Relevance for our troubled times from his best (1989) album Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World:
“One man, one vote–it’s the only way”
“Don’t let us slip back into the dark”
“You have to live with the crooked politician”
“Standing at the gates/This is Jericho”
“For we are the prisoners/Of the prisoners we have taken/And the prophets’ dreams are now forsaken”
“I think I know why the dog howls at the moon”
“It’s an illusion/Like polar bears in Berlin”
“I’m a foot without a shoe”
“He was haunted by a tragic dream/Of people in death machines”
“He’s tired of the lies/He’s tired of the truth/They never give him what they say”
“Nothing is clear to me anymore in this sad and strange landscape”
“Too many futures hanging in the balance/Too much owing, nothing left to pay”
“Some came to conquer/Some came to understand/Some came to live their lives as best they can”
“Women of salt and earth/They tell the same story/They saw you walking, wounded/Wearing rags of glory”
“He was taken in the night/They came without any warning”
“Will he break or will he defy?”
“I never betrayed you and I never betrayed the revolution”
“He turns before the bullet/And forgives a friend”
“My brother bothers me–I really don’t know what he’s up to”
(Clegg (2nd from right) with Savuka. His best lyrics were always right down at the edge, politically and philosophically.)
One of my extended musical love affairs began in 1990 when one of my English 30AC gave me this album for her poetic analysis of “One Man, One Vote”. I listened to the rest of it and fell into the world of South Africa’s Johnny Clegg and his band Savuka.
In 2004, my daughter and I made the trek to Banff to see him perform. At that point, we also discovered his remarkable back-up singer Mandisa Dlanga.
In 2012, Clegg performed at the Winspear here in town and we got to meet him and Mandisa after the show. He was very sweaty from all the Zulu kicks and dancing on his featured numbers. But never too tired to make time for his ardent fans. A truly nice, ‘real person’.
(Where else? Down at the edge as usual; picture signed in Edmonton, 2012)
Unfortunately he died at 66 in 2019 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. But his legend will live on in memory through photos, videos and CDs. A South African hero, Johnny Clegg lived life to the fullest and then some and always gave his utmost best in performances.
“Every man has to be his own saviour.” –“Great Heart”