Johnny’s Gun – Colin Shamley & Cornelia

Born Guilty & Other Stories – Colin Shamley

This one is a bit difficult to find. It was not on Shamley’s original of his album ‘Born Guilty’ but was included as a bonus track on the limited CD release of the album by 3^rd Ear Music. On this track, Shamley teamed up with Cornelia Möller who had seen hits such as ‘Picking Up Pebbles’ and ‘Another Love To Come’.

This track is a simple one with a gently plucked guitar over which Shamley and Cornelia harmonise beautifully to tell the story of Johnny. But the gentleness of the guitar and the beauty of the harmonies belie the darker message of the lyrics. It starts off innocently with young Johnny watching a movie with a shoot out between good guys and bad guys and Johnny pulls out his plastic gun to join in. But as the song progresses and Johnny grows up, he gets called up to the army and has to deal with real guns and real shooting. He survives the army, but suffers from PSTD, losing his wife and ends up ‘on a tower at rush hour’ where he begins to shoot his (presumably) real gun.

The struggle many had adapting back to civvie life after a stint in the armed forces is not a unexplored theme. We see it in many US films and TV shows where Vietnam, Gulf War and Afghanistan/Iraq vets cannot adjust after they return home. And with conscription in South Africa during the 70’s and 80’s we had a similar problem, although few spoke about it back then, and even now. Like Jennifer Ferguson’s ‘Letters For Dicky’ and David Kramer’s ‘On The Border’, this is another hard hitting song about the effects of PTSD on troopies returning from the border, and like those other 2 the serious lyrics are at odds with the gentle tune and perhaps that’s what makes the message even harder hitting.

Unfortunately I could not find anywhere to point you to to hear this little known gem. The best I can manage is the Youtube video of the cover by Four Jacks And A Jill. While Four Jacks And A Jill are a great band, I just don’t think this was a song for them. Their version is too poppy to have the impact that Shamley and Cornelia’s version has, but at least you can get the lyrics by listening to that other version. However, if you can lay your hands on Shamley’s version it is well worth it.

Where to find it:
Born Guilty And Other Stories – Colin Shamley

Four Jacks & A Jill version:

Dawid Ryk – David Kramer

Eina – David Kramer

‘My naam is Dawid Ryk, meneer en ek is an arm man’. In that short opening line of the song, David Kramer paints a vivid picture not only with the lyrics, but also with his sharp edged vocals that kind of flatten sounds. Immediately an image springs up of a down and out man in a worn out suit who is probably a Cape Coloured. This image is enhanced as Kramer continues with this man’s plea for help as he talks of being a fisherman which is an occupation typically associated with the Cape Coloured people.

It is a simple and moving song that is mostly just Kramer and his plaintive voice. It appeared on his 1989 album ‘Eina’ which, in contrast also contained the joyful romp of ‘Meisie Sonder Sokkies’ and once again highlighted the two sides of Kramer. He could bring us fun tracks like ‘Meisie Sonder Sokkies’ which make us dance and laugh. But then he can bring one to tears with other songs like ‘Dawid Ryk’ and ‘Christmas In Kakemas’ which appear on the same album.

And while the track may seem like a simple story of a beggar trying to scratch together a few rands for food to feed his family, knowing David Kramer, it is probably a metaphor for the situation in the country at the time with many people begging to be given dignity.

About 7 years after Kramer released ‘Eina’, Johannes Kerkorrel recorded a cover of the song for his 1996 album ‘Ge-trans-for-meer’. The two versions are almost chalk and cheese in that Kerkorrel’s voice is smooth and soulful while Kramer’s is edgy and sharp. Also Kerkorrel opts for a simple, almost hypnotic, beat which is kind of soothing. However, both versions have a sadness to them that pull at the heart strings. Perhaps it is the juxtaposition of the character’s name (Ryk being the Afrikaan word for rich), which makes the track so poignant.

Where to find it:
Eina – David Kramer

Live version video (clink on the link to watch on Youtube, the owner of the video has not allowed viewing on other websites):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIv889_St_k

Johannes Kerkorrel version:

Just An Everlovin’ woman – Tommy Oliver

Just An Everlovin’ woman – Tommy Oliver

‘Just An Everlovin’ Woman’ is a track which one would not have been surprised to see Elvis Presley record a version of. It is a kind of country kind of rock ‘n’ roll track which The King would have been comfortable singing. It is also a love song which Presley could also do well.

However, Elvis did not (as far as I can tell) ever record a version of this and probably never heard the track. However, it was Tommy Oliver who would record the record and we would enjoy it enough to send it to number 7 on the Springbok Top 20.

