Shaking The Tree

Thick cloud - steam rising - hissing stone on sweat lodge fire
Around me - buffalo robe - sage in bundle - run on skin
Outside - cold air - stand, wait for rising sun
Red paint - eagle feathers - coyote calling - it has begun
Something moving in - i taste it in my mouth and in my heart
It feels like dying - slow - letting go of life

Medicine man lead me up though town - indian ground -
So far down
Cut up land - each house - a pool - kids wearing water
Wings - drink in cool
Follow dry river bed - watch scout and guides make
Pow-wow signs
Past geronimo's disco - sit 'n' bull steakhouse - white
Men dream
A rattle in the old man's sack - look at mountain top -
Keep climbing up
Way above us the desert snow - white wind blow

I hold the line - the line of strength that pulls me through
The fear
San jacinto - i hold the line
San jacinto - the poison bite and darkness take my sight -
I hold the line
And the tears roll down my swollen cheek - think i'm losing
It - getting weaker
I hold the line - i hold the line
San jacinto - yellow eagle flies down from the sun -
From the sun

We will walk - on the land
We will breathe - of the air
We will drink - from the stream
We will live - hold the line

september '77
Port elizabeth weather fine
It was business as usual
In police room 619
Oh biko, biko, because biko
Oh biko, biko, because biko
Yihla moja, yihla moja
-the man is dead

When i try and sleep at night
I can only dream in red
The outside world is black and white
With only one colour dead
Oh biko, biko, because biko
Oh biko, biko, because biko
Yihla moja, yihla moja
-the man is dead

You can blow out a candle
But you can't blow out a fire
Once the flames begin to catch
The wind will blow it higher
Oh biko, biko, because biko
Yihla moja, yihla moja
-the man is dead

And the eyes of the world are
Watching now
Watching now

Red rain is coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me

I am standing up at the water's edge in my dream
I cannot make a single sound as you scream
It can't be that cold, the ground is still warm to touch
This place is so quiet, sensing that storm

Red rain is coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me

Well i've seen them buried in a sheltered place in this town
They tell you that this rain can sting, and look down
There is no blood around see no sign of pain
Hay ay ay no pain
Seeing no red at all, see no rain

Red rain is coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me

Red rain-
Putting the pressure on much harder now
To return again and again
Just let the red rain splash you
Let the rain fall on your skin
I come to you defences down
With the trust of a child

Red rain is coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me
And i can't watch any more
No more denial
It's so hard to lay down in all of this
Red rain is coming down
Red rain is pouring down
Red rain is coming down all over me
I see it
Red rain is coming down
Red rain is pouring down
Red rain is coming down all over me
I'm bathing in it
Red rain coming down
Red rain is coming down
Red rain is coming down all over me
I'm begging you
Red rain coming down
Red rain coming down
Red rain coming down
Red rain coming down
Over me in the red red sea
Over me
Over me
Red rain

In this proud land we grew up strong
We were wanted all along
I was taught to fight, taught to win
I never thought i could fail

No fight left or so it seems
I am a man whose dreams have all deserted
I've changed my face, i've changed my name
But no one wants you when you lose

Don't give up
'cos you have friends
Don't give up
You're not beaten yet
Don't give up
I know you can make it good

Though i saw it all around
Never thought i could be affected
Thought that we'd be the last to go
It is so strange the way things turn

Drove the night toward my home
The place that i was born, on the lakeside
As daylight broke, i saw the earth
The trees had burned down to the ground

Don't give up
You still have us
Don't give up
We don't need much of anything
Don't give up
'cause somewhere there's a place
Where we belong

Rest your head
You worry too much
It's going to be alright
When times get rough
You can fall back on us
Don't give up
Please don't give up

'got to walk out of here
I can't take anymore
Going to stand on that bridge
Keep my eyes down below
Whatever may come
And whatever may go
That river's flowing
That river's flowing

Moved on to another town
Tried hard to settle down
For every job, so many men
So many men no-one needs

Don't give up
'cause you have friends
Don't give up
You're not the only one
Don't give up
No reason to be ashamed
Don't give up
You still have us
Don't give up now
We're proud of who you are
Don't give up
You know it's never been easy
Don't give up
'cause i believe there's the a place
There's a place where we belong

When the night shows
The signals grow on radios
All the strange things
They come and go, as early warnings
Stranded starfish have no place to hide
Still waiting for the swollen easter tide
There's no point in direction we cannot even choose a side.

I took the old track
The hollow shoulder, across the waters
On the tall cliffs
They were getting older, sons and daughters
The jaded underworld was riding high
Waves of steel hurled metal at the sky
And as the nail sunk in the cloud, the rain was warm and soaked the crowd.

