Songbook - Collected Works - Joshua Idehen
According to the blurb:
"Joshua Idehen is a British-born Nigerian based in Sweden. A spoken word artist, musician and facilitator, he has contributed poems to Mercury-nominated albums Channel by The Comet Is Coming, Your Queen Is A Reptile and the Mobo-winning Black To The Future, both by Sons of Kemet. More recently, he worked with LA electronic maestro Daedelus on the critically acclaimed mini LP, Holy Water Over Sons. In 2023, he continued his journey as a solo musical artist, collaborating with producer Ludvig Parment (Saturday, Monday) on his mixtape Learn To Swim, released to critical acclaim and support, leading to a performance in front of the King of Sweden and (more importantly) Angelique Kidjo at the 2023 Polar Prize Award show (TV4).This is his first book."
I have just read the first three poems in the collection of thirty four ( 34) poems: I'm so touched, moved, im-pressed and since this is supposed to be universally, an auspicious/ propitious moment, I can't wait to share this with you.
The there poems that I just read and the first three in Songbook - Collected Works :
" WE'RE ALL FIELD NEGROES NOW"
"EPITAPH FOR TAMIR RICE"
"RIVER NIGER TO THE COLONISER
Joshua Idehen : WE'RE ALL FIELD NEGROES NOW
Here's the song text to WE'RE ALL FIELD NEGROES NOW ( slightly different from the text in my hand)
https://www.songtexte.com/songtext/sons-of-kemet/field-negus-g3baee86c.html
Field Negus Songtext
I am a field negro now
Exodusing from these wretched plains
Pour holy palm wine, wash away this wasted shame
Blood is thicker than cotton or sugar cane
I don′t think you're ready for the pain
I don′t think you're ready for the change, mate
You are a field negro too, son
Leave Candace Owens by the plantation
Foolish us, thinking the overseer even had the keys to these chains
How could we expect the dungeon keeper
To make the rules and play fair, this game?
Oh, bless your greed
For not granting me the little I asked of you
I would have played the fiddle and tap-danced for you
I would have settled for some skittles and a safe path home
Tightened-up my belts
Lightened-up my skin
Bitten down my tongue
I begged you for an inch
Lemme have some liquor and a flatscreen
A minute for my mind, scraps for my sandwich
You had me saying prayers in your language
You made me forget my gods
You had me question my spirits
Forsake my prophets and
Then you cursed me with Trevor Philips
Oh, the pale-faced, cheek of it
One knee on my back, one knee on my lungs
Telling me to run sprint times in a marathon
Keep calm and carry on
Oh, the audacity
The caucasity of it all
Thank you
For refusing me that inch
Because now I do now recognise your yardstick
The scales have toppled
The curtains have collapsed
The blonde baboon's arse is bare in the open
And I am a field negro now
I do not want your equality
It was never yours to give me
And even then it was too minor, too little, too late
Pull the balaclava over my heart and set it running
My revolution rides a black horse and it is stunning
Get me my flowers
Shower their petals over my escape route
Molotov cocktails as my banner
Skull and crossbones as my skin tone
Babylon burn down is my jam, mate
It′s my ringtone
We are rolling your monuments down the streets like tobacco
Tossing your effigies into the river, they weren′t even worth a pyre
Let me show you what you've taught me about crime
Forget a piece, we want the whole pie
And the "Everything Must Go" sign
We are all field negroes now, just dead the talk, get me my bag
Maybe one day we′ll see eye to eye on fancy furniture
But right now though, right now though
Sorry not sorry
Hashtag burn it all
Just burn it all!
Writer(s): Shabaka Akua Lumumba Kamau Hutchings, Thomas Andrew Skinner, Joshua Idehen, Theon Cross, Edward Hick Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com
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