Standard (EADGBE)

Verse 1

I was the only one who witnessed my homecoming

So I asked myself: Brother Joseph, how've you been?

Then I met an old man who knew me as a boy

 (I) said, Father, where've the people, where've the homesteads gone?

 And he said, Son, I'll be old until I die now

 And then I will join our people in the sky

I am not the one to ask the reasons why

 Your brothers and your sisters have been scattered in the wind

Chorus

 And he said old eyes (mehlomadala)

 You've got old eyes, boy (mehlomadala)

You've seen much too much for one so young

 He said old eyes (mehlomadala)

 You've got old eyes, boy (mehlomadala)

Child, from whence have you come?

Verse 2

When I left that mountain land so gold and green

I was a sturdy sixteen years

Work was hard and the wage was low

 And the seasons passed me by one by one

 And I dreamed, Maria, you would wait for my return

 We'd build a home upon the rock, beneath the smiling sun

 But as the old man used to say when I was young

 People come and people go, but the mountain still remains

Zulu chorus:

 And he said mehlomadala, mehlomadala

Ang(i)sakwaz(i) wemganam(i)

 He said mehlomadala, mehlomadala

 (U)qhamkaphi wena wemganam(i)

(instrumental break...)

Repeat English chorus...

Repeat Zulu chorus...

Meaning of Zulu words:

mehlomadala : old eyes (mehlo = eyes, madala = old)

ang(i)sakwaz(i) : I don't know you anymore (i.e. it's been a long time since I saw you)

wemganam(i) : my friend (wemngani = friend, wami = my)

uqhamkaphi wena : where are you coming from i.e. where have you been (uqhamuka =

you coming, kuphi = where, wena = you)

(thanks to Cameron for his musical ear and Thembinkosi for the Zulu words!)