1. |
Giants
04:19
|
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I make debt to pay debt to be debt free
Never thinking I had never meant to be empty
Venting that I had been bending backwards
The fact is that I have been backed up for far too long
In the throng of the voices, the gong of the voiceless
The wrong of the choices that I had made
The fade to the black, the rate of attack
The weight of the bag that is on my back
‘cause the state of my lack means I’ll pay for a stack of needless goods
heedless crooks heap their hooks on feeble people
feel their needles sink a deep hole
‘cause I have been told to reach for steeples
That I couldn’t strive for, I had to die for
I have an eye for what I have a mouth for
And I will account for this
When I should be standing on the shoulders of giants
I should roar like a lion in the heart of the night
And I should be blameless in the flame of the fire
I should burn even higher in the path of the light
‘cause I’m tired of the beast, tired of disease
Tired of the lies of the priests, all the false they preach
And I’m tired of the crease in my garment, the breach of commandment
These leeches in parliament don’t teach us empowerment
Defeat us in cowardice, facetious and powerless
Our leaders are proud of it, our people just bow to it and not raise a brow to it
Politically found to be inwardly foul so they outwardly swell
The jargon that sells, for riches they fell
For slogans and jingles and bells
The picture of wealth is the fixture of self
A pinch full of health, an elixir of hell
And I wish I could tell, I wish I could say
What everyone knows is the truth and the way
But they have been bought and they have been sold
And they have been wounded along the way
When they should be standing on the shoulders of giants
they should roar like a lion in the heart of the night
And they should be blameless in the flame of the fire
they should burn even higher in the path of the light
So hold your head up high and brace against the weight of the tide
Even though your hands are tied you’ll make it to the end of the night
And though all hope seems gone, you’re right inside the eye of the storm
Even though your faith is worn, you’ll make it to the rise of the dawn
Standing on the shoulders of giants
we will roar like a lion in the heart of the night
And we will be blameless in the flame of the fire
we will burn even higher in the path of the light
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2. |
Oliver Twist
04:04
|
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Yo, let me cook you a soup that will edify your bones and heal your soul
when you’re feeling like you wanna quit, maybe just a little bit
this melody will fill your hole
with a dose of this and a dose of that
I mix it all together now it’s so damn fat
got the flow in place with the rolling bass
make no mistake, this illness has to go!
Chorus x2
Can I get a bit, can I get a little bit?
Can I get a little bit more?
Take a spoonful, let it sink in
let the drink in, let’s begin drinking
with the new wineskin and the fruit of the vine
I can taste yours, you can drink from mine
do you mind if I take you on a spiritual excursion?
immersed in the Old Man, he’s a dead person
versed in the curse of the First Man’s Fall
now you can get delivered Mr Know It All
Yis!
Chorus x2
Man, I’m hungry and I’m thirsty
I can’t live on only bread alone
I need new wine in my wineskin
give me water so I’ll thirst no more
there are multitudes in my hometown
and this junk food we can eat no more
give us real meat, not these dry bones
fill our cups until we overflow
Chorus until end
|
||||
3. |
Man in the Mascot Suit
03:48
|
|||
I wake up in the morning and I feel like I could stay in bed
that would be a miracle if that would only pay my rent
today might be a better day if I would hear my agent say,
“Dude I’ve got a job for you, they’ll even pay medical aid”
someday if I’m lucky when my stars align my ship comes in
I might be an actor on the TV like Ford Harrison
meeting with the president and hanging with celebrities
flirting with a girl and if I’m rich enough she’ll marry me
but now I’m in a fat suit and I’m playing with a scary clown
making children happy even though I’m feeling really down
and I’m sweating like a pig, I should’ve found another gig
a doctor or a lawyer, an accountant or a therapist
Chorus
I am the man in the mascot suit
the tiny little body in the big fat dude
I don’t know many people who can fill these shoes
I am the man in the mascot suit
I jump into my costume ‘cause I’m cheering at the marathon
I can feel the sun beating down on me and it’s bladdy hot!
theres’ children in a row and all their parents with their camera phones
trying to get a picture with that monster from the TV show
but now here comes a drunk man and he really starts to bother me
hitting me and kicking me, this dude is being really mean
he burns me with a cigarette and ends up at the parameds
beat up by the mascot on the field where he was left for dead
Chorus
Sometimes I have to be a child entertainer
Someday I want to be a crowd serenader
Sometimes I have to be a child entertainer
Someday I want to be a crowd serenader
I’m playing foreign nations, different cities and their festivals
all this mascoteering taught me how to be incredible
singing children’s nursery rhymes, busking at these open mics
now I’m on the headline, it’s Fruit Vendor on the bill tonight!
