African - Lyrics by Barclay James Harvest, The


Lyrics

Through the eyes of a child
There's no wrong or right
No reason to hate
No need for a fight
No colour, no creed
No malice, no greed
Till the child becomes a man
Give up your freedom
Hand back your rights
Then change your colour now
You're black not white
And there'll never be a piece of the action
Now you're an african

Forget beliefs and swallow your pain
You're just a number now
And boy's your name
And you'll never get a piece of the action
Now you're a working man

African, asian, it's all the same
Brown, black, caucasian
It's all the same
Slave labour, working class
What's in a name?
Far left, far right, centre
It's power they crave

The politics of apartheid
The politics of shame
The cold abuse of human rights
Of torture and of pain
Are only part of the action
When you're an african

The politics of making more
The politics of greed
The cold abuse of poverty
To keep your labour cheap
Are only part of the action
When you're a working man

African, asian, it's all the same
Brown, black, caucasian
It's all the same
Slave labour, working class
What's in a name?
Far left, far right, centre
Far left, far right, centre
Far left, far right, centre
It's power they crave

The politics of buying arms
When there's no food to eat
The politics of digging gold
Instead of planting seeds
The leader with his private golf course
And his flashy cars
Sits playing with his diamond wrist watch
While the people starve

The politics of shooting down
A plane that brings relief
By fat men playing power games
Who've got enough to eat
The politics of racial hate
The politics of war
The men who sell the guns have fun
While we all count the score

One, two, three, four
Thousands, millions
People dying just to keep
Them in the action

Through the eyes of a man
There's wrong and there's right
A reason to hate
There's need for a fight
There's colour, there's creed
There's malice, there's greed
When the child becomes a man


Get a Premium Membership
Get more exposure for your poetry and more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry

Member Area

My Admin
Profile and Settings
Edit My Poems
Edit My Quotes
Edit My Short Stories
Edit My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder

Soup Social

Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us

Member Poems

Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread

Member Poets

Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest

Famous Poems

Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100

Famous Poets

Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War

Poetry Resources

Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Hide Ad