this was just one website and its purpose is only to
make the listeners understand the meaning of the songs. Keeping that in mind the
translation of the content is indeed more important than maintaining rhyme and
rhythm in.
112
In the Netherlands too, most song translation appears to be done by musicians or
translators who know music. There are some very famous translations of Herman
Van Veen, one of the Netherlands’ most famous artists and the translations of Rick
De Leeuw are as well quite known. On the album covers you will mostly find that
the artist himself or some other musicians translated the song, not a translator.
4.3. Comparison of Song translation
To conclude with I would like to make a comparison between two different
translations of one and the same song. One of the translations was done by a
translator, working for the website nedtlyrics.nl, in order to make the content of the
song clear to the listener, the other by a musician, in order to sing it in Dutch.
The song I chose is one by Leonard Cohen, called Famous Blue Raincoat. First
of all I will discuss the translation done by translators. Secondly I will discuss the
translation done by musicians for the new album of Yasmine, which I mentioned
before. The songs on the album are translated by musicians from Belgium & the
Netherlands. The lyrics can be found below.
4.3.1. Translation by a translator
First of all the title of the song Famous Blue Raincoat has not been translated. This
is probably because this is not too important for the target group, in this case any
Dutch speaker who would like to understand the content of a certain song and is
likely to know it by its English title anyway.
In general, this is a very literal translation. The textual structure is the same
and the word order is more or less similar as well. The translator does not take into
account either rhythm or rhyme. This at times results in strange sentences, like for
instance Een andere dunne zigeunerdief as a translation for one more thin gipsy
thief. Such literal translations hardly make any sense in Dutch.
113
Then there are a few minor differences between the original version and
the translated one in some places. The last time we saw you…becomes de laatste
keer dat ik je zag and Your enemy is sleeping and his woman is free becomes Je
vijand slaapt, en deze vrouw is vrij.
Finally, I detected one typing error: broor instead of broer. Surely this is no
more than a small mistake, but it nevertheless shows some carelessness probably
due to the fact that the translator was under time pressure.
All the differences I have just discussed, are marked in the translated lyrics below.
4.3.2. Translation by a musician
The translation done by a musician is completely different. Obviously this translator
does take the musicality of the lyrics into account. He keeps the rhyme in and when
reading the lyrics aloud you can hear clearly that the translator has followed a
certain rhythmical pattern. He does not translate literally, but really plays with the
words. In fact, he has almost created new lyrics.
This trend is even noticeable in the title of the song. Famous Blue Raincoat
becomes Je eeuwige regenjas. This seems different at first, but actually means
exactly the same. When someone s’ raincoat is called ‘famous’ it means that this
person always wears this same raincoat. It is something typical of that person. This
idea is made perfectly clear in Dutch by the word eeuwige.
Furthermore, the translator adapts the song to the Dutch listener/ reader. He
replaces New York, for instance, by de stad, and There’s music on clinton street all
through the evening becomes Het café op de hoek is precies wat ik zoek. This means
he puts the song in another context, adapted to the target culture.
Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth. One more thin gypsy thief.
Whereas in the first version this part of the lyrics is quite literal, the musician has
changed these two sentences completely. The translation he gives is Ik zie jou, je
glimlacht de wereld lacht mee. Weer zo’n plat vrijheidscliché.
There are more examples of differences between the original lyrics and the
translated lyrics but I decided not to discuss all of them, as most changes are quite
obvious. However, I have marked them in the translated lyrics below.
114
Although the musician changes a lot in his translation, the content of the
song remains more or less the same. The words he changes do not change the
meaning, or only in as far as the song will have to function in a different context. In
spite of all those changes the translation therefore remains quite loyal to the original
version.
4.3.3. Conclusion
One can clearly see the difference between the translation of a translator and that of
a musician, but the motivation behind this difference really is the different purpose
of the translations. The first one is more literal and only the content seems to be
important, not rhythm and rhyme. The second translation does try to combine
content, rhythm and rhyme. If a translation is meant to be sung, this requires
linguistic knowledge, but also some knowledge of rhythmical structures, like in
poetry and music. The second translator therefore constantly has to make choices
between rhythm and rhyme and has to play with words so as to get them all into the
right order, while respecting the meaning of the source text – if he wants to produce
a similar kind of song that does not have the ‘feel’ of a translation.
115
4.3.4. Song lyrics
Famous Blue Raincoat
It’s four in the morning, the end of December
I’m writing you now just to see if you’re better
New York is cold, but I like where I’m living
There’s music on clinton street all through the evening.