Lord, here comes the flood
We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood
If again the seas are silent
In any still alive
It'll be those who gave their island to survive
Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.

When the flood calls,
You have no home, you have no walls
In the thunder crash
You're a thousand minds, within a flash
Don't be afraid to cry at what you see
The actors gone, there's only you and me
And if we break before the dawn, they'll use up what we used to be.

Lord, here comes the flood
We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood
If again, the seas are silent
In any still alive
It'll be those who gave their island to survive
Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.

Souma yergon, sou nou yergon, we are shakin' the tree
Souma yergon, sou nou yergon, we are shakin' the tree

Waiting your time, dreaming of a better life
Waiting your time, you're more than just a wife
You don't want to do what your mother has done
She has done
This is your life, this new life has begun
It's your day - a woman's day
It's your day - a woman's day

Turning the tide, you are on the incoming wave
Turning the tide, you know you are nobody's slave
[ 1989 version - find your brothers and sisters ]
[ 1990 version - find your sisters and brothers ]
Who can hear all the truth in what you say
They can support you when you're on your way
It's your day - a woman's day
It's your day - a woman's day

Souma yergon, sou nou yergon, we are shakin' the tree
Souma yergon, sou nou yergon, we are shakin' the tree
Souma yergon, sou nou yergon, we are shakin' the tree

[ extra lyrics from 1989 12" remix ]

There's nothing to gain when there's nothing to be lost
There's nothing to gain if you stay behind and count the cost
Make the decision that you can be who you can be
You can be
Tasting the fruit come to the liberty tree
It's your day - a woman's day
It's your day - a woman's day

[ end of extra lyrics from 12" remix ]

Changing your ways, changing those surrounding you
Changing your ways, more than any man can do
Open your heart, show him the anger and pain, so you heal
Maybe he's looking for his womanly side, let him feel

You had to be so strong
And you do nothing wrong
Nothing wrong at all
We're gonna to break it down
We have to shake it down
Shake it all around

Souma yergon, sou nou yergon, we are shakin' the tree
Souma yergon, sou nou yergon, we are shakin' the tree
Souma yergon, sou nou yergon, we are shakin' the tree
...

The streets are lined with camera crews
Everywhere he goes is news
Today is different
Today is not the same
Today i make the action
Take snapshot into the light, snapshot into the light
I'm shooting into the light

Four miles down the cavalcade moves on
Driving into the sun
If i worked it out right
They won't see me or the gun

Two miles to go, they're clearing the road
The cheering has really begun
I've got my radio
I can hear what's going on

I've been waiting for this
I have been waiting for this
All you people in tv land
I will wake up your empty shells
Peak-time viewing blown in a flash
As i burn into your memory cells
'cos i'm alive

They're coming 'round the corner with the bikers at the front
I'm wiping the sweat from my eyes
-it's a matter of time
-it's a matter of will
And the governor's car is not far behind
He's not the one i've got in mind
'cos there he is-the man of the hour, standing in the limousine
"i don't really hate you
-i don't care what you do
We were made for each other
-me and you
I want to be somebody
-you were like that too
If you don't get given you learn to take
And i will take you."

Holding my breath
Release the catch
And i let the bullet fly

All turned quiet-i have been here before
Lonely boy hiding behind the front door
Friends have all gone home
There's my toy gun on the floor
Come back mum and dad
You're growing apart
You know that i'm growing up sad
I need some attention
I shoot into the light

The time i like is the rush hour, cos i like the rush
The pushing of the people - i like it all so much
Such a mass of motion - do not know where it goes
I move with the movement and ... i have the touch

I'm waiting for ignition, i'm looking for a spark
Any chance collision and i light up in the dark
There you stand before me, all that fur and all that hair
Oh, do i dare ... i have the touch

Wanting contact
I'm wanting contact
I'm wanting contact with you
Shake those hands, shake those hands
Give me the thing i understand
Shake those hands, shake those hands
Shake those hands, shake those hands

Any social occasion, it's hello, how do you do
All those introductions, i never miss my cue
So before a question, so before a doubt
My hand moves out and ... i have the touch

Wanting contact
I'm wanting contact
I'm wanting contact with you
Shake those hands, shake those hands
Give me the thing i understand
Shake those hands, shake those hands

Pull my chin, stroke my hair, scratch my nose, hug my knees
Try drink, food, cigarette, tension will not ease
I tap my fingers, fold my arms, breathe in deep, cross my legs
Shrug my shoulders, stretch my back - but nothing seems
To please

I need contact
I need contact
Nothing seems to please
I need contact