Like A Tale At Night - by Beautiful Nubia

Lyrics Talk: I am so happy
So happy I haven’t eaten
In three weeks and a night
In your eyes I see confusion -
I’ve got seven sons
They live in our marbled mansion
Under a bridge at Falomo
I have a wonderful woman
She wears her suffering well
You can see her (if you look well)
At Agege with our last son
Under a multi-colored umbrella
Safe from the sun and the rain
Naked to the world.

I feel so secure
I’ve got friends in high places
Some are in heaven; others in hell
They died just as they lived
Despised and lonely
What more can a man ask for
Than a chance to have his body claimed
By the Task Force on Pollution
And be given a state burial?

We don’t whisper here
We sigh, we gasp, we moan
We cry, we shout, we groan
No, we don’t whisper here.
We don’t linger here
We run, we jump, we drill
We kick, we grapple, we kill
No, we don’t linger here
We don’t gather here
We crouch, we huddle, we bend
You’re hot, you’re cold, you’re dead
No, we don’t gather here
Who needs people, anyway?
Alone, I came to the world
Alone, I will leave.

I am so rich
So rich I feel like them
Our men in high places
Maggot-meal in flowing agbada
Why should I not be happy?
I’ve got seven sons
At Falomo, under bridge
I’ve got a wonderful wife
At Agege, under an umbrella
And now I’ve found me a new one
She’s only eighteen but she’s seen the world
What more can a man ask for?
Some coins, some rags, a bridge
To have his rotten body claimed
By the Task Force on Pollution
And be given a state burial
What more can a man ask for?
What more?

(First performed with guitar accompaniment in March 1999 at “ANA House”, Lagos.)

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