I hear that you’re building your little house deep in the desert
You’re living for nothing now, I hope you’re keeping some kind of record.
Yes, and jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear
Did you ever go clear?
Ah, the last time we saw you, you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
You’d been to the station to meet every train
And you came home without lili marlene
And you treated my woman to a flake of your life
And when she came back she was nobody’s wife.
Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth
One more thin gypsy thief
Well I see janes awake -She sends her regards.
And what can I tell you my brother, my killer
What can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
I’m glad you stood in my way.
If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me
Your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free.
Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good so I never tried.
And Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear57
-- Sincerely, l. Cohen
57
http://leonard-cohen-lyrics.wonderlyrics.com/Famous-Blue-Raincoat.html
116
(No title)
Het is vier uur 's ochtends, eind december
Ik schrijf je nu om te zien of je beter bent
Het is koud in New York, maar ik houd van mijn woonplaats
Er is muziek op Clinton Street die de hele avond duurt
Ik hoorde dat je een huisje aan het bouwen bent diep in de woestijn
Je leeft nu nergens voor, ik hoop dat je een soort verslag bijhoudt
Ja, en Jane kwam langs met een lok van je haar
Ze zei dat je het aan haar gegeven had
Die nacht dat je besloot om schoon te worden
Ben je ooit schoon geweest?
Ah, de laatste keer dat ik je zag zag je er zo veel ouder uit
Je bekende blauwe regenjas was gescheurd op de schouder
Je was op het station geweest om elke trein te begroeten
En je kwam zonder Lili Marlene thuis
En je behandelde mijn vrouw als een schilfer van je leven
En toen ze terugkwam was ze niemands vrouw meer
Nou, ik zie je daar met de roos tussen je tanden
Een andere dunne zigeuner dief
Nou, ik merk dat Jane wakker is
Ze stuurt je haar groeten
En wat kan ik je vertellen, mijn broor, mijn moordenaar
Wat kan ik misschien zeggen?
Ik denk dat ik je mis, ik denk dat ik je vergeef
Ik ben blij dat je in de weg stond
Als je hier ooit langskomt, voor Jane of voor mij
Je vijand slaapt, en deze vrouw is vrij
Ja, en dank je, voor de problemen die je voor haar ogen wegnam
Ik dacht dat het daar voor altijd was, dus heb ik het nooit geprobeerd
En Jane kwam langs met een lok van je haar
Ze zei dat je het aan haar had gegeven
De nacht dat je besloten had om schoon te worden58
58
http://www.nedtlyrics.nl/leonardcohen/famousblueraincoat.html
117
Je eeuwige regenjas
Het is vier uur ‘s nachts, en einde december
Ik schrijf je, wil weten, gaat het nu beter
Het is koud in de stad maar de buurt hier is goed
Het café op de hoek is precies wat ik zoek
Ik hoor dat het huis dat je bouwt op het strand bijna klaar is
Even geen leven nu, ik hoop niet dat het echt waar is
Ja, en Jane kwam langs met een lok van je haar
Ze zei dat jij ‘t haar gegeven had
toen je schoon schip wilde maken
Hoe schoner is schoon
Die laatste avond, je leek zoveel ouder
Je eeuwige regenjas, gescheurd aan je schouder
Je was naar het station geweest, daar ging je graag heen
Maar je kwam terug zonder Lili Marlene
En wat je deed met mijn vrouw, heeft me toen erg verbaasd
Want toen ze terugkwam, was ze haar eigen baas
Ik zie jou, je glimlacht de wereld lacht mee
Weer zo’n plat vrijheidscliché
Maar ik zie hoe Jane ontwaakt
En ze vraagt hoe het gaat
Wat kan ik zeggen, m’n broeder, m’n vijand
Woorden schieten tekort
Ik kan me vergissen, maar ik mis je waarschijnlijk
Ik ben blij ik jou tegenkwam
En als je ooit langskomt, voor Jane of voor mij
Jouw vijand slaapt nu, en haar vrouw is nu vrij
En de waas die een eeuwigheid hing voor haar ogen
is vervlogen als mist in de middag door jou
En Jane kwam langs met een lok van je haar
ze zei dat jij ‘t haar gegeven had
Toen je schoon schip wilde maken
Met liefde, je vriend59.
59
http://www.yasmine.be/index03.htm
118
B. Translation Comments – Spearhead lyrics
1. Radio Segments
In between each song or every other song there is a fictional piece of radio. These
intermezzos on the DVD create the illusion that the listener is actually tuned into a
real radio station dealing with current, newsworthy topics. Even phone calls of socalled listeners are included.