I used to be the mascot who would stand behind the barricade
nothing but the dream that I could make it on the global stage
it’s really been a challenge overcoming all these obstacles
go and put your back into it, anything is possible!
I was the man in the mascot suit
the tiny little body in the big fat dude
I don’t know many people who could fill those shoes
I was the man in the mascot suit
|
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4. |
||||
5. |
Many Vacant Rooms
04:05
|
|||
When you’re waking in the quiet of the 3am
and you stare into the contents of an empty fridge
and it feels as though your world is caving outside in
and it seems as though real life has passed you by
When you’re praying but the answers to your prayers don’t come
and your comforter seems nowhere to be found
when you’re staring through the barrel of a loaded gun
I will listen to you, listen to you
Chorus
If you’re ready to move in, throw off your baggage and begin
there are many vacant rooms in my father’s house
if you’re ready to admit you’re not an orphan, you’re a king
there are many vacant rooms, many vacant rooms
When you’re failing to remember where the good times went
and it feels as though your friends have left you all but spent
when you’re ready to give up and throw your towels in
I will listen to you, listen to you
Chorus
There are many vacant rooms and many vacant spaces
many hopeless cases, I’m hoping we can face this
you and I can break this, erase this faceless demon
I mean it, I don’t believe that you believe it
you’re way too young to leave us, Jesus!
I beg and pray that on my knees we can appease this
please just freeze this badness, sadness
that you would want to take your own life, it’s madness
you used to have the maddest gladness
now your happiness and sadness is like the same thing, the same factors
fact is, you are matchless, don’t you take your life
it matters even more than you can see, dude
you and me have been through too many challenges for it to be through
be true to who you are, you are descended from the stars
you are tzars, you are dynasty, more than high esteemed
not an orphan, but a king, more than my brother, you’re a kin!
Chorus
|
||||
6. |
Til Our Lives End
02:15
|
|||
Cute-hearted and peculiar is how you make me feel
been dreaming of the future and how to make it real
don’t leave me with the memory of our familiar scenes
not faking or pretending that you are not for me
so take my plans and rob them of ordinary things
parked up an old apartment where you and I will bring
laughter into the silence, from whence we should we begin
to partner until our lives end
|
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7. |
Native Tongue
04:00
|
|||
I was never really sure if I was light or dark
because my race is an issue, it can light a spark
when I’m not really white and I’m not that black
spent all of my life trying to question that
when people try to measure if I’m one part Khoisan, one part Malay
and another part Dutch
if I don’t fit the label and it can’t be touched
then I’m stuck in the middle, don’t amount to much
when they can’t base my value on the colour of my skin
like the robot inside is malfunctioning
or the tone of my skin is a little bit different
white and the brown like an Oreo biscuit
all of my traits in the melting pot twisted
a brand new blend but yet it hasn’t been listed
“I’m really sorry bra, but I don’t mean offence
you got black man’s swag on the white man’s fence!”
Chorus
All of the tribes in every nation in my veins
and I’m the same as you
no hate can prove that love is not the native tongue I speak
I spent all of my time just to mount defence
against bullies who would tease that I’m lighter than them
but I’m wiser than then
I tried to pretend that it’s wise to blend in
life’s depending on the time we’re spending
when we’re bending to the weight of their words
our lives are ending
now I’m mending, it’s like I’m sending
a message to the world that the boy’s ascending
noise crescendoing over racial names
no longer do I feel pain ‘cause I’m ashamed of my mixed genetics
‘cause it’s so eclectic, got every single tribe in the earth connected
in the pulse of my veins and arteries, I’ve got everybody’s blood in the heart of me
God planted me in the Joshua Tree
I’m the bark of the root of the family tree
Chorus
In every homestead of the world
there are orphaned boys and girls
no identity to keep
though their dignity is free
every village of the earth
countless infants lost at birth
set their hopeless feet on rock
one inheritance unlocked
|
||||
8. |
Real Real Job
04:14
|
|||
My son, the time has come for you to make a big decision
do you want to live the life of a down and out musician?
while your friends are clapping hands as they roll into the bank
and you’re walking from the station to the nearest taxi rank
do you want to be a doctor? a lawyer? engineer?
or in corporate ladder climbing to advance in your career?
and even though you’ll be unhappy, at least you’ll get a car
before you make a start
make sure you get a real, real job (ahhh...)
real, real job (ahhh...)
real, real job (ahhh...)
real, real job (ahhh...)