The song starts with a tremolo sounding guitar that (like June Dyer’s ‘Whirlpool Of Love’,  last week’s entry in this blog) borrows heavily from the sound ‘Duane Eddy and those ous’ (to quote from David Kramer’s ‘Budgie & The Jets’) would have produced. However, where Dyer would tend more to the rock ‘n’ roll and soul of the early sixties, Oliver’s song was from 1974 and leans more towards the country and western sound. That said, he does bring a vocal to the track which is not far removed from the rock ‘n’ rollers from the 50’s.

Where to find it:
Yesterday’s Best Vol 3 – Various Artists

Video:

Sallie Weer Trou Nie – Mouers Family

Karoo Kitaar Blues

One of the tracks from David Kramer’s ‘Karoo Kitaar Blues’, ‘Ek Ko Huistoe’ has already appeared on this list. Here is another one of the tracks from this collection of peculiar music of the rural Cape. Recorded at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town, this one was written and performed by the Mouers family. It is sung by the daughter Magdalena.

It features a rustily plucked guitar and flat voiced singing. The dryness and sparseness of the Karoo shows through in the track which tells of the hardship of ‘my mama’ who will not marry again because the first marriage was a bitter affair. The sound is angular, the singing is not always in key and the lyrics don’t sit comfortably. But there is something fascinating about how this comes together.

It is a kind of lost sound that feels like it has been rattling around in the desert for a long time, gathering rust, but also distilling into something that has a strange beauty. The simplicity of the lyrics, the earthy sound of the guitar and the world-weary voice all combine to give us something that is as simple as breathing. It has none of the modern world flash and fashion to it, which brings us something real in a world that seems to be striving to make a god out of the unreal.

It is unlikely that Kramer will trou his talents with those of these lost musicians of the Cape again. The whole project feels like a one off unique experience. He brought this to our attention and it is now up to us to keep this music alive as it is life music.

Where to find it:
Karoo Kitaar Blues – David Kramer (2002), Blik Music, BLOK07

Groen En Goud – The Bats

Groen En Goud – The Bats

About 13 years before David Kramer had a major hit with his rugby themed song ‘Hak Hom Blokkies’, The Bats were already singing about rugby and including an accordion in a hit track. Their hit ‘Groen En Goud’ entered the Springbok Top 20 on 12 July 1968. It would spend 9 weeks on the charts and peak at 7.

It has a short instrumental intro before the Bats launch into ‘Vat hom Dawie’ and then continue with their cries of encouragement to their favourite bokke (Groen en Goud, if I do have to explain, refers to the green and gold colours the Springbok Rugby team wear). In fact, the whole song is pretty much made up of things one may hear shouted from the crowd at a rugby match.

There is a little interlude to these ‘chants’ when the boere orkes comes in and the Bats move into singing ‘La la-la-la die groen en goud’. It’s all done to a catchy tune. One can hear the humorous twinkle in their eyes as they sing and you can almost imagine them doing the langarm around the studio during the accordion interlude. It is a great 2 and a bit minutes of perfect boerepop and when one sings about something as revered as rugby by a section of the population, you are bound to have a hit.

Arguably the first ‘rugby’ hit in South Africa (but I would welcome suggestions of earlier ones), ‘Groen En Goud’ would blaze a path for Kramer’s ‘Hak Hom Blokkies’ and Shuster’s ‘Hier Kommie Bokkie’. And don’t forget the more serious ones such as PJ Powers’ awesome version of ‘World In Union’ and the various versions of ‘Shosholoza’. The Bats knew how to make good pop songs and in ‘Groen En Goud’, one could almost say that they didn’t even need to try.

Where to find it:
The Best Of The Bats – The Bats (1996), Dawn Music, MORCD612

Video:

Die Bloed – Churchil Naude

Churchil Naude

Die Bloed – Churchil Naude

Churchil Naude hails from Mitchell’s Plain in the Cape and is a rapper in Kaapse Afrikaans. With ‘Die Bloed’ you have to imagine the cast from District Six along with David Kramer and a twist of Koos Kombuis trying to sound like LL Cool J. There is that kind of Afri-Kaap guitar sound that Kramer plays pitted against the Cape accent and that laid back kind of rap that LL Cool J does. Thrown into the mix is a choir of mixed race that brings a sort of out-of-tune-but-somehow-works-and-sounds-cool sound and a pennywhistle that flutters around the song.

