Lyr Req: Ballad of Sharpville (MacColl)

Subject: Lyr req: Ballad of Sharpeville
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Sep 02 - 06:11 PM

In Mudcat MIDIs, we have the tune for MacColl's Ballad of Sharpeville. I don't see the lyrics anywhere. Can somebody post them, or point me to them?
Thanks.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Req: Ballad of Sharpeville (MacColl)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Sep 02 - 06:54 PM

Anybody have this one? If the MIDIlink above didn't work, try this one.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ballad of Sharpeville (MacColl)
From: Wolfgang
Date: 24 Sep 02 - 04:48 AM

I guess the list of lyrics missing with tunes available is very short on Mudcat. If the lyrics are in the MacColl songbook, you'll find them here tomorrow, Joe.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ballad of Sharpeville (MacColl)
From: Wolfgang
Date: 24 Sep 02 - 07:10 AM

Black and White (in the DT) is a MacColl song about the Sharpeville massacre and has no tune yet. The tune linked to above fits the words. So maybe 'Black and White' is 'The Sharpeville Massacre'?

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ballad of Sharpeville (MacColl)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Sep 02 - 09:46 AM

Hi, Wolfgang - the index of I'm a Freeborn Man has a song called "Ballad of Sharpeville," so I gather it's one of the radio ballads.
If nobody posts the lyrics, I'll pick up the book at the library sometime when I'm in town.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ballad of Sharpeville (MacColl)
From: Wolfgang
Date: 24 Sep 02 - 10:06 AM

Joe, I'll find out tonight. Not one of the radio ballads though, I'm pretty sure.

Wolfgang

Subject: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF SHARPVILLE/SHARPEVILLE (MacColl
From: Abby Sale
Date: 24 Sep 02 - 09:02 PM

Wolfgang: Hi. No, Ballad of Sharpville (no 'e') is different. It's a Folkways CD (1978 & 1977 Blavkthorn) so still available, Saturday Night at the Bull and Mouth. BTW, this record has one of the many reputed but very rarely recorded bawdy recordings of "Seven Nights Drunk" (#274).

The "happy?" file gives the following for it:

The 1960 peaceful demonstration against the pass-law resulted in the Sharpville Massacre. 69 protesters were killed by police and 180 injured. The ANC and Pan-African Congress were banned, Nelson Mandela and many other anti-apartheid leaders were soon convicted and imprisoned on charges of treason. But this is also seen by many as the effective turn-around toward the end of Apartheid.

THE BALLAD OF SHARPVILLE  [sic]

In 1960 in the township of Sharpeville, [sic] South Africa blacks taking part in a peaceful demonstration against the iniquitous pass law were mowed down by the police. Sixty seven blacks were killed in the space of seven minutes This song was written a few days after the event. The mounting struggle of the people of Southern Africa and, in particular the recent events in Soweto, [June 16, 1976 – AJS] have had the effect of maintaining the song's topicality.

From the Cape to South West Africa
From the Transvaal to the sea,
In farm and village, shanty town,
The Pass Law holds the people down,
The pass of slavery, DOM PASS!
The pass of slavery.

The morning wind blows through the land,
It murmers [sic] in the grass:
And every leaf of every tree
Whispers words of hope to me,
"This day will end the pass, DOM PASS!
This day sill end the pass".

The sun comes up on Sharpeville Town,
And drives the night away,
The word is heard in every street,
Against the Pass Law we will meet,
No-one will work today, DOM PASS!
No-one will work today.

It was on the twenty first of March,
The day of Sharpevi1le's shame,
Hour by hour the crowd did grow
One voice that cried, "The pass must go!"
It spoke in freedom's name, DOM PASS!
It spoke in freedom's name.

Outside the police headquarter's [sic] fence
The Sharpeville people stand,
Inside the fence the white men pace,
Drunk with power and pride of race
Each with a gun in hand, DOM PASS!
Each with a gun in hand.

The Sharpeville crowd waits patiently
They talk and laugh and sing,
At eleven-fifteen the tanks come down
Roll through the streets of Sharpeville Town
To join the armoured ring, DOM PASS!
To join the armoured ring.
 
Oops, there's another page...four more verses. I'll have to do them tomorrow. Sorry.

Subject: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF SHARPVILLE/SHARPEVILLE (MacColl
From: Wolfgang
Date: 25 Sep 02 - 10:10 AM

Abby, you're right as I found out last night. Two distinct songs. Are you sure you are right about the spelling? 'Sharpeville massacre' finds more hits on the web than 'Sharpville massacre'. British Mudcatters will laugh when I say that even the Guardian spells it Sharpeville. In the recent MacColl songbook it is spelled Sharpeville, but this is full of spelling errors in names. So nothing conclusive about the name yet.

I first add the notes from the MacColl songbook for they explain the 'DOM PASS' bit.

South Africa: On Monday, 21 March 1960, police in the Transvaal township of Sharpeville fired into an unarmed crowd, killing sixty-seven people and wounding over one hundred others. The crowd had assembled that morning to protest against the pass, which has been the keystone of the apartheid system since 1948. Its main purpose was to control the movement of black labour. DOM PASS! was the rallying cry at demonstrations and at public gatherings attended by those objecting to apartheid. Apartheid-era police officers used to demand, aggressively, either in English or bad Afrikaans (for the words sound much the same if you have an accent): "Hey, where's your damn pass?" or "Haai, waar's jou dom/damn/verdom pas?" The phrase "damn pass" is readily corrupted into "dom pas" which means, in Afrikaans, "stupid pass." Hence it became known as the "dompas."