Now I know you spend your days by perfecting the guitar
there simply is no guarantee that you’ll become a star
but if you’re an accountant you’ll travel very far
from a tiny basement office to an upstairs with a bar
now I know it sounds predictable, you’ll know when you’ve arrived
when you’re cruising down the highway in that brand new 325
and you’re putting down that payment on that house behind the park
before you make a start
make sure you get a real, real job (ahhh...)
real, real job (ahhh...)
real, real job (ahhh...)
real, real job (ahhh...)
Now don’t you count your chickens before they even hatch
don’t you waste a fruitful future on the things you shouldn’t have
and don’t become a singer in a rock band, before you make a stand
make sure you get a real, real job (ooohhh)
My dad, he thinks that I’ve been wasting my life
chasing a dream that will never realise
I can’t make it as an artist, I won’t survive
I have to prove I’m a man before my boat arrives
I have to make it as a CEO, boss of multi-nationals
pushing Alpha Romeos up and down a busy road
people on the street will go, “your dad should be proud”
I wonder if they ever knew how hard I try
to prove that I am capable and not another waste of space
not another hopeless case hoping for a lucky break
knowing there’s no guarantee, no-one in my family believes in my humanity
they think it’s all insanity
living in a fantasy, living in a dream
running from reality is what it looks to mean
they never see the heartache, they never see the grief
how can I do a work of art my dad would believe?
But now you’re playing Wembley Stadium and the crowd begins to shout
how did I let those silly words just slip out of my mouth?
how could I be so callous as to never figure out?
you took me with a doubt
and didn’t get a real, real job (ahhh...)
real, real job (ahhh...)
real, real job (ahhh...)
real, real job (ahhh...)
Welakapela you didn’t get a real job x 4
|
||||
9. |
Coverboy
03:07
|
|||
In the hotel lobbies, background parties, on the bandstand
is the voice of one who makes his living late at night
because our prophet’s not respected in his homeland
he will make his money singing covers on the mic
so won’t you sing that song that makes them people happy?
for the politician and the corporate businessman?
‘cause your message to the world is getting buried
you’re the voice of reason in the drunken dance
so Coverboy!
Chorus
Coverboy, cover take
no-one listens when you play
entertainer, you must make these people sing, sing, sing
Coverboy, you’ll go far
‘cause undercover at the bar
sleeper agent, you were made to be a star, star, star, star, star
You were made to be a star, star! (you were made to be a star)
So you must exorcise these demons on the dance floor
for the wayward bodies drinking Babylonian wine
for they know not all the words that they’ve been singing
are killing people all the freakin’ time
so Coverboy!
Chorus | Solos | Chorus
|
||||
10. |
Life is a Fleeting Bird
04:49
|
|||
Mother’s laughter is the rarest of gems
of all the stars, she’s the fairest of them
she wears her illness on the broadest of smiles
I’m unsuspecting of the pain she hides
Mother’s body is the hardest machine
it bounces back like elasticin
so when these doctors declare the sad truth
Mother’s laughter defies the proof
Chorus
Know your loved ones while they live
life is a fleeting bird
she races toward the sun
the call on her flight is ending
as soon as it’s just begun
Mother’s bedside is a maze full of pills
her daily routine is to lie very still
connect her kidneys to plugs in the wall
with half my childhood in renal wards
Chorus
Mother’s gravestone is overgrown
by vegetation and undergrowth
I brush the dust off from her face
Mother’s body has long decayed
I wish I knew her while she lived
‘cause life was that fleeting bird
she raced off toward the sun
the call of her flight is ending
as soon as it’s just begun
‘cause Mom was that fleeting bird
she raised up both of her sons
the call on her life was ending
the work of her hands was done
|
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11. |
||||
I don’t know where the maize fields grow
where the hunger pangs of an innocent soul
work a thousand valleys for a thousand homes
I don’t know where maize fields go
Kyle Louw:
He walks seven kilometres with his two barefeet
spends six hours on a third class train seat
earns R20 and decides to buy some meat
all this so his family of five have something to eat
weeds can’t feed those in need
sometimes we have to bleed fertiliser to breathe pumpkin seeds
we are torn and grapple to understand that the real thorn
is snatching an apple from another man’s hand
this is tough I know and I’m not trying to be cute
but produce takes time to grow
there is patience in passion fruit
Chorus
I don’t know where the maize fields grow
where the hunger pangs of an innocent soul
work a thousand valleys for a thousand homes
I don’t know where maize fields go
‘cause I can’t see where the dirt road bends
where the hunger sighs of exhausted men
plow the hills and crannies of the world again
I don’t know where maize fields end
Kyle Louw:
I have still not figured out the cause
why do farmers harvest bananas
but beggars alarm us to trigger our unlocked doors?
