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What'd You Call Me?

from NATIVE by John Ellis

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lyrics

t-shirt Levi’s polarized lens
four wheel drive Mercedes Benz
i am gujarati Zulu kingdom
original Khoisan Anglo Saxon
what’d you call me?

goat skin on my wrist next to Lakshmi’s thread
my earth turns gold my rivers run red
i am French Huguenot indentured Hindu
1820, 1652
what’d you call me?

pangas in the sugar cane fire on the hill
single-malt in the dunes, I’ll drive, I don’t spill
I am southern suburbs - Amanzimtoti
Higginson Highway - Shoshanguve
what’d you call me?

electrified my fence on the Day of the Vow
i paid for my wife with fifteen cows
i am umnumzane - indoda
Gereformeede - Tamil Tiger
what’d you call me?

run of the country Speaker of the House
that’s my Honourable Member you’ve got in your mouth
i am monopoly capital - Spear of the Nation
redeployed cadre without compensation
what’d you call me?

president’s keeper - email leaker
Bafana republic thank you Fifa
i am junk status - state capture
flying economy - Born Free-loader
what’d you call me?

ancestral visa K-Mash Section T
i have reason to believe we all be received in
Kempton Krugersdorp Khayelitsha
Sophiatown -District Six- Wild Coast- Nyanga
what’d you call me?

personalized plates in Die Ou Transvaal
stockpiled ammunition from Die Swart Gevaar
i am migrant labour - Mini Cooper
frequent flyer - Flying Dutchman
what’d you call me?

Manenberg Skokiaan Sarie Marais
hot pants at Splashy Fen - Durban Poison in my hair
i am Shosholoza- Pata Pata
Woza Friday - Alibama
what’d you call me?

cloth’s on the Table bitter almonds on the fence
armed forces in the suburbs - pasop amagents
i am ducking and diving - cattle rustling
border duty - stick fighter
what’d you call me?

children kicking round the Cullinan diamond in the yard
i turned a hill into a hole trading beads for the farm
i am Barney Barnato -blue blood diamond
Hensopper- veteran - Uitlander
what’d you call me?

Auckland Brisbane London Toronto
passport in my pocket like a dompas from long ago
i am kwere kwere- amabhunu
interloper - sea-borne umlungu
what’d you call me?

if Orania has a blackout, white hats in parliament
bunny chows in Woolworths, Red Ants in the squatter camps
satellite dish on the tin roof, Mount Nelson high tea
beetroot in the hospitals - halal Gatsbys
what’re you going to call me?

i am Boesman - Michael K- Boksombende
Beloved Country - Sizwe Banzi
Ke a leboga - shalom Aleichem
Thuma Mina - Om Sai Ram
cold Benguela - Ponto d’Ouro
African Renaissance - Adamastor
Gondwanaland- Mzansi
Cape Dutch -Meadowlands - Kalahari
aweh brasse - amajita
dankie – Inshallah- dhanyavaad

© John Ellis

credits

from NATIVE, released April 27, 2022
NATIVE

Produced by John Ellis
Executive Producer: Duncan Brown
Recorded, engineered and mixed by Brent Quinton
Assisted by Dale Wardell
Mastered by Rogan Kelsey

Recorded at The Audio Suite, Westville, KwaZulu-Natal Feb-April 2021
Additional recording at the Atterbury Theatre, Pretoria March 2021 by Fuzz Senekal and at the United Rhythms Studio, Durban May 2021 by David Jenkins
Some extra recording happened in Durban North and Pietermaritzburg May 2021

String arrangement and orchestration for “Dogs”: Bryan Schimmel

Artwork: Aimee Lindeque
Art Direction: Antony Ellis

Words and Music: John Ellis
“Down Paradise”: John Ellis, Patric van Blerk, Fransua Roos
Published by Jellisongs/ Admin. by CNC Music
All songs © John Ellis 2021

These musicians played these instruments:
David ‘Qadasi’ Jenkins (umhuphe, concertina, maskandi guitar) Maqhinga Radebe (maskandi guitar) Njabulo Shabalala (percussion) Victor Sithole (umqangala, udloko, umzaneno) Burton Naidoo (piano) David Klassen (drums) Rixi Roman (upright bass) Regardt de Bruin (konsertina) Shanjeet Teeluck (sitar) Vishen Kamraj (tabla) Barry van Zyl (additional percussion) Andy Turrell (snare drum and coffee) Ralitza Macheva (violin) Petya Koleva (violin) Kolio Koleva (cello) Ralitsa Pechoux (cello) John Ellis (guitar, singing, additional percussion)

“Native” was made possible by the AW Mellon Foundation through the “Rethinking South African Literature(s)” project at the University of the Western Cape.

Siyabonga:
All the wonderful musicians. Brent Quinton. Dale Wardell. Fuzz Senekal. Bryan Schimmel. Aimee Lindeque. Antony Ellis. Rogan Kelsey. Jill Flusk.
Siyabonga kakhulu:
David ‘Qadasi’ Jenkins. Susan du Toit. Duncan Brown, without whom this album would not exist.

For Liam, Bethany and Sadie: natives, too.

A Luta Continua.

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John Ellis Durban, South Africa

A singer-songwriter from Durban, South Africa, John has played his music all over the world. His fifth full-length solo album "Native"will be released on April 27 2022.

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