Death Of Stephen Biko, The

Tom PaxtonTom Paxton 

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Tom Paxton

Thomas Richard "Tom" Paxton (born October 31, 1937) is an American folk singer and singer-songwriter who has been writing, performing and recording music for fifty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. more »

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Stephen Biko lay in shackles on a urine-sodden mattress
 In the solitary section, he was made to lie there naked
 Ah, ah!
 Given nothing he could wash with, exercise was not permitted
 Stephen Biko lay in shackles, compliments of Colonel Goosen
 Ah, ah, Africa!

 Port Elizabeth the prison, South Africa the nation
 Stephen Biko lay in shackles, though his hands and feet were swollen
 Ah, ah!
 In the close interrogation he was beaten like the others
 He was put back in the shackles, compliments of Colonel Goosen
 Ah, ah, Africa!
 Ah, ah, Africa!

 He was sick and he was dying, prison doctors came to see him
 When the cops spoke to the doctors they said, Nothing much is wrong here
 Ah, ah!
 Just a short stay in the infirmary, then it's back down to the shackles
 On a urine-sodden mattress, compliments of Colonel Goosen
 Ah, ah, Africa!
 Ah, ah, Africa!

 When they found him in a coma, when the man was clearly dying
 He was naked, but they stowed him in the back of a Land Rover
 Ah, ah!
 Though a hospital was near by it was no part of a prison
 So they took him to Pretoria - seven hundred fifty miles
 Ah, ah, Africa!
 Ah, ah, Africa!

 There was no one on the journey who could help the man survive it
 And the medical equipment was just one bottle of water
 Ah, ah!
 When they reached Pretoria prison they brought no medical records with them
 And they said, he might be faking, it's a hunger strike he's staging
 Ah, ah, Africa!
 Ah, ah, Africa!

 Stephen Biko in Pretoria was laid down upon a mattress
 On the stone floor of a prison, and he died his lonely death there
 Now, the country was South Africa; the victim, Stephen Biko
 The victim, all South Africa; the victim, all humanity
 At the death of Stephen Biko
 Ah, ah, Africa!
 Ah, ah, Africa!

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