The radio show in question discusses the topic of the death penalty, of course. It
focuses on the case of someone called Sister Fatima, an innocent woman on death
row, and tries to prove her innocence to the listener. Although the case of Sister
Fatima is fictitious, it suggests a real case. The DVD wants to make the listener
aware of this. The excerpts form the framework of the album and each song fits into
the radio programme in it its own different way.
1.1. Problematic concepts or terms in the source text
The Nubian Poetess, Brother Soulshine, & Brother Jilaal.
I left the names of these characters in English: I could not find any good
equivalents and I thought maybe a literal translation of their names would be
strange in Dutch. As the story is about America, I considered it to be the best
solution to maintain their names in English
- Malcolm and Martin, George and Jonathan:
In this case too, the names remain in my translation, even though I am not
altogether sure who they refer to and therefore expect that they may not be
clear to a Flemish audience. However, there seems to be no alternative since
Franti’s American background is so outspoken.
The first two names probably refer to Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, but
what about the other two? Is “George” George Washington Carver? And who is
“Jonathan”? It is a question I put to Michael Franti, but unfortunately I never
received a reply.
119
1.2. The use of slang
The radio segments, and the song lyrics as well, are in spoken language, somewhere
near slang language. Examples of this are for instance the abbreviation of verbs or
contraction of words:
- Verbs/words are cut off:
e.g. doin’, singin’, goin’, listenin’, nothin’, etc.
- Contractions:
e.g. ain’t it, instead of isn’t it; gonna, instead of going to; fulla, instead of full
of, etc.
These are typical examples of informal language. It is impossible to translate these
constructions, as we do not use them in Dutch. However, I did translate single slang
words that occurred in the lyrics, as is it is possible to find equivalents for them in
Dutch.
2. Quotes
Some of the quotes on the DVD cover are the words of a number of famous people
giving their opinions on the death penalty, the theme of the album. Other quotes
provide some additional facts about the topic. The purpose of the quotes is no doubt
to reinforce the point the songs make.
2.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text
Solomon’s law of an eye for an eye blurs our vision of greatness:
This refers to King Solomon, the biblical figure. However, what is not so
obvious is whether “an eye for an eye” is really his law. Most works of
reference merely point out that “The Bible says…an eye for an eye…” One
view states that “an eye for an eye” comes from King Hamurabi’s code of Law.
He supposedly is the actual “inventor” of the law, not Solomon60.
60
http://www.tips4me.com/tips/gk/preview_main.asp?tip=ancientcivilisations_ac1
120
By contrast, the most common reference to “Solomon’s law” is related to a
situation which calls for a difficult decision. The expression then refers to one
of Solomon’s famous wise acts. The story goes that two mothers were once
claiming a child was theirs. To find out who the real mother was, Solomon
announced that he wanted to cut the child in pieces so they could both have
one. He then observed how the two women reacted and the real mother came
forward, saying she would give up the child61.
In brief, the reference to King Solomon in the source text is probably not
correct. However, I did not feel I could correct the quote, moreover, the choice
of what to replace the reference by would be a tricky one. I therefore chose to
translate "Solomon’s law" literally as “de wet van Salomo". Why Salomo and
not Solomon? In Dutch we speak of “Koning Salomo” to refer to the same
person.
Prison Industrial complex activist:
Angela Davis is known for her radical black activism. She defended the rights
of black people not without risk to herself. At present, she is a member of the
Advisory Board of the Prison Activist Resource centre. She now focuses on
racism within the US prison system, which she calls the “punishment
industry62”.
In other words, Angela Davis is an activist who campaigns against prison as
an industrial institution, based on a racist system. The ‘industrial’ in the
quote refers to what she calls the punishment industry. There is no such thing
as an equivalent in Dutch in this case, therefore I opted for an explanatory
translation, i.e. “activiste tegen de gevangenisindustrie”.
61
http://www.museumca.org/goldrush/ar06.html
62
http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/dossier/id91/pg1/
121
3. The lyrics
3.1. Oh My God
3.1.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text
Sellin’ fire water but outlawing the bong:
This sentence is situated in the first paragraph. The word bong could not be
found in a standard dictionary. Therefore I looked it up in a slang dictionary
on the Internet where one of the options was: legal Marijuana. I translated
bong by cannabis, because then I could rhyme with the Dutch word ‘is’63.
