" Kobus Le Grange Marais " deur CHRISTOPHER HOPE

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KOBUS LE GRANGE MARAIS - lyric by Christopher Hope 1974, music by David
Kramer
(sung by David Kramer, Market Theatre, Johannesburg 1983)
-- Words as sung by Kramer (changes in square brackets):

[Well] he sways on his stool in the station bar
And [he] calls for a short white wine
And [he] knocks it back and [he] sheds a tear
[When] {and} [he] damns the party line,
And [he] talks to himself and [he] blocks his ears
When the tired old locos shunt:
"Way back in '48 we said,
Die koelie uit die land
[En die] {and} [kaffer] {kaffir} op sy plek, we said,
The poor white wants his share.
[O] they put me in my place, all right,"
Said Kobus Le Grange Marais

"I was all my life a railwayman,
[I was] all my life a Boer,
And there's none unkinder
Than a man's own kind,
I'll tell you that's for sure;
[Well] I fought in the O.B. till I was caught
And I sweated my guts in [the] {a}camp
For the bombs I threw
And the bridges I blew
And here's what I get for thanks;
[For] the turning wheels took off my legs
{And} I'm not going anywhere
But downhill all the way from here,"
Said Kobus Le Grange Marais

"{O} it was dop and dam and a willing girl
When we were young and green,
But Jewish money and the easy life
Are the ruin of a Boereseun.
[O] he disappears into the ladies' bar
[He's] {and is} never seen again
Where women flash their thighs at you
And drink beside the men,
And [he] sits [there] with moffies and piepiejollers
And [he] primps his nice long hair:
You'd take him for an Englishman,"
Said Kobus Le Grange Marais

"[Now] the meddling ghost of Reverend Phillip
He haunts us once more -
His face is pressed to the window-pane,
[And] his knock rattles the door;
From Slagtersnek to [R']Sonderwater
He smears the Boers' good name;
And God is still a rooinek God,
Kommandant op [Koppiefontein] {Koffiefontein}:
[And] if what I hear about heaven is true,
[Well] it's a racially mixed affair;
In which case, ons gaan kak da' bo,"
Said Kobus Le Grange Marais

"[Now] the times are as cruel
As the big steel wheels
That carried my legs away;
Oudstryders like me
Are out on our necks
[We] {and} stink like the scum on [the] {a} vlei;
And [the] white man puts the white man down,
The volk are led astray;
There'll be weeping at Weenen once again,
No keeping [those] {the} impis at bay;
(2 times) [And the/ yes, the] {and}tears will stream
From the stony eyes
Of Oom Paul in Pretoria Square:
[For/'Cause] he knows we'll all be poor whites soon,"
Said Kobus Le Grange Marais

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