Churchil raps about violence, focussing on the gangsters in the Cape Flats, but could just as easily be about the violence in the whole country. He raps that ‘ek is moeg van baklei/ek is klaar gestry’ (I am tired of fighting/I have finished struggling) and looks for a way to reconcile warring factions in his society. His solution is to look to the blood that runs through all of us. While his ‘bloed is net gemix’, the choir goes on to sing that ‘die bloed binne jou is die bloed binne my’ (the blood inside you is the blood inside me). His message is that we are all human with blood running through our veins.

For a song that deals with the issue of violence, it is almost odd that it has such a relaxed and quite beautiful sound. There is a rawness to it which adds to the genuineness of the appeal to learn to live together. Songs like these can sometimes sound trite and ‘We Are The World’-ish, but Churchil seems to manage to get the sentiment right without overdosing on sentimentality. It a bloody good song.

Video:

Ek Ko Huis Toe – David Kramer

Huistoe – David Kramer

Towards the end of the previous millennium (can you remember that far back?) David Kramer was asked by Jan Horn to be the presenter in a documentary he was doing called ‘Langpad’. The aim was to find, interview and record a variety of local guitar players. This led them to discover some of the lost guitar players of the Karoo and ultimately a showcase concert at the Klein Karoo Nationale Kunsfees in 2001. They followed this up with the show ‘Karoo Kitaar Blues’ at The Baxter Theatre in Cape Town.

One of the discoveries during this process was a guy called Hannes Coetzee whose guitar playing style included holding a teaspoon in his mouth and sliding it across the guitar strings on the neck while plucking the instrument. This unusual player would collaborate with Kramer in writing the song ‘Ek Ko Huistoe’ which would be show’s closing hit. This song does not showcase the ‘teaspoon’ antics of Coetzee (some examples of this can be found on Youtube or in the DVD documentary of ‘Karoo Kitaar Blues’) but it is a lively, life affirming track.

There is a kind of Kaapse Klopse ‘ay-chika-lay’ beat to the track with Kramer in ‘cheeky grin’ voice, singing about the joys of coming home to a loved one. There is a delightful line to the chorus ‘Ek wil kaalgat-lepel langs jou lê’ (I want to lie naked like spoons next to you’) which sums up the joy and simplicty of the song which cannot help but make one smile.

There is a slower, more serious version which Kramer recorded for his 2004 album ‘Huistoe’. This has a gospel kind of sound to it, with a ‘choir’ joining with the somewhat melancholic, music. Kramer uses his ‘nostalgic’ voice for this one. It is interesting to compare the 2 versions with the faster ‘Karoo Kitaar Blues’ version bringing up images of Kramer in his rooi velskoene and on his trademark bicycle, his braces caught in the door of the Hiace as he speeds home with a big grin on his face. The ‘Huisetoe’ version, is closer to picture on the cover of the album where a solitary figure trudges down a long dirt road in the Karoo. It is a weary soul taking the langpad, driven on only by the thought that he will eventually ‘kaalgat-lepel langs haar lê’.

So, if you are in a joyous mood, the stick on the ‘Karoo Kitaar Blues’ version, or better still click on the link to the live version from the Baxter Theatre show and dance round your living room with the same abandonment that Kramer and the Beaufort-Worchester Social Club show in the clip. Alternatively, if you’re feeling in a more introspective mood, put on the ‘Huistoe’ version and sit and stare at the album cover and lose yourself in the awesome beauty of this version and that of the Karoo pad.

Where to find it:
Karoo Kitaar Blue – David Kramer (2002), Blik Musiek, BLIK07
Huistoe – David Kramer (2004) Blik Musiek

Video:

Live version:

The direct link to the Youtube video has been disabled, but you should be able to link to it by clicking here.

Ek Wil Net Huis Toe Gaan – Koos Kombuis & David Kramer

Langpad Na Lekkersing – Koos Kombuis

Is there some rule written somewhere that if you record a phenomenally good Afrikaans song then the video has to involve a lot of lights all over the place as the 2 best Afrikaans songs I have ever heard – Francois van Coke & Karen Zoid’s ‘Toe Vind Ek Jou’ and Koos Kombuis & David Kramer’s ‘Ek Wil Net Huis Toe Gaan’ – both had a light motif going on in the videos.

It also seems that teaming up with someone else helps create brilliant songs as in 2015 the relative new comers to the music scene, van Coke & Zoid, showed the way and then the 2 legends, Kombuis and Kramer, said, well if the lighties can do it, so can we.