Slam Bam, I come unseen:
This is an onomatopoeia. It was not easy to find an equivalent without
sounding “childish” in this context. One could probably translate the word by
boem patat or knets boenk or something of the same genre, but in my opinion
this really sounds ridiculous in Dutch. Considering the Anglo-Saxon song
genre, I therefore decided to maintain slam bam.
Stage a lethal injection the night before the election:
The word election has been translated as electie. A more current word for this
in Dutch is actually verkiezingen but then the rhyme with maffiapolitici and
schijnarrestaties would be lost, and the rhyme is important for the flow of the
song. Therefore I chose Electie, which is after all a recognized word in Dutch.
Listen in to my stethoscope on a rope:
In the Dutch version on a rope has been left out (luister door mijn stethoscoop)
It is hardly possible to find a short equivalent and I did not leave out any
important information by making this decision. However, to maintain the
rhyme in Dutch I used naar ‘t verloop instead. This does not add information,
as it sort of repeats what you do with a stethoscope, but it is handy to rhyme.
63
http://www.slanguage.com/
122
Internal lullabies, human cries:
The translation for human cries is menselijke wanhoop. This is not exactly the
same, but as human cries are usually quite desperate, I thought wanhoop
would cover the same content. Why did I not translate this literally? Because
I want to take each opportunity to rhyme, in this case wanhoop with verloop,
as long as it does not affect the message.
I feel so mad I wanna bomb an institution
This is the last sentence of the song. I translated institution by
ministerie because institutie in Dutch can mean many things and "institution"
appears to refer to some official body: the government is, after all, responsible
for the death penalty.
3.1.2 Culture-bound concepts or terms
‘Cause you gave cash to the Feds
This sentence is situated in the first paragraph. Fed is informal English for a
police officer or other representative of the central government, e.g. someone
of the FBI. I translated this by flikken in Dutch, an informal word for police
officer. By doing this I reduce the meaning of Fed, but use a well-known
colloquial term that fits the context well.
Left your school district for dead:
This is problematic because in Belgium we do not have such thing as a
“school district”. I translated the term as het onderwijs, which has a more
general meaning than ‘school district’ but it more or less gives an idea of what
this line is about: to leave your school district behind, to stop giving fees to
support that same school district.
123
3.2 Stay Human
3.2.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text
Because the streets are alive with the sound of Boom Bap:
The Boom Bap refers to rap or hip-hop music. The Internet has a lot of sites
titled Boombap full of information about this kind of music. I could have
translated the term into rap or hip hop music but I thought it would be better
to maintain the Boombap here for two reasons: a) It contains both terms, hip
hop and rap, as they do not exactly mean the same b) the word boombap is a
very rhythmical word.
Notice as well that the sentence refers ironically to the commercial
blockbuster musical the Sound of Music; the hills are alive with the sound of
music64.
Drive by bang in Testarossa:
This is a slang expression and it means driving in your car, in this case a
Ferrari Testarossa, and shooting around. I translated it as schietend vanuit
een Testarossa.
I’m bringin’ food to the people like a widow - bringin’ flowers to a grave in the middle
- of the city isolation is a riddle
Franti often makes a new sentence out of every new line. However, in the first
paragraph of this song he does not. These three lines actually blend into each
other. At first they seem to be separated from each other, but actually they all
go together. When one reads the lyrics for a second time it becomes clear that
the word widow goes together with bringin’ flowers to a grave in the middle. At
this point the reader/listener assumes that Franti is talking about a grave in
the middle of a cemetery, but when one reads on to the third line it appears
that in the middle is referring to in the middle of the city.
64
http://www.boombap.co.za/about.php
http://www.theboombap.nl/
http://www.thaformula.com/
124
In my Dutch translation I maintained this kind of structure, which is called
enjambment (when in poetry two or more lines flow into each other without
any punctuation marks). I preferred to translate the enjambment above the
rhyme, as it seemed the best solution considering the rhythmic structure of
the passage.
You want rights, ask’ em they’ll read them:
This sentence is situated at the end of the second paragraph. It cannot be
translated literally into Dutch, as the word play would be lost or the meaning
of the passage might be changed. E.g. a translation like Wil je rechten, vraag
ze, ze lezen ze, does not mean anything in Dutch. Wil je rechten, vraag ze, ze
geven hen would imply that you are actually getting the rights you are asking
for, which is obviously not the case here. So, I finally opted for Wil je rechten,
vraag ze, ze kennen ze. This more or less gives the same information as the
English version.
