Read/sing to the tune of Bob Marley’s ‘I shot the Sheriff’

I won the Presidency
But I didn’t say I beat the President, oh no oh!
I won the Presidency
But I didn’t say I beat the President ooh o-ooh o-ooh!

Yeah! all around in Zimbabwe,
They’re trying to track me down;
They say they want to bring me in guilty
For winning the Presidency,
For the office of the Presidency,
But I say:

Oh, no, no. oh!
(I won the Presidency.) – the Presidency.
(but I swear the people chose me.)
Oh, no! (ooh, ooh, oo-oh) yeah!
I say: I won the Presidency – oh, lord! -
(and they say it is a capital offence.)
Yeah! (ooh, ooh, oo-oh) yeah!

Chef Bob always hated me,
For what, I don’t know:
Every time I plant a seed,
He said kill it before it grow -
He said kill them before they grow.
And so:

Read it in the news one day:
(I won the Presidency) oh, lord!
(but I swear the people chose me.)
Who said I beat the President? (oo-oo-oh)
I say: I won the Presidency,
But I swear the people chose me (oo-oh) yeah!

Freedom came my way one day
And I started out of town, yeah!
All of a sudden, I saw Chef Bob
Trying to cheat me,
So I declared – I declared – I declared that I had won and I say:
If I am guilty I will pay!

(I won the Presidency,)
But I say (but I didn’t beat the President),
I didn’t beat no President (oh, no-oh), oh no!
(I won the Presidency.) I did!
But I didn’t beat no President. oh! (oo-oo-ooh)

Justice had got the better of me
And what is to be must be:
Every day the bucket a-go a well,
One day the bottom a-go drop out,
One day the bottom a-go drop out.
I say:

I – I – I – I won the Presidency.
Lord, I didn’t beat the President, yeah!
I – I (won the Presidency) -
But I didn’t beat no President, yeah! no, yeah!

* Tribute to Tendai Biti, Eric Matinenga and all political detainees in Zimbabwe. Adapted by Alex T. Magaisa – for the known and unknown victims of political repression in Zimbabwe – wamagaisa [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] uk

This entry was posted on June 24th, 2008 at 4:05 pm by Amanda Atwood and is filed under Elections 2008, Inspiration, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.