We all abuse the wine but disrespect the grape
perhaps in time we’ll realise there’s a fine line between every decision we make
don’t worry if they tell you it’s true
the answer still depends on you
like the difference between a tomato being a vegetable or a fruit
Chorus
Kyle Louw:
Every wondered about the hands
The hands that plant and plow, water and wait
The hands that assure food reaches your plate
|
||||
12. |
||||
I’m standing on the platform following a mad norm
bodies on the Metrorail top of the dawn
when it’s feet behind the yellow line, people are a mellow kind
jaded by the ageing of the raided mind
braided in a bind, sedated by the times
elated by the fictions and the signs
it’s pleasure by design when you’re tethered to the grind
measured by the credit you rely
depending on the roll of the die
Chorus
A million pieces
A million wars
A million dry bones
A million more
Jerome Rex:
We spend our days in peace relaxing in all our comforts
jaded beasts are lacking a moral compass
jettison the spread of sin through relativism
better the system not with eloquence but evident wisdom
where will it all, where it all end?
unfair to be called heirs if we all bend
for some bread to these false fair leaders of men
prepare all those walls where we can all spend…
Chorus
The Route:
Belhar innie huis…
One thing I dig about this lifetime’s fate
is the fact that love will always conquer hate
we have wars on the rise, acid rain from the skies
people don’t despair, wipe the tears out your eyes
never mind where you’re from or the colour of your skin
the battle that we fight is the war within
so line up your soldiers, fully load your machines
and blow self-doubt to a million smithereens
Chorus
|
||||
13. |
Rollercoaster
03:11
|
|||
Some days I wonder if my life is moving way too fast
the memories of names and faces, people from my past
had no worries to alarm me, my whole days would waste away
we ate China Fruit and Bunny Chows like every other day
and in the summer we would swim and my old friends would play outside
talking ‘bout the girls at school until the early morning light
on the corner we would daydream ‘bout the day when we’d all be
grown up and chasing dreams
Chorus
On this rollercoaster no-one can get over
new burdens to bare, the silver’s in your hair
on this rollercoaster everyone gets older
no don’t be afraid, it all will be okay in the end
in the end...
Those little boys are grown up, most of us are doing life
some of them are getting married, some have children on the side
man, the world we used to know is getting smaller all the time
now it’s mortgages and maintenance and endless grocery lines
Chorus
Those were the days out in the veld we’d fly our kites
we’d stick empty Coke cans in the rear wheels of our mountain bikes
and these are the days when I need help to sleep at night
these are the days, these are the days, these are the days
and those were the days when my girl’s parents would go out
I’d sneak through her bedroom window, kiss her ‘til the sun went down
and these are the days when memories still get me down
these are days
Chorus
|
||||
14. |
Mr Fantasy
03:00
|
|||
So Mr Fantasy
every day and night living in a fallacy
we're inlove with it
deep in with the vanity
another reason for the feeling to be guaranteed
hey!
Chorus
Deep in the groove it's so real
to bust a move with that sex appeal
deep in the mood it's surreal
Mr Fantasy
(Mr Mr Fantasy, Mr Mr Fantasy)
There's nothing but sex on the radio, next in the videos
naked underagers with their necks in the merry-go-round
with their pettycoats down, we get pressed with the sound
on the stereo, loud, now the parents know how
the devil got found on the playlist
how did their baby get turned to an atheist?
now it's a face-lift, next it's a boob job
looking to be cool, getting schooled by the media
Chorus
And then I tune into the TV
all I see are naked women on the silver screen
every magazine for a girl has a figure with her body on display
and they won't show a different way unless it profits the world
offers them pearls and diamonds
little girls are finding
validation from role models who are deaf and blinded
and never-minded in a cycle of recycled idols
ever idle on their mobile phones
but never in the Bible, so!