In time we find that we can open up a heart that’s locked or been broken by:
This sentence is situated in the last paragraph. The Dutch version is Waarop
w’ ontdekken dat we ’n hart kunnen openen, een hart gesloten of gebroken. As
you can see I use the word hart twice in Dutch, which is different from the
English version. If I left out hart in the first sentence this would result in an
awkward sentence in Dutch: waarop w’ ontdekken dat we kunnen openen,
een hart gesloten of gebroken. Moreover, the repetition adds to the rhythm of
the text.
3.2.2 Culture-bound concepts or terms
I left Robeson, Y2K, Cartwrights and Ponderosa unchanged in my translation. I felt
there were no good translations for any of the references, nor good equivalents. I did
not want to lose the American context either, by supplying Dutch equivalents. In
any case, The Cartwrights and Ponderosa should be understandable; Bonanza was
famous in Europe as well at one time and Y2K is computer language, which is
jargon and therefore international.
125
Robeson Recording:
This refers to Paul Robeson, a black baritone singer, especially known from
the song Ol’ Man River from the film Showboat. Robeson was not only a singer
but caused a lot of commotion when he openly declared not to understand
why black people, discriminated in the US, had to fight against the Russians
in the Cold War for the sake of the US. He was therefore called a communist.
He was a very intelligent man, went to university (which was extremely rare in
those days), knew how to speak Russian and defended the status of black
people in society65.
Y2K:
Y2K stands for the year 2000 in computer language. It had everything to do
with the coming of the new millennium, when scientists thought computers
all over the world would crash66.
Cartwrights in the Ponderosa:
Refers to the American serial Bonanza, which was very popular in the sixties. The
main family in the serial were the Cartwrights and they lived in the Ponderosa Ranch.
It was a western with a lot of fighting and shooting, which is why it is mentioned in the
lyrics67.
65
www.scc.rutgers.edu/njh/Paulrobeson/
www.y2ktimebomb.com
67
http://members.tripod.com/bonanza_2/bonanza.html
66
126
3.3. Rock the Nation
3.3.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text
You might get laughed at you might get fined:
This sentence is situated in the first paragraph. I translated this by ze kunnen
met je lachen of j’ erbij lappen. This “erbij lappen” is dialect and is used in all
kinds of contexts. Usually it means ‘to trick someone’ which might be
considered as not quite the same as fined here, but Van Dale gives also the
following explanation for iemand erbij lappen: iemand bekeuren. Therefore it
can be used in this context.
This is the way I’ll express my feelings […] until […] every piece in the puzzle called
the human race:
The last part of the song is quite difficult. First of all, there is very little time
to put all the words in the song, as they are rapped. This means I had to limit
myself even more in my Dutch translation in order to get everything in.
Secondly, the meaning of this last part is not entirely clear, e.g. what does
Franti mean by less the talking about mines is mine and becoming one mind? I
asked the singer in an e-mail, but as I never received any reply, I had to think
of possible translations myself. One possible solution is: e.g. minder praten
over jezelf, meer één mening vormen. Another problematic line is: sometimes
fun, others run their mouth or away. This is a wordplay, a contraction of the
expressions “to run your mouth” and “to run away”. I could not possibly
maintain this wordplay, but had to find another solution. I finally translated
the line as soms grappig, soms onzinnig of soms vluchtig, which more or less
covers the English meaning.
Colombian Penicillin:
This refers to drugs, mainly cocaine. ‘Colombian’ has become sort of a
synonym for drugs, due to drugs smuggling and other kinds of problems in
Colombia. Therefore I translated it literally as Colombiaanse penicilline68.
68
http://www.domsmith.co.uk/resources/3/colombia.pdf
127
3.3.2 Culture-bound concepts or terms
The I.R.S:
This abbreviation stands for Internal Revenue Service. I did not maintain I.R.S
because fiscus is a good Dutch equivalent.
The N.R.A:
This abbreviation stands for National Rifle Association. I did not translate this,
as there is no equivalent in Dutch. We do not have such associations69.
69
http://www.nra.org/
128
3.4. Sometimes
3.4.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text
Sometimes:
The problem with this word is that it has two syllables whereas the Dutch
equivalent soms has only one. For that reason I translated it into heel soms,
in order to maintain the two syllables, which are really necessary for the
rhythm of the song. I know that heel makes the word soms more specific,
more like an exception, but I gave priority to the rhythm of the lyrics.
