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No Rope as Long as Time

from Latin Quarter: Bare Bones by Steve Skaith

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Steve Skaith (voice and guitars.)
Steve Jeffries (keyboards, percussion and backing vocals)
Mary Carewe (backing vocals)

lyrics

No Rope as Long as Time
(Skaith)

Old Afrikaner farmer on the terrace of his home
Sits gently in his rocking chair, gazing at this land he owns.
There he sees his memories and there his past
There he smiles his grim smile, strokes his gun, swears he'll make it last.

Someone brings the whisky, someone serves the meal
Like the someone in the township, in the mine and in the field.
Someone at the graveyard, someone with their tears
There’s someone who can't forget the freedom lost these 100 years.

Old man, you can boost about the gun that's by your bed
Old man, you can tell me how you're good for all your kaffirs yet
And the guns can fire, and your prisons fill
And you've yards of rope for hanging still
But the guns can shoot and never hit the sky
And there's no rope as long as time.

Mandela in the prison, Steve Biko in the ground
Sharpeville and Soweto voices silenced till the end of time.
Freedom don't come easy, don't come bloodless, don't come fast
But in the hearts of the countless people
No pass law's gonna stop it pass.

Old man, you can boost about the gun that's by your bed
Old man, you can tell me how you're good for all your kaffirs yet
And the guns can fire, and your prisons fill
And you've yards of rope for hanging still
But the guns can shoot and never hit the sky
And there's no rope as long as time.

Sometimes he talks of reasons, economy and cause
Sometimes he'll even talk of changes
Though he clasps the gun and talks of law.
But power ain't this old man's gift
And freedom's no reform
The old man chose this history
And the history's stays a history wars.

Old man, you can boost about the gun that's by your bed
Old man, you can tell me how you're good for all your kaffirs yet
And the guns can fire, and your prisons fill
And you've yards of rope for hanging still
But the guns can shoot and never hit the sky
And there's no rope as long as time.

credits

from Latin Quarter: Bare Bones, released April 17, 2015
Arranged by Steve Skaith and Steve Jeffries.
Produced, Mixed and Mastered by Steve Jeffries.

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Steve Skaith London, UK

Steve Skaith was the singer and writer with the UK band Latin Quarter‚ best known for its 1986 single 'Radio Africa'.. The band made several albums and continued touring throughout Europe until 1998. - The idea for this album was to take some old LQ songs back to the state when they were first written and demoed: just a guitar, a voice, a bit of harmony, a touch of keyboard colour and hey presto! ... more

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