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In the Beginning Lyrics
Yiaoowww!
So
In the beginning there was hum
From a poet whose pulse fell
Drum, drum, drum!
He would perform prayers and all
'Till one day he heard a voice call,
"Come, come, come!"
Suspicious, he moved with vicious caution
Dismisses, he thinks it's a little off
People get held back
By the voice inside them
Yo:
The voice said, "I'm poised to speak inside you
Rejoice and please let me invite you
To evil, greed, and lies too"
Yeah:
Confusing days, he moved in ways he soon became a kuuni
Boom, boom, boom!
A knock on his door, his lord is no more
A knock on his door, his soul is no more
La la la la- yeah
La la la la- that was in the beginning
La la la la- as the story goes on...
La la la la-
So, so, so:
The poet's got a proposal
He would always hope but never know
What it feels to be free
He would be the frozen, imposed as the chosen on all those opposing
But he would be greedy
That's got him there
He's power-hungry and proud too
People don't care, people just scared
People don't care, people just pray
La la la la- yeah
La la la la- that was in the beginning
La la la la- there was a hum
La la la la- and things change
La la la la-
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Say:
It's better to light a candle than to curse the dark
In the eyes of the youth, there are question marks, like freedom
Freedom for the mind and soul, we don't see them
See them for their worth at all, that's why we lead them
Lead them to these wars and what is it we feed them
Feed them our impurities and who it is we treat them
Treat them like the enemy, humanity will need them
Need them like the blood we spill and we're freedom
Freedom for the hearts we fill
Mislead them
They hunger for the love we give
But we cheat them
The cops beat him when all he wants is his freedom
So they defeat him
Whatever spirit he's got
Beat him
And they teach him that the rest of the world don't need him
And he believes it's a disease; that he's heathen
Put up your fists if all you want is freedom
Put up your fists if all you want is...
La la la la-
La la la la- that was in the beginning
La la la la- and things change
La la la la-
Yeah, yeah, yeah:
And we keep holding on
And we keep being strong
And we keep going on
And on and on and on
In the beginning there was hum
From a poet whose pulse fell
Drum, drum, drum!
He would perform prayers and all
'Till one day he heard a voice call,
"Come, come, come!"
Suspicious, he moved with vicious caution
Dismisses, he thinks it's a little off
People get held back
By the voice inside them
The voice said, "I'm poised to speak inside you
Rejoice and please let me invite you
To evil, greed, and lies too"
Confusing days, he moved in ways he soon became a kuuni
Boom, boom, boom!
A knock on his door, his lord is no more
A knock on his door, his soul is no more
La la la la- that was in the beginning
La la la la- as the story goes on...
La la la la-
The poet's got a proposal
He would always hope but never know
What it feels to be free
He would be the frozen, imposed as the chosen on all those opposing
But he would be greedy
That's got him there
He's power-hungry and proud too
People don't care, people just scared
People don't care, people just pray
La la la la- that was in the beginning
La la la la- there was a hum
La la la la- and things change
La la la la-
Say:
It's better to light a candle than to curse the dark
In the eyes of the youth, there are question marks, like freedom
Freedom for the mind and soul, we don't see them
See them for their worth at all, that's why we lead them
Lead them to these wars and what is it we feed them
Feed them our impurities and who it is we treat them
Treat them like the enemy, humanity will need them
Need them like the blood we spill and we're freedom
Freedom for the hearts we fill
Mislead them
They hunger for the love we give
But we cheat them
The cops beat him when all he wants is his freedom
So they defeat him
Whatever spirit he's got
Beat him
And they teach him that the rest of the world don't need him
And he believes it's a disease; that he's heathen
Put up your fists if all you want is freedom
Put up your fists if all you want is...
La la la la- that was in the beginning
La la la la- and things change
La la la la-
And we keep holding on
And we keep being strong
And we keep going on
And on and on and on
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my favourite verse is the "it's better to light a candle than to curse the dark..." one. how strange that it makes you feel happy? "and we keep holding on and we keep being strong and we keep holding on and on and on and on"
What does kuuni mean?
From the line 'Confusing days, he moved in ways, he soon became a kuuni'
From the line 'Confusing days, he moved in ways, he soon became a kuuni'
what a beautiful song. its filled with so much life and movement. the rap scene definitely need knaan to rejuvenate a soul back into it beyond club songs. what a fresh taste of music.
This song is so beautiful. It just starts off like a freight train and hits you with this incredible, tragic story with this inspiring message. The emotion in K'naan's voice as he does the tragic lines "the knock on the door, his lord is no more, the knock on the door, his soul is no more" is just wrenching. Its hard for me to follow the stanza that leads to the awesome line "put up your fists if all you want is freedom" but it seems like he's speaking from the point of view of the corrupting forces that spoil the minds of so many youths. Perhaps these forces distort the idea of freedom in order to lure people in? This is supported by the lines "freedom for the hearts we fill, mislead them/ they hunger for the love we give, but we cheat them"
It seems like the final part of that (put up your fists...) is a rejection of all the negative forces that try to trick someone along the way to seeing "what it feels to be free." Put up your fists if all you want is REAL freedom, not the snake oil being sold by these terrible influences.
Sorry that that is so vague (corrupting forces? what am i talking about? i don't know) but obviously I don't know the specific things that he's referring and I don't want to speculate on the undoubtedly terrible things he might be singing about.
In any case, this song is so beautiful and inspiring. I love it. Its better to light a candle than curse the dark. Even out of some of the truly most devastating and unimaginable experiences possible out comes this beauty and hope in the most utterly eloquent way.
"its better to light a candle than to curse the dark" is the motto for amnesty international.
I love this song. So inspirational. Makes you want to work for something in life, and appreciate all that you have.
Question: What does he mean by "Confusing days, he moved in ways he soon became a kuuni"? What's a kuuni? I've seen the movie Wend Kuuni, but I don't think it has anything to do with this line even though that's what comes up when I google it. Shed some light if you know!