Sound body and sound of mind, sound of the rhythm and sound of the rhyme:
This is a word play in English. Sound means ‘healthy’ but can also refer to ‘a
sound you can hear’. In Dutch we do not have a word that can mean both. I
chose to translate sound in the sense of healthy, gezond in Dutch. This might
sound strange, in connection with rhythm and rhyme, but it is perfectly
understandable.
Judge not, lest you be judged:
This is a biblical reference. Therefore it must be translated by the Dutch
biblical equivalent which is hij die zonder zonde is werpe de eerste steen.
The heartbeat rub-a-dub-dub:
This is an onomatopoeia for the sound of a heart beat. I changed this into
klop-klop-klop, which is the equivalent onomatopoeia in Dutch. Because of
this change klop-klop-klop rhymes with de gummistok two lines before.
Bravissimo & magnifico:
These are two Italian words. They are perfectly understandable in English
and in Dutch. Therefore I did not translate them.
129
3.5. Do Ya Love
3.5.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text
There were not too many translation problems in this song. Perhaps the only
problem I had was how to translate the say yeah, which Franti repeats several
times. I translated it by zeg ja, as I thought he means “say yeah to the feeling to
love, as it feels so good”.
3.6. Soulshine
3.6.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text
Hang out with the right folks, become a fashion slave:
This is situated in the first paragraph. I translated it into zorg dat je juiste
mensen kent, volg elke modetrend. The translation seems to be different from
the original but both texts mean exactly the same. I chose to use this
translation because it is better for the rhythm of the lyrics in Dutch and
because kent and modetrend rhyme.
Find a diamond in the sewer but the gas bills rise:
This is situated in the second stanza. The Dutch translation for this is lichten
fonkelen als diamanten, maar de gasrekening stijgt. This is not entirely the
same, but it represents more or less the same image as in the English
version, namely that you can find something precious in the city, but that it
will always cost you money.
130
3.7. Every Single Soul
3.7.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text
That’s why I’m reminded of life’s precious moments every time I see lovers walkin’ by
in the park:
This sentence occurs in the second paragraph. I translated it as en daarom
word ik herinnerd aan wat waardevol is in’t leven als ik verliefden zie
passeren in het park. Passeren is a dialect word in Dutch but one of its
meanings is voorbijgaan, according to Van Dale. By using passeren I can
maintain the rhyme in Dutch with leven.
They might not make it like the youngest departed:
This line occurs in the last stanza. It is not possible to translate it literally
because that would render the line incomprehensible or too long. I therefore
only translated the first part of the sentence ze zouden het misschien niet
aankunnen, which means more or less the same as the English version. The
youngest departed refers to previous generations and how they made their
way in life.
3.7.2 Culture-bound concepts or terms
They make me wanna go Sprewell:
This expression comes from the first paragraph. It refers to Latrell Sprewell, a
famous NBA player. He was once convicted for choking his coach after a
conflict. I assume that to go Sprewell in this regard means to lose control, to
freak out, to become outrageous for some reason. Therefore I decided to leave
out the “Sprewell”, as nobody would ever understand the link in Dutch, and
to translate its meaning rather than its cultural reference. The Dutch
translation is dan raak ik buiten mijn zinnen70.
70
http://slam.canoe.ca/BasketballSprewell/moreheadlines.html
http://slam.canoe.ca/BasketballSprewell/spr_dec1_spre.html
131
3.8. Love‘ll Set Me Free
3.8.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text
Seems like every day gets a little bit longer, seems like yesterday I was a little bit
stronger:
These are the first two sentences of the first paragraph. Franti begins the
sentence two times with seems like. I did not keep this repetition in Dutch
and even changed the second sentence into a question. By doing this, the
words langer and sterker rhyme more or less in Dutch. In other words, I gave
up the repetition in the beginning in order to keep the rhyming ending. Also
interesting is that both words in Dutch have two syllables, which is of course
rhythmically important
Man I’ve been away for so long now:
This is the first sentence of the last paragraph. In my translation this
becomes Man, ‘k ben al zolang, lang weg nu. I repeat the word long in Dutch.
Without this repetition the Dutch sentence would be too short to fill up the
time Franti uses for singing that same sentence in English. It is therefore a
better rhythmical solution; because of the repetition in Dutch I can maintain
the same number of syllables as in the English version. Another thing is that
by using the repetition in Dutch the stress falls in the right place when
singing these words: the singer thereby expresses that he really feels he has
been away for a very long time now.
132
3.9. Thank You
3.9.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text
Opened me to pure phat grooves:
This sentence comes from the first paragraph. Phat is a slang word. A slang
dictionary on the Internet said that phat is more or less a synonym for cool. I
translated it into vette grooves, which is slang language in Dutch, especially
used in the context of music to express that a certain groove sounds great71.
