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Beasts of No Nation Lyrics

Ah- Let's get now into another, underground spiritual game
Just go to help me the answer, go to say, "Aiya-kata"- Oh ya

O'feshe-Lu
[CHORUS] AIYA-KATA *(after each line)
O'feshe- g'Boh
*(2x)
O'feshe-Woh
[CHORUS] AIYA-KATA *(after each line)
O'feshe-g'Beh
Aiya kata
Aiya Koto
Aiya Kiti
Aiya Kutu

O'feshe-Lu
[CHORUS] AIYA-KATA *(after each line)
O'feshe- g'Boh
*(2x)

Oh-----.......

Basket mouth wan start to leak again, oh-
[CHORUS] BASKET MOUTH WAN OPEN MOUTH AGAIN, OH
Abi** you don forget I say I sing, ee-oh **(is it not)
[CHORUS] BASKET MOUTH WAN OPEN MOUTH AGAIN, OH
Oh, I sing-ee say, I go my mouth like basket, ee-oh, malan biag bere
(stanza 2x)

Basket mouth wan start to leak again, oh-
[CHORUS] BASKET MOUTH WAN OPEN MOUTH AGAIN, OH

Fela, wetin you go sing about?
[CHORUS] DEM GO WORRY ME... *(after each line)
(3x)

Dem go worry me, worry me-- worry, worry, worry, worry
[CHORUS] DEM GO WORRY ME *(After each line)
Dey wan to make us sing about prison
Dem go worry me, worry me-- worry, worry all over da town
Dem wan to know about prison life
Dem go worry me, worry me-- worry, worry all over da town
*(repeat stanza)

Fela, wetin you go sing about?
[CHORUS] DEM GO WORRY ME
Dem go worry me, worry me-- worry, worry, worry, worry

The time weh I dey, for prison, I call am "inside world"
The time weh I dey outside prison, I call am "outside world"
Na craze world, na be outside world

[CHORUS] CRAZE** WORLD *(after each line) / **(crazy)
Na be outside- da police-i dey
Na be outside- da soldier-ha dey
Na be outside- da court dem dey
Na be outside- da magistrate dey
Na be outside- da judge dem dey
Na craze world be dat
Na be outside- Buhari* dey *(Nigerian Head of State via coup d'etat)
Na craze man be dat
Animal in craze-man skin-i
Na craze world be dat
Na be outside- Idiagbon* dey *(Chief of General Staff- 2nd in command)
Na craze man be dat
Animal in craze-man skin-i
Na craze world be dat
Na be outside- dem find me guilty
Na be outside- dem jail me five years
------------------I no do nothing
Na be outside-dem judge dey beg ee-o
Na craze world be dat, Na craze world be dat
Na be outside- dem kill dem students
Soweto, Zaria, and Ife** (600+ students killed protesting Afrikaans schooling)
Na craze world be dat, ee-oh
Na craze world be dat,
Na be outside- all dis dey happen
Na craze world be dat, ee-oh
Na craze world be dat, ee-oh
Na craze world be dat, ee-oh
Na craze world be dat, ee-oh
Na craze world be dat, ee-oh.....
Make you hear this one [sax responses]
War against indiscipline, ee-oh

Na Nigerian government, ee-oh
Dem dey talk ee-oh
"My people are us-e-less, My people are sens-i-less, My people lack discipline"

Na Nigerian government, ee-oh
Dem dey talk be dat
"My people are us-e-less, My people are sens-i-less, My people lack discipline"

I never hear dat before- oh
Make Government talk, ee-oh
"My people are us-e-less, My people are sens-i-less, My people lack discipline"

Na Nigerian government, ee-oh
Dem dey talk be dat
Which kind talk be dat- ee-oh?
Na craze talk be dat ee-oh
Na animal talk be dat ee-oh
Na animal talk be dat ee-oh

[CHORUS] MANY LEADERS AS YOU SEE DEM
[CHORUS] NA DIFFERENT DISGUISE DEM DEY-OH
[CHORUS] ANIMAL IN HUMAN SKIN
[CHORUS] ANIMAL-I PUT-U TIE-OH
[CHORUS] ANIMAL-I WEAR AGBADA* *(robe)
[CHORUS] ANIMAL-I PUT-U SUIT-U
*(2x- 2nd time with lead voc)

