Don't Ask Me Sun City 'Cause I'm Not Gonna Play, Bitches

Of all the songs that are created by large groups of artists to address an social ill in society (be it hunger or the racist policies of Apartheid), 'I Ain't Gonna Play Sun City' is my all time favorite.

It totally fit in with my righteous indignation and college/university politics. I was very pro Brother Nelson Mandela while he was still imprisoned on Robbens Island and very much supported the end to the racist policies of Apartheid - just a bunch of South Africa Nazis who made all of us whites look bad. The fear and ugliness that policy brought to South African society will take years, maybe even generations to abide.



South Africa Away to South Africa
Got to say I ain't gonna play Sun City

Chorus:
I ain't gonna play Sun City
I ain't gonna play Sun City
(Everybody Say)
I ain't gonna play Sun City
(No baby)
I ain't gonna play Sun City

Relocation to phony homelands
Separation of families I can't understand
Twenty three million can't vote 'cause they're black
We're stabbing our brothers and sisters in the back I'm gonna say

Out Government tell us "we're doing all we can"
Constructive engagement is Ronald Reagan's plan
Meanwhile people are dying and giving up hope
This quiet diplomacy ain't nothing but a joke

Chorus:

It's time to accept responsibility
Freedom is a privilege nobody rides for free
Look around the world baby it cannot be denied
Why we're always on the wrong side

Chorus:

Boputhuswana is far away
But we know it's in South Africa no matter what they say
You can't buy me I don't care what you pay
Don't ask me Sun City 'cause I ain't gonna play

Chorus:

Relocation to phony homelands
Separation of families I can't understand
Twenty three million can't vote 'cause they're black
We're stabbing our brothers and sisters in the back I'm gonna say

Chorus:



0n the same topic, I invite you to check out the film 'Invictus' which tells the story of how Nelson Mandela used the World Rugby Championship to unite whites and black after he became president of South Africa. Morgan Freemen and Matt Damon star in a Clint Eastwood directed production.

'Invictus' is a poem by William Ernest Henley (1849 - 1902). It is one of the few things that allowed Nelson Mandela to survive his 27 year imprisonment and plays a large role in the film.

It's just one of those poems that I felt I just had to commit to memory for those times when I need to find the strength inside me to go on and push forward - unafraid. Like the 'Litany Against Fear' from Dune and the final words spoken by Rutger Hauher in 'Blade Runner' - it's on the must memorize list.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

9000 Days



Invictus Movie Trailer