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Rating: This album was introduced to me by a German, in Kenya, during one of my countless trips to Africa between the late Eighties and early Nineties. He was responsible for the boats and yachts at the hotel where I was staying, as well as for a yacht owned by President Kenyatta, the president who managed to make his country independent. In the past, Volker, that was his name, had been a career military man, he was in the German Navy's diver unit, a sergeant or something like that, I don't remember exactly. Then in Kenya, after leaving the army, he opened a diving school for tourists that worked well. An enterprising type, therefore. And he married a beautiful French woman. But then tragedy struck. Also a motorcycle enthusiast, he had a Harley and always traveled with it on the rugged roads of Mombasa. A head-on collision with a matatu, the typical colorful buses teeming with people, nearly sent him to the other side, but luckily he had an excellent Kenyan surgeon in Nairobi on his side who managed to fix all the damages, particularly to his face and chest. Volker came out of it, he a big strong blond German, with seventy-two pins and plates in the skull and facial bones, and I don't know how many more in his chest. He came out with a mangled face, completely disfigured, dozens and dozens of scars, a crooked nose, deformed lips. And then, after a couple of years of convalescence, he decided to stop with cosmetic surgeries, and reinvented himself with boat maintenance, taking on the responsibility.
When I met him, it was a shock, he was really a "monster", his face deformed, one arm crooked, him all skinny. But he radiated a strength that was almost absurd, despite everything. I met him at a disco, I was 25, he was around 40. A colossal crush for both of us. I was in Kenya with my mother and her partner and when I introduced him, she said, you are crazy.
Volker was respected by everyone, white and black, he was German to the core, but not racist, he was methodical, cared about work, and also knew how to have fun. But he had one flaw: terrible musical taste.
He was divorced, so free. He took me everywhere, with him I saw Amboseli Park and we climbed quite high on Kilimanjaro. These were not trips organized by some agency, but just him and me alone in his jeep. "Out of Africa" style, you could say. And we always listened to this album, on tape. He had terrible musical taste, but he had this tape. So, imagine this New Orleans music, a mix of soul and deep bayou, celestial voices, and driving rhythms... How can I even review this album—perfect disc, emotional and spiritual, a superb sound, and an amazing band, a musical depth like few others—when it brings such a personal story to me? Listening to this album still takes me into the savannah, the giraffes swinging their necks, the elephants flaring their ears, the zebras staring at us serenely. A combination that didn't fit at all, music and environment were at odds. But I was in love, and this album reminds me of beautiful moments at the dawn of time.
Now, today I am an old woman, the memory of how this story ended has faded, he had the idea to leave Kenya, to take me to Madagascar, to open a hotel and I was supposed to take care of the tourist office being multilingual. Uhm, the detail was he had no capital, and the plan was that I, being Swiss, could find it in Swiss banks, between loans on my account.
It ended like that, a fulfilled dream killed by another unachievable dream.
However, I have this album left, the soundtrack of a love that lasted a few months and paradoxically the African fever that always, afterward, I carried with me.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
05 Sister Rosa (03:34)
December 1, 1955, our freedom movement came alive. And because of Sister Rosa you know, we don’t ride on the back of the bus no more.
Sister Rosa Parks was tired one day
after a hard day on her job.
When all she wanted was a well deserved rest
Not a scene from an angry mob.
A bus driver said, "Lady, you got to get up
cuz a white person wants that seat."
But Miss Rosa said, "No, not no more.
I’m gonna sit here and rest my feet."
Thank you Miss Rosa, you are the spark,
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks.
Thank you Miss Rosa you are the spark,
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks.
Now, the police came without fail
And took Sister Rosa off to jail.
And 14 dollars was her fine,
Brother Martin Luther King
knew it was our time.
The people of Montgomery sit down to talk
It was decided all gods’ children should walk
Until segregation was brought to its knees
And we obtain freedom and equality, yeah
Thank you Miss Rosa, you are the spark,
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks.
We’ll sing it again
Thank you Miss Rosa, you are the spark,
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks.
So we dedicate this song to thee
for being the symbol of our dignity.
Thank Sister Rosa Parks.
06 With God on Our Side (06:38)
Oh my name it means nothing, and my age it means less.
For the country I come from, is called the Midwest.
I was taught and brought up, to the laws to abide.
That the land that I live in,has God on its side.
Oh the history books tell it,they tell it so well.
The Calvaries charged,and the Indians fell.
The calvaries charged,and the Indians died.
Oh The Country was young then, with God on its side.
The Spanish-American, War had its day.
And the civil war to us, was soon laid away.
And the names of the heroes, I was made to memorize.
With guns in their hands, and God on their side.
The First World War,it came and it went.
And the reason for fighting,I never did get.
But I learned to accept it, accept it with pride.
For you don't count the dead, when God's on your side.
In the nineteen-sixties,came the Vietnam war.
Can someone tell me, what we were fighting for?
So many young men died, so many mothers cried.
No I ask the question, was God on our side?
I learned to hate the russians, all through my whole life.
If another war comes, it's them must fight.
And to hate them and fear, to run and to hide.
And accept it all bravely, with God on my side.
Through many dark hours, I've been thinkin' bout' this.
That Jesus Christ was betrayed by a kiss.
But I can't think for you, you'll have to decide.
Whether Judas Iscariot had God on his side.
Now that I'm leaving, I'm weary as hell.
The confusion I"m feeling, ain't no tongue cna tell.
The words fill my head, and they fall to the floor.
That if God's on our side, he'll stop the next war.
Jesus loves me, this I know.
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Other reviews
By STIPE
An album with a truly intense, unique sound.
Aaron truly reaches perfection, singing in an excellent manner with infinite sweetness.
