K’naan – Wavin’ Flag

Congratulations to the Toronto, Ontario hardcore punk band Fucked UpMoms Fucked Up reviews, whose album The Chemistry of Common LifeThe Chemistry of Common Life reviews took home the 4th installment of the Polaris Prize last night.  As promised, here are my thoughts on the show last night; In point form of course, as proper sentence transitions are for suckers.

• Whoever decided to have all 10 short-listers perform last night is a goddamn Canadian hero.  I would pay at least $27 for a DVD of the show.
• Free Steam Whistle was a fantastic decision, that resulted in some fantastic speeches.
• Grant Lawrence was perfect.  I don’t like how Sarah MuchMusic says the word “dollars”, or “dollassss” as she kept saying.
• Every single performance was insane.  I watched them all again on MuchMusic’s website today and they’re even better the next morning; The standout for me was K’naan’s Wavin’ Flag, from his shortlisted album TroubadourTroubadour reviews, hence today’s post.
• Hey Rosetta!’s performance was a very close second.
• Next year, every performance should include Ana Egge on backing vocals.  If not for her amazing voice, then for the amount of fun she seems to have on stage.
• I’m uncomfortable with the Polaris/MuchMusic relationship.

That is all.  For now.

When i get older, they’ll call me freedom
Just like a Waving Flag.

[Chorus]
When I get older, I will be stronger,
They’ll call me freedom, just like a Waving Flag,
And then it goes back, and then it goes back,
And then it goes back

Born to a throne, stronger than Rome
but Violent prone, poor people zone,
But it’s my home, all I have known,
Where I got grown, streets we would roam.
But out of the darkness, I came the farthest,
Among the hardest survival.
Learn from these streets, it can be bleak,
Except no defeat, surrender retreat,

So we struggling, fighting to eat and
We wondering when we’ll be free,
So we patiently wait, for that fateful day,
It’s not far away, so for now we say

[Chorus]

So many wars, settling scores,
Bringing us promises, leaving us poor,
I heard them say, love is the way,
Love is the answer, that’s what they say,
But look how they treat us, Make us believers,
We fight their battles, then they deceive us,
Try to control us, they couldn’t hold us,
Cause we just move forward like Buffalo Soldiers.

But we struggling, fighting to eat,
And we wondering, when we’ll be free
So we patiently wait, for that faithful day,
It’s not far away, but for now we say,

[Chorus] 2x

(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And everybody will be singing it
(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And you and I will be singing it
(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And we all will be singing it
(Ohhh Ohh Ohh Ohh)

[Chorus] 2x

When I get older, when I get older
I will be stronger, just like a Waving Flag,
Just like a Waving Flag, just like a Waving flag
Flag, flag, Just like a Waving Flag

Related posts:

• K’naan – I Was Stabbed by Satan
• K’naan – Take a Minute
• Fucked Up – Black Albino Bones
• Hey Rosetta! – I’ve Been Asleep for a Long, Long Time
• Joel Plaskett Emergency – Fashionable People

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