Chorus
|
||||
15. |
Sing it from the Hills
02:56
|
|||
Listened to the drone of my phone on the nightstand
then I grabbed a hold of the pen in my right hand
then I took a dose of the hope that it might land
on the end of the rope of the mic and
with a tight band and the right team
and the force of marauders behind me
no disorder to border the pipe dream
of a light fiend in the throes of the darkness
nothing can harm this harmless resistance
calm with persistence, farmed in the cisterns
far from the pistons of Babylon's system
vagabond boys into vagabond misters
shout it on a hill, bang it on a drum
shout it on a hill, bang it on a drum
Chorus
Sing it from the hills, sing it from the tall trees
sing it in the streets where the people all meet
sing it from the fields and the open high seas
I believe in the you and me
I grew up to the pound of sirens in the sound of violence
a disillusioned man in a den of lions
I tried to be quiet, relying on the noise
to quiet the whisper of an ever present voice
that effervescent call is like a lesson to us all
bent over backwards against a wall
pressed into a ball, I still wrestle with the Fall
working to be worthy, I accept the fault
trapped in the system, a victor's still a victim
modern day religion needs leaders with a vision
and people with a cause, with a reason to be Yours
and singers with a message who can sing it from the walls
sing it in the halls from the roof to the door
sing it in the club like it's four to the floor
sing it in the streets where we need it more
and sing it for the rich 'til we feed the poor
Chorus
you and me...
Chorus
|
||||
16. |
10 Seconds
03:38
|
|||
I saw you standing at the signal
Where you had just begun to sing
From an old and sordid hymnal
I saw it tearing at the seams
I knew you’d hidden all your treasure
Beneath some makeshift canopy
I learnt to never really measure
A man by the shoes worn on his feet
I never knew that you had been a soldier
I never knew that you had been a king
I never knew that you had been all over
It just takes 10 seconds...
They say that you had seen Angola
Through the rifle and a lens
They told me you had been a rover
Before that bullet took your friend
That you had even had a family
Before the border war began
But you’d awoken to a bad dream
You couldn’t get them back again
I never knew that you had been a soldier
I never knew that you had been a king
I never knew that you had been all over
It just takes 10 seconds...
In 10 seconds you had been a soldier
In 10 seconds you had been a king
In 10 seconds you had been all over
It just takes 10 seconds...
It took a tiny iron soldier in an aimless war
It took a thousand nameless faces, add to that a thousand more
It took another husband from his wife, another father from his child
Another man out on the street because he bordered in the wild
Then he was captured by the liquor, downing litre after litre
He drank neater by the dozen, got addicted to Four Cousins
Now it’s cannabis and meth, it’s how he wound up in this mess
Got confounded in duress from the post-traumatic stress
And now you live under the street lights
Bought the protection of a bridge
You live a million different new lives
From the one you used to live
But no-one ever sees the heartbreak
‘cause on the corner you still sing
But even I can hear your heart rate
It’s the rhythm of a king
I never knew that you had been a soldier
I never knew that you had been a king
I never knew that you had been all over
It just takes 10 seconds...
In 10 seconds you had been a soldier
In 10 seconds you had been a king
In 10 seconds you had been all over
It just takes 10 seconds...
|
||||
17. |
||||
I wonder everyday if it really is so worth it
Pencil Pusher Man with the need to be perfect
Birthed with the permit to be learned
And work every single day ‘til my fingernails burn it
Turn it out, learn it out
I wish that everybody could just work it out
Discern the route, disperse the doubt
Immerse myself in words that count
Words that sprout, hard to mouth
Hard to tell which way to go
What is the antidote? What kind of anecdote?
Who is the animal? You are the cannibal
Chewing away at your own life
In your own strife you take it in your own stride
Dig your own knife into your own side
You take your own life into your own hands
‘cause you’re your own man
And now you know man
Chorus
Hardships, broken promises
overtime we work hard at this
and with the nine to five and the parlour tricks
could it be any much worse
or harder than that
Ek wonder elke dag hoekom issie wereld hastig
laat vir my werk so my phone val my lastig
met my hemp en my das en my suit wat my pas
en my file in my hand ennie deadlines wat brand
it issie dat ek werkie
ek werk maar dit bly nie
werk my oor 'n mik kannie genoeg dinge kry nie
werk my oor 'n mik kannie genoeg dinge kry nie
werk my oor 'n mik kannie genoeg dinge kry nie
Chorus
What is life with no job fulfillment and no purpose?
kites with no master drift through this existence
sight has been starved, instilled in us to work for devices, alarmed
that it's not worth it
diluted and inscrutably scarred (who's in detention?)
communion of the soon to be marred (too few to mention)
refuted usual eulogies coolly choosing the exit
chase your dreams or stay pushing that pencil
Chorus
|
Fruit Vendor Cape Town, South Africa
Fruit Vendor is an eclectic indie funk music project from Cape Town, South Africa that fuses elements of ghoema, maskandi,
funk, hip hop, RnB, rock and jazz – altogether held together by authentic, meaningful lyrics and a distinct and colourful live show. It’s their mission to share their musical fruit as far and as wide as possible.
“Original, quirky, funny and super skilled…” – Weekend Special
... more
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