Emotional / sad tracks

[Anthony K]

The story behind Steve Biko is sad indeed , the song itself is rather unmoving in my opinion.
Mercy Street sounds dark , mourning, regret and nostalgia. Sometimes I kind bring myself to listen to it.
Herbie Hancock also done a great cover version.

[Sherwood]

The story behind Steve Biko is sad indeed , the song itself is rather unmoving in my opinion.
Mercy Street sounds dark , mourning, regret and nostalgia. Sometimes I kind bring myself to listen to it.
Herbie Hancock also done a great cover version.

What moves us is all highly personal and to do with time and place. There are certain songs, many in fact, which transport me back to an instant in time and space and trigger strong memories of the moment.

In the case of Biko I was living and working in Gaborone in Botswana (1987-88) when the film Cry Freedom portraying his life came out. Though an independent country, the Apartheid regime had launched a vicious helicopter gunship attack on Botswana only two years earlier using former Rhodesian special forces. The pretext was that they were targeting ANC activists, but their "intelligence" was flawed/outdated and they actually killed 12 civilians including a South African student. Undoubtedly, Botswana was sympathetic to the ANC but there was no possible justification for an attack on a democratic and peaceful sovereign state. The atmosphere was therefore highly charged, not least because the capital Gaborone was at that time crawling with South African "spies" and other vile Boer types. I went to see Cry Freedom at the local cinema in Gaborone and still recall the explosion of emotion amongst the predominantly Batswana audience in the scene where Donald Woods finally makes it over the border into Lesotho, before then continuing his journey to Botswana. The cheering and clapping was deafening and continued until the final credits when the names of those who died in police custody and claimed causes of death scrolled down the screen. The atmosphere changed radically to a sombre mood and to a rousing rendition of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika. The hairs still stand up on my neck when I recall that incident and hear that song.

I stand by my view that "Biko" is a great song, though as with some of Peter Gabriel's compositions, I prefer other cover versions.

Geoff