‘Ek Wil Net Huis Toe Gaan’ is an extremely beautiful song that talks of a longing to return home, although as both the artists on the track are getting on in years, it could also just be talking about retiring (please don’t guys, but if you do we’ll understand). ‘Ek is so moeg van die stress/ek is nou oud en bles/Nou will ek ophou werk en my das uittrek/ek wil net huis toe gaan’ tells of Kombuis’ tiredness and the gently plucked guitar set against a muted organ sound seems to echo the state of mind of the singers. Their rock ‘n’ roll days are over and the only rocking they want to do is on the chair on the front veranda.

Neither Kombuis not Kramer could be said to have the greatest singing voices, but the almost whispered vocals from Kombuis and the somewhat gravelly baritone of Kramer weave themselves within the magic of this track perfectly. If these 2 legends bow out of the music business with this, it would be an extremely high note on which to do so. They have been leading lights in the Afrikaans music scene for a number of decades now. Perhaps only Kombuis’ ‘Lisa Klavier’ and Kramer’s ‘Prisoners Of War’ could challenge for the title of the most beautiful tracks by these artists, but, in my opinion, this one take the honours.

Where to find it:
Langpad na Lekkersing – Koos Kombuis (2016), Select Music Distribution, KKCD10

Video:

Going Away – David Kramer

David Kramer

‘Baboondogs’ is one of Kramer’s less popular albums but is one of his more critically acclaimed. Apart from containing his marvellous ‘Dry Wine’, there is also this little gem called ‘Going Away’ which ironically is more about staying than leaving.

Written at a time of huge upheaval in the country with the State of Emergency in place, the violence that beset the country and the very uncertain future for white South Africans, many people contemplated leaving the country in what was known then as ‘the chicken run’. There is no judgement from Kramer of those who chose to leave. He understands why people wanted to leave, but he knows what he will do, the words ‘As for me, I don’t think that I’ll be leaving/I belong here, I’ll be staying where I was born/These people are my people/These places are my places’ he sings, making it clear.

Most of ‘Baboondogs’ shows the serious side of Kramer. His hits were the ones that were carefree and about more trivial issues. Songs such as ‘Hak Hom Blokkies’, ‘Meissie Sonder Sokkies’ and ‘Die Royal Hotel’ while often having a line or two in the lyrics for those looking for deeper meaning, ‘Going Away’ and the rest of the ‘Baboondogs’ songs don’t have any of the frivolity that those hits had. ‘Going Away’ also features that rare thing, a saxophone on a David Kramer song. It is understandable why ‘Baboondogs’ was not as commercially successful as some of his other albums, but it is also completely understandable why it is one of his most critically acclaimed albums with tracks like this and ‘Dry Wine’ it finds the red veldtskoened one at his lyrical best.

Where to find it:
Vinyl – Baboondogs – David Kramer (1986), EMI, EMCJ(V)4051001

Video:

Letters For Dicky – Jennifer Ferguson

Hand Around The Heart – Jennifer Ferguson

David Kramer’s song ‘On The Border’ tells the story of a guy recalling a friend who ended up commiting suicide while doing his army stint. In that song it was time spent in DB that put the guy in question over the edge. Jennifer Ferguson’s ‘Letters For Dickey’ covers similar material except that the narrative is in the form of letters from a girl to her boyfriend on the border.

The song is sung in a strong South African accent and one can imagine it being a rather simple and frightened girl who at first cannot believe that there would be anyone else but Dickie for her, but while her man is away she is tempted and falls pregnant to another guy. Despite the ‘Dear John’ letter she ends up writing, she still loves her Dickie. The song takes a sharp turn from this dreamy lovestruck, confused and rather naïve girl when the news come through that Dickie had taken his life. Ferguson’s voice reflects the growing maturity in the girl as the song builds to its climax and perfectly captures the shock and emptiness as she sings the line ‘the bullet that you put into your head was meant for me not you’.

Like ‘On The Border’, ‘Letters To Dickey’ is a very emotional song and deals with a subject that we all knew, but never spoke about openly. It perfectly captures the strain that conscription put on the country, not only for those fighting, but also for those back home waiting for the return of loved ones. While those days are gone, this song and those like it, still speak to us of the impact war has on people. There have been many anti-war songs written, but few cut as close to the bone as this one. The song appeared on Ferguson’s album ‘Hand Around The Heart’ and everytime you hear ‘Letters To Dickie’ that hand is not a kind one, it is squeezing your heart till it hurts. Powerful stuff.

Where to find it:
Hand Around The Heart – Jennifer Ferguson (1985) Shifty Records

Hear here:
http://jenniferferguson.bandcamp.com/track/letters-to-dickie

Video: