Zika nor nama ... hesah! Zika nor nama ... hesah!
Zika nor nama ... hesah! Zika nor nama ... hesah! [1]
Through this hourglass
sands are running fast
in deserted plains
kingdoms write their names
On these burning sands
kingdoms show their hands
in these killing fields
soldiers show their steel
The men who play the gods of war
they stay behind the guarded door
and hostages who seek release
they're crying out to keep the peace
Holding on ... Holding on
One day we will be free,
one day if we're strong
Holding on ... Holding on
through the shadows cast
to a brighter day
In these fields of stone
far away from home
in this vale of tears
young men waste their years
The men who play the gods of war
they stay behind the guarded door
Religious leaders teachin' hate
praise the war and call it fate
Holding on ... Holding on
One day we will be free,
one day if we're strong
Holding on ... Holding on
through the shadows cast
to a brighter day
Zika nor nama ... hesah! Zika nor nama ... hesah! [1]
Through this hourglass
sands are running fast
in deserted plains
kingdoms write their names
On these burning sands
kingdoms show their hands
in these killing fields
soldiers show their steel
The men who play the gods of war
they stay behind the guarded door
and hostages who seek release
they're crying out to keep the peace
Holding on ... Holding on
One day we will be free,
one day if we're strong
Holding on ... Holding on
through the shadows cast
to a brighter day
In these fields of stone
far away from home
in this vale of tears
young men waste their years
The men who play the gods of war
they stay behind the guarded door
Religious leaders teachin' hate
praise the war and call it fate
Holding on ... Holding on
One day we will be free,
one day if we're strong
Holding on ... Holding on
through the shadows cast
to a brighter day
[1] 'Zika nor nama ... hesah!': these are the spellings transcribed from the Gary Brooker Ensemble's score for the choir at Aldershot. 'Zika' has been glossed as 'bury' but the phrase as a whole defies interpretation: it doesn't make sense in Swahili, despite GB's claim in contemporary interviews, or on the Zoo promotional CD: 'It was thrown somewhere towards Ethiopia … we needed some girls to do some chanting. And these girls … were South Africans … and they were quite fluent in either Swahili or Zulu, I'm not sure what …'). It would be interesting to know if these 'girls' contributed the idea for mouth-clicks from their own ethnic experience, or whether the band brought the idea in themselves – the idea has been familiar to all pop music audiences since Paul Simon's Graceland album. These exotic words have remained in all orchestral performances of the song, and have remained a source for onstage fun: 'Anybody from Swahili here? I knew there would be! Careful girls!' Gary joked at Guildford 2000.
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