This is one of the most successful of my lyrics, which ran in NewsRevue for most of the remainder of 1994. It was also recorded by Ben Murphy. I must say I am still mighty proud of this lyric, 25 years after Nelson Mandela was elected, as I write, on 27 April 2019.
_ OLD MANDELA _
(To the Tune of “Old Man River”)
(A song for Afrikaner solo and/or chorus)VERSE 1
Old Mandela,
Dat Old Mandela,
With fans street dancing,
Like the Vandellas,
And old vendettas,
Have just got nowhere to run.VERSE 2
Dis whole nation
Was our plantation,
And now we’re losing,
Our demarkation;
But Old Mandela,
Says he’ll let bygones be gone.MIDDLE EIGHT
You and me, we’re not well built,
We’ve never had to toil and we’re racked with guilt;
All dis stress makes us go pale,
Now we have lost our power will we land in jail?VERSE 3
We’re not grieving,
But we are praying,
Too rich for leaving,
Too scared of staying;
But Old Mandela,
He just keeps polling along.
Ben Murphy suggested the above closing line – my original version closed with the line:
He just might rule us all well.
In NewsRevue, the performance was a belter; several performers over the months did justice to it with excellent Afrikaner accents and powerful voices. Ben Murphy’s recording, while excellent, is more comedic and vocally restrained. You can listen to Ben’s recording below:
Below is a video with William Warfield’s voice and the lyrics to Ol’ Man River on screen:
Below is a clip of Paul Robeson singing Ol’ Man River in the original movie version of Showboat: