Verse 1:
I was the only one who witnessed my homecoming
-
So I asked myself: Brother Joseph, how ve you been?
Then I met an old man who knew me as a boy
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(I) said, Father, where ve the people, where ve the homesteads gone?
And he said, Son, I ll be old until I die now
And then I will join our people in the sky
I am not the one to ask the reasons why
-
Your brothers and your sisters have been scattered in the wind
Chorus:
And he said old eyes (mehlomadala)
You ve got old eyes, boy (mehlomadala)
You ve seen much too much for one so young
-
He said old eyes (mehlomadala)
You ve got old eyes, boy (mehlomadala)
-
Child, from whence have you come?
Verse 2:
When I left that mountain land so gold and green
I was a sturdy sixteen years
Work was hard and the wage was low
And the seasons passed me by one by one
And I dreamed, Maria, you would wait for my return
We d build a home upon the rock, beneath the smiling sun
But as the old man used to say when I was young
People come and people go, but the mountain still remains
Zulu chorus:
And he said mehlomadala, mehlomadala
Ang(i)sakwaz(i) wemganam(i)
-
He said mehlomadala, mehlomadala
-
(U)qhamkaphi wena wemganam(i)
(instrumental break...)
Repeat English chorus...
Repeat Zulu chorus...
End.
Meaning of Zulu words:
mehlomadala : old eyes (mehlo = eyes, madala = old)
ang(i)sakwaz(i) : I don t know you anymore (i.e. it s been a long time since I saw you)
wemganam(i) : my friend (wemngani = friend, wami = my)
uqhamkaphi wena : where are you coming from i.e. where have you been (uqhamuka =
you coming, kuphi = where, wena = you)
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(thanks to Cameron for his musical ear and Thembinkosi for the Zulu words!)
Website for Johnny Clegg, one of the Juluka founder members, is www.johnnyclegg.com