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The Seedling (Deluxe Version)

by Fruit Vendor

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1.
Giants 04:19
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
2.
Oliver Twist 04:04
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.
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
4.
5.
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.
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
7.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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

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released February 26, 2020

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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
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