3.10. We Don’t Mind
3.10.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text
You will not get it without a price - you gotta give something back to life:
These are two verses from the chorus. I translated them as dan betaal je
daarvoor de prijs, geef dan ons leven ’n duw vooruit. Clearly this is not a
literal translation, but it made it possible to rhyme more or less in Dutch (see
rest of the chorus). The two Dutch verses also have a rhythmical structure
that is similar to the English one; they have more or less the same number of
syllables, which helps the flow of the song.
Just ‘cause I’m sittin’ here:
In the first stanza I made another small adjustment. Instead of Just ‘cause
I’m sittin’ here I translated this by gewoon omdat ik hier sta. This is a small
difference. The purpose of the change is to have the same vowel as in the
word laat (omdat ik een traan laat, two lines before). It does not produce a
pure rhyme but because laat en sta end with more or less the same vowel the
effect is almost the same.
71
http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wrader/slang/
133
3.11. Speaking Of Tongues
3.11.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text
Speaking Of Tongues:
The title Speaking of Tongues is a biblical reference. It refers to when God
gave the apostles the gift to be understandable for each person in the world,
whatever language he speaks, in order to spread God’s word. On the site
mentioned below, the biblical meaning of Speaking of/in tongues is explained,
as is the connotation that the expression has today. Speaking of Tongues
nowadays supposedly means, talking nonsense and gibberish. It means
people mislead other people by using words/languages. However, this title
remains difficult to translate. First of all the word tongue has a double
meaning in English: it can be a part of the body or it can be another word for
language. This double meaning for the word tongue is something we do not
have in Dutch. The Dutch equivalent tong refers only to the body part. I
eventually decided to translate the expression as geen gespleten tongen
because this also conveys the idea of speaking in many tongues and of
tricking people, though with a slight shift in meaning72.
Gabriel the trumpeter:
This reference occurs in the second stanza. It is again a biblical reference.
This time Franti refers to the archangel Gabriel. He is the one who announced
to Mary that she would give birth to God’s son Jesus. In the bible Gabriel
actually represents God’s words, and is therefore one of the most important
archangels. However I do not understand what Franti means by Gabriel the
trumpeter bestowed upon us a voice with a choice.
Perhaps it could mean he gave us freedom of speech or the freedom to make
out own decisions73.
72
http://members.tripod.com/~robertwells/tongues.html
73
http://mb-soft.com/believe/txn/gabriel.htm
http://www.veg-immanuel-breda.nl/index.php?item=bijbelstudie38
134
Speak from the heart, not from the tongue:
This is situated in the second stanza, last verse. I assume tongue again has a
double meaning here (in fact it has in the entire song); you speak with your
tongue (body part), and people speak a tongue (language). I think in both
cases Franti means “don’t just say something, speak from the heart, about
what’s really on your mind”. Therefore I translated this as spreek vanuit het
hart, niet vanaf de tong.
Love is the action of soul satisfaction:
This sentence comes from the last paragraph. I translated the word soul
satisfaction literally as zielsatisfactie. I know we usually use words such as
voldoening, genoegen, bevrediging as a translation for the English word
satisfaction, but in this case I chose for zielsatisfactie because then I could
keep in the rhyme with actie. The word satisfactie is mentioned in Van Dale,
Handwoordenboek Hedendaags Nederlands.
3.11.2 Culture-bound concepts or terms
Framed like Mumia:
This occurs in the first stanza. Franti refers to the black journalist Mumia
Abu-Jamal who has been in death row since 1981 for the murder of a police
officer. There is a lot of evidence that proves Mumia’s innocence, but for some
reason this is not enough to get him out of prison. Today he still awaits his
death by lethal injection, even when so many people are convinced that he is
innocent. His story is actually also that of Sister Fatima in the album. Only
Mumia’s story is, like that of so many others, no fiction. I kept Mumia’s name
in, because it cannot possibly be replaced by another name. Michael Franti
also refers to Mumia as a real example of the fictitious case of Sister Fatima,
so therefore I think it is important to keep his name in the Dutch version as
well. Information about the case can be found on the website below74.
