Johannesburg
Johannesburg's Battle Cry: A Song of Resistance
Lyrics
Higly armed the white police
Describes the well-armed white police force
Are blowing away little knees
References violent actions against young individuals
Crushed bones and finger tips
Highlights the physical damage inflicted, including crushed bones
Are forming words on bleeding lips
Suggests that victims try to speak despite injuries
Blue eyes are watching them
Blue-eyed observers witnessing the events
Blue eyes are killing them
Blue eyes involved in the violence
But there's no hope when they pray
Expresses despair in prayer due to perceived divine absence
The lord seems to be miles away
Continues the theme of a distant or absent deity
We saw the spirit of johannesburg
Refers to the spirit or essence of Johannesburg
Filthy smoke covering the sun
Describes a polluted atmosphere obscuring the sun
A bullet left another gun
Indicates another bullet fired, contributing to the chaos
A nation screams in agony
Portrays a nation in intense pain and suffering
In pure fear pure apathy
Emphasizes a state of pure fear and apathy
Lord oh lord where have you gone
Addresses the absent Lord, questioning divine presence
See what your children have done
Challenges the deity by showing the negative actions of children
But there's no hope when they pray
Reiterates the lack of hope in prayers
The lord seems to be miles away
Reinforces the sense of divine abandonment
And thought the days of fascism
Reflects on historical periods of fascism and racism
And racism had gone
Contrasts with the belief that oppression would cease
I'd never thought that there would
Expresses surprise at the persistence of oppression
Be things like oppression
Lists negative elements such as humiliation and persecution
Humiliatiion and persecution
Describes the ability of a white minority to rule over a black majority
That a dump white male minority
Highlights the disparity in power and control
Could rule over a black majority
Addresses South Africa as the pinnacle of a larger issue
South africa you're only
Describes the country as the tip of a dangerous situation
The top of a lethal flood
References the rule by extreme fanatics
South africa ruled by die hard fanatics
Despite oppression, there's a significant resistance movement
But still there's a mass of people
Acknowledges the existence of people protesting the system
Who are protesting, fighting
Highlights various forms of resistance, including fighting
And demonstrating against a system
Addresses the systemic degradation of individuals to animals
Which degrades them to animals
Encourages resistance against a dehumanizing system
But animals fight back when they're
Draws parallels between animal and human responses to danger
In life danger also human beings fight back
Asserts the right to fight back in self-defense
So fight back in the name of freedom
Calls for resistance in the name of freedom
Fight back in the name of human rights
Urges resistance for the sake of human rights
For a redemption, for a solution
Calls for action and change for redemption and resolution
Hoist the flags of revolution!
Symbolic call to raise flags for a revolutionary cause
My lord when will the white bastion fall!
Pleads for the end of white dominance and oppression
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