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Madiba

by Luke Beling

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about

My grandmother loved Nelson Mandela. She took me to Robben Island (where Mandela spent 27 years in prison) when I was a young boy. My only lasting memory of that visit is of Mandela's match-box sized jailcell. Our tour guide (a former inmate) explained how prisoners would have to curl their legs to sleep at night as the cells couldn't accommodate their outstretched limbs.

Madiba is my tribute to my hero, the man who laid down his life for racial equality in South Africa.

lyrics

Did you close your eyes or leave them wide to watch all the terror roll down their spines
Did you listen good like they said you should did you think it’d be forever before your chains got loosed

Hey hey Madiba the darkness had no place to keep you
Hey hey Believer the promise and the pain of breakthrough
just a dreamer

Did you curl your legs they went from brown to red like some cursed amoeba a dirty floor your bed
Did they call you Nelson with their tongues of poison the black man deceiver the prophet rejoicing

Hey hey Madiba the darkness had no place to keep you
Hey hey Believer the promise and the pain of breakthrough
just a dreamer

Between the bite, in the teeth of the law
you came into our night with the dawn
And the crusade we speared through your skin
Your life for the trade to let loving begin

credits

released November 4, 2022

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Luke Beling Hawaii

South African-born singer-songwriter, Luke Beling, grew up listening to music from the 60s and 70s, influenced by records his father played and the surrounding struggle of his native country. Beling believes music should embody the miracle and labor of life. Everyday tales borne from world wandering, Beling's folk songs hope to impart to listeners something honest. ... more

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