74
http://www.mumia.org/freedom.now/
135
3.12. Listener Supported
3.12.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text
Attempt triangulation of our station in the fight:
On the website below, the process of triangulation is explained. It is described
as “a process by which the location of a radio transmitter can be determined by
measuring either the radial distance, or the direction, of the received signal
from two or three different points.”In Dutch we use triangulatie to refer to this
process. However, I translated it into lokaliseren. This way I lose the reference
to the process of triangulation but I do not change the meaning. Lokaliseren
means more or less the same (to trace something) and makes the line more
accessible in Dutch75.
I will not climb into your telephone tree:
A telephone tree is a system through which people can easily contact each
other. A member of a telephone tree, usually has a list with the phone
numbers of the other members in a fixed order. So when something happens,
a member just calls the next person on the list, and so on. The system is
often used in schools, to deal with an emergency or by the police or vigilante
patrols. Telephone trees are also used by companies and other institutions.
Anyone who phones them, first gets the secretary, who puts the caller
through to other people they might want to speak to. In the case of police
telephone
trees, the system is no doubt
all about control in the
neighbourhood, which might include encouragement to betray your own
neighbours. This is what I take the reference in the song to refer to. We do not
have such an official telephone tree system in Belgium; I therefore translated
it as telefoonketting76.
75
76
http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci753924,00.html
http://www.state.nj.us/military/familysupport/family_readiness/telephone_tree.html
http://www.ci.rochester.mn.us/police/watch.htm
136
The bureaucratic office sends you merry-go-rounding:
This comes from the last paragraph. I did not find an exact translation for
“merry-go-rounding”. I assume Franti means that bureaucracy does not really
help you, but merely plays a game with you by sending you from one person
to another. I have translated the expression accordingly in Dutch as: van het
kastje naar de muur sturen.
While the KKK police the streets by blood hounding:
This sentence is situated in the last paragraph as well. I left out the blood
hounding as in Dutch there was too little time to sing the whole line.
Instead I focused in my translation on the fact that the KKK control the
streets; terwijl de KKK de straten controleert elk uur. I added elk uur to rhyme
with muur, on the previous line. I do not think I left out essential information
out by doing this, I do realize “blood hounding” probably refers to the use of
dogs, hounds, normally used to chase game, and also to chase human
beings.
3.12.2 Culture-bound concepts or terms
The KKK:
KKK stands for the Ku Klux Klan, a racist white movement that used to
agitate against and even murder black people. It has been banned but
remains operational in the USA. The KKK want to purify American society
and in order to do so they organise informal police forces, especially in the
South, to “protect” white citizens from black people. It is actually sort of a
terrorist organization that will take any opportunity to exterminate the black,
inferior race. I left KKK in my Dutch translation because the organisation is
famous all over the world77.
77
http://www.kkk.com/
137
The FCC:
This abbreviation stands for Federal Communications Commission. This is the
commission that censors everything that is shown on American television or
radio stations. There is a lot of protest against this commission, as this
censorship is said to withhold information from the public. The website stop
FFC, below, gives more details. Initially I wanted to keep FCC in the Dutch
translation, in order to maintain the American context, but I then decided to
translate the abbreviation as censuur, because that would make more sense
to the Dutch reader78.
3.13. Skin on the Drum
3.13.1 Problematic concepts or terms in the source text
This song has very poetic lyrics. Franti constantly uses metaphors and that
sometimes makes it difficult to understand exactly what he means. I have always
tried to look for equivalents but in some cases that proved to be impossible:
I was born botanical:
This is the first verse of the song. Franti in this song is comparing himself
with a tree, in a symbolical way, but I cannot seem to find the ideal
translation. I finally opted for Ik ben plantaardig geboren. This sounds very
strange, but the English is also unusual.
The fullness of the one:
When Franti sings about the fullness of the one he may be referring to God as
the one, or to the fullness of music, because the one in music is very
important as well, especially in funk music. The one is the first count in time
and is usually accentuated. It is like the leading count in music. This was one
of my questions for Michael Franti, but as mentioned before I never received
any reply.
78
http://www.fcc.gov/
http://www.stopfcc.com/
138
Box of Light be unsealed:
This can be found in the last stanza. I assume Franti refers to Pandora’s Box,
which still contains ‘hope’. I wonder if this too is not a biblical translation,
but my knowledge of the bible is limited, as is that of everyone else I
consulted.
139
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English Version by:
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Dutch Version by:
Phillippo Fierens (lead vocal)
Cathy Van Houcke & Tine Jagers (backing vocals)
Jelle Boets (recordings & guitar)
Jeroen van Esbroeck (recordings, synths & keys)
Marc Pesic (bass)
Wim Vander Westen (drums)
Bruno Truyens (conga drums)