Wavin’ Flag

(Through Rose-Coloured Glasses)

“Wavin’ Flag” is a song by Somali-Canadian musician K’naan, from his album “Troubadour”. He performed it at the Canadian Winter Olympic, the for Haiti telethon and other events. The song was also remade by a supergroup of Canadian artists, credited as Young Artists for Haiti, and became a charity single. The song was chosen as the anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup of this month, to be held in South Africa.

As for the lyrics, it was originally a memoir of K’naan’s childhood in the streets of Mogadishu during the Somali civil war, a life he escaped for Toronto at age 13 on what was, reportedly, the last commercial flight out.

Cut with poignant images from Haiti, the Young Artists for Haiti video begins with K’naan saying, “It started out as my song. But then it became their song. All of these artists’song. Now it’s really going to be Haiti’s song.”

The Young Artists for Haiti performance brought together some of the hottest Canadian acts in the business, including Drake, Hedley, Avril Lavigne, Nelly Furtado, Sam Roberts, Jully Black and, last but not least, the latest pop-ups Justin Bieber and Nikki Yanofsky.

Wavin’ Flag

K’naan

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

旗幟飄揚

長大成人   他們都叫我   自由
飄揚的旗幟   那樣

長大成人   我會更堅強
他們都叫我   自由
飄揚的旗幟   那樣
它向後飄   向後飄
向後飄

出身在寶座   比羅馬還強
卻傾於暴力   窮人聚居地
這是我的家   是我的所有
我生長之地   流浪的街頭
冲出了黑暗   我走得最遠
艱苦倖存者
教養在街頭   暗淡而無光
但不能失敗   投降   撤退

繼續爭扎   搶食
問疑   自由將何時
只能   耐心地等待
那一天   的来臨
不太久   聊自慰

無數戰亂   反擊
帶来的承諾   終是窮困
聴説   愛是道路
愛就是解答   有人説
睜眼看   受的什麽待遇
要我們相信
為他們而戰   皆欺騙
控制   但   不能阻止
往前進的   黑人騎兵

繼續爭扎   搶食
問疑   自由將何時
只能   耐心地等待
那一天   的来臨
不太久   聊自慰

(噢   噢   噢   噢)
衆人都在歌唱
(噢   噢   噢   噢)
我和你也在歌唱
(噢   噢   噢   噢)
所有人都在歌唱
(噢   噢   噢   噢)

長大成人   長大成人
我會更堅強   飄揚的旗幟   那樣
飄揚的旗幟   飄揚的旗幟
旗   旗   飄揚的旗幟   那樣

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