Here's the rest of the song:

Neighbour talks to neighbour
And the kids play all around,
Until, without a warning word,
The sound of rifle fire is heard
And men fall to the ground, DOM PASS!
And men fall to the ground.

The panic-stricken people run
To flee the wild attack;
The police reload and fire again
At running women, children, men,
And shoot them in the back, DOM PASS!
And shoot them in the back.

Sixty-seven Africans
Lay dead there on the ground;
Apartheid's harvest for a day,
Three times their number wounded lay,
Their blood stained all around, DOM PASS!
Their blood stained all around.

There's blood on the men who fired the guns,
On the men who made the laws;
There's blood on the hands of the Whitehall ranks
Who gave the thugs their guns and tanks,
Who help in oppression's cause, DOM PASS!
Who help in oppression's cause.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ballad of Sharpeville (MacColl)
From: Abby Sale
Date: 25 Sep 02 - 12:36 PM

I'm just repeating the two spellings in the insert notes. Possibly the spelling varies with the language used? Mapquest accepts both spellings but Expedia and Britanica only 'Sharpeville.' If we were to bet, I'd agree with you on that one.

OK, Joe Offer. When will you sing it for us?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ballad of Sharpeville (MacColl)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Sep 02 - 12:42 PM

Ya gotta send me the tune now, Abby [grin].
Thanks for posting this. Now I don't have to use my illegal library card to get to book....
(I no longer live in Sacramento, so I guess it's illegal to use the card)

---

Here's the version posted by Jim Carroll in another thread. Don't know if there are differences, but I didn't want his transcription to get lost.

Thread #161648   Message #3843542
Posted By: Jim Carroll
07-Mar-17 - 08:01 PM
Thread Name: Why Protest Songs Against DJT won't work
Subject: RE: Why Protest Songs Against DJT won't work

" but he is still the president.
Stop singing stupid songs that only resonate to yourselves.
Says more about the poster than the subject, I think
Why should Trump be one of the few tyrants of history not to be the subject of well-deserved hatred?
Poorly done, and cheesy - don't think so, really
Written in a car on the way to a New Year's Party

THE BALLAD OF SHARPEVILLE (1960)
Written by Ewan MacColl

From the Cape to Southwest Africa,
From the Transvaal to the sea,
In farm and village, shanty town,
The Pass Law holds the people down,
The pass of slavery, DOM PASS!
The pass of slavery.

The morning wind blows through the land,
It murmurs in the grass;
And every leaf of every tree
Whispers words of hope to me:
'This day will end the pass, DOM PASS!
This day will end the pass.'

The sun comes up on Sharpeville Town
And drives the night away;
The word is heard in every street:
'Against the Pass Law we will meet,
No-one will work today, DOM PASS!
No-one will work today.'

It was on the twenty-first of March,
The day of Sharpeville's shame;
Hour by hour the crowd did grow,
One voice that cried, 'The pass must go!'
It spoke in freedom's name, DOM PASS!
It spoke in freedom's name.

Outside the police headquarter's fence,
The Sharpeville people stand;
Inside the fence the white men pace,
Drunk with power and pride of race,
Each with a gun in hand, DOM PASS!
Each with a gun in hand.

The Sharpeville crowd wait patiently,
They talk and laugh and sing;
At eleven-fifteen the tanks come down
Roll through the streets of Sharpeville town
To join the armoured ring, DOM PASS!
To join the armoured ring.

Neighbour talks to neighbour
And the kids play all around,
Until, without a warning word,
The sound of rifle fire is heard
And men fall to the ground, DOM PASS!
And men fall to the ground.

The panic-stricken people run
To flee the wild attack;
The police re-load and fire again
At running women, children, men,
And shoot them in the back, DOM PASS!
And shoot them in the back.

Sixty-seven Africans
Lay dead there on the ground;
Apartheid's harvest for a day,
Three times their number wounded lay,
Their blood stained all around, DOM PASS!
Their blood stained all around.

There's blood on the men who fired the guns,
On the men who made the laws;
There's blood on the hands of the Whitehall ranks
Who gave the thugs their guns and tanks,
Who help in oppression's cause, DOM PASS!
Who help in oppression's cause.


Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ballad of Sharpeville (MacColl)
From: Abby Sale
Date: 25 Sep 02 - 05:59 PM

Na, na, Joe. Can't get away with that. You started this thread saying you had the tune but no text. Now Wolfgang and I have typed all our 15 fingers to the bone providing the text and ye're stuck with it.

BTW, if Sacramento limits its users to county (or city) residents, I'm sure they would let you pay a small annual fee - under $1,000 certainly - and continue to use their facility. And don't forget one of the great human inventions, Inter-library loan. I go to the Seminole County Public Library with I-LL request in hand (I actually just fax it) and some new wag on the reference desk smarks, "have you chacked our catalog? We can't put through an I-LL request until you check here first." I patiently explain that they haven't had in stock any book I've wanted in 10 years. The other ref people listening in just smile...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ballad of Sharpeville (MacColl)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Sep 02 - 03:50 AM

Oh, DUH!
I did say we had the tune, didn't I?
Nope, I probably won't add it it my repertoire, Abby. MacColl songs are usually too strident for my liking.
Thanks, Abby and Wolfgang.
-Joe Offer-