These disguising leaders ee-oh, na wah for dem [sax responses after each]
Dem hold meeting everywhere, dem reach America (2x stanza)

Dem call the place, the "United Nations" [sax responses after each]
Hear-oh another animal talk
Wetin united inside "United Nations"?
Who & who unite, for "United Nations"?
No be there Thatcher & Argentina dey
No be there Reagan & Lib-i-ya dey
Is-i-rael versus Lebanon
Iran-i-oh versus Iraq-i
East West Block versus West Block East
No be there dem dey oh- United Nations
Dis "united" United Nations
One veto vote is equal to 92 [...OR MORE, OR MORE]
What kind sense be dat, na animal sense (2x)

[CHORUS] MANY LEADERS AS YOU SEE DEM
[CHORUS] NA DIFFERENT DISGUISE DEM DEY-OH
[CHORUS] ANIMAL IN HUMAN SKIN
[CHORUS] ANIMAL-I PUT-U TIE-OH
[CHORUS] ANIMAL-I WEAR AGBADA
[CHORUS] ANIMAL-I PUT-U SUIT-U
*(2x- 2nd time with lead voc)
Dem go hold meeting, oh, Dem go start yab* human beings *(tease/bother)
Animal talk don start again
Dash* dem, human rights *(give/grant)
*(repeat stanza)

How animal go know-say dem no born me as slave?
How animal go know say slave trade don pass?
And, dey wan dash us human rights
Animal must talk to human beings
Give dem human rights

I beg-ee, oh , make you hear me well-u well
I beg-ee, oh, make you hear me very well

Human rights na my property
So therefore, you can't dash me my property
Human rights na my property
Dey want dash us human rights

Some people say, "Why I dey talk like dis,"
No be talk like dis, dem take to carry me go prision ee-oh"
No be me dey talk, na Prime Minister Botha* dey talk, ee-oh (2x) *(PM of S.Africa)

Him say, "this uprising will bring out the beast in us"
[CHORUS] THIS UPRISING WILL BRING OUT THE BEAST IN US
(repeat stanza 3x)

Eh Ji Keke- my argument

Botha na friend to Thatcher & Reagan
Botha na friend to some other leaders too
And together dem wan dash us human rights
Animals wan dash us human rights
Animal can't dash me human rights
Animal can't dash us human rights

[CHORUS] MANY LEADERS AS YOU SEE DEM
[CHORUS] NA DIFFERENT DISGUISE DEM DEY-OH
[CHORUS] ANIMAL IN HUMAN SKIN
[CHORUS] ANIMAL-I PUT-U TIE-OH
[CHORUS] ANIMAL-I WEAR AGBADA
[CHORUS] ANIMAL-I PUT-U SUIT-U
*(2x- 2nd time with lead voc)

Beasts of no nation- Egbe Ke Gbe na bad society

[CHORUS] BEASTS OF NO NATION, EGBE KE GBE
[CHORUS] BEASTS OF NO NATION, OTURU GBE KE
(repeat stanza many x, lead vamp)

Easy... easy

[solos]

**Do chorus & end again...

---------------
Explanation
-Corrupt world leaders are animals with no country (greedy, ruthless)
-the outside world is crazier and more dangerous than prison

**Muhammadu Buhari took over as Head of State via a 1983 coup d'etat (deposing s***ari). He & his second in command Tunde Idiagbon persecuted Fela. In 1984, they had Fela arrested on fake foreign currency charges prior to an international tour to prevent him from "publishing anything that might embarrass any government official"- even if true (which they had formally made illegal). Fela's trial judge Okoro Idogu admitted that he was ordered by Idiagbon to find Fela guilty & give him a harsh sentence- the judge later begged to dismiss Fela's conviction. Fela served 5 years in prison.
Buhari & Idiagbon also instituted a campaign against "indiscipline" known as "War Against Indiscipline" (WAI).

-Pieter Willem Botha was the militantly racist white prime minister of apartheid era South Africa. A cartoonish super-villain, he made almost unbelievably racist public statements, laws, and atrocious violations of human rights (including torture & murder) against blacks in South Africa.
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