De La Rey lyrics

"De La Rey" is a popular song written and performed by Bok van Blerk, I've read the lyrics and I've translated it to English as an exercise. This song has been playing at all the nightclubs and bars here in Stellenbosch since I arrived in January, although often in a remixed version. The song is about the Boer war general De La Rey and the fight against the British army, who outnumbered the Boers by far. In this war the british set up concentration camps with horrible conditions, resulting in thousands upon thousands of civilian deaths.

Video


LYRICS (my English translation is in paranthesis)

Op 'n berg in die nag (on a mountain in the night)
lê ons in die donker en wag (we lie in the darkness and wait)
in die modder en bloed lê ek koud, (I lay in mud and blood, cold)
streepsak en reën kleef teen my (backpacks(?) and rain sticks to me)

en my huis en my plaas tot kole verbrand sodat hulle ons kan vang (and my house and my place are burned to coals so that they can catch us)
maar daai vlamme en vuur brand nou diep, diep binne my (but the flames and fire burn deep, deep inside of me)

De La Rey, De La Rey sal jy die Boere kom lei? (De La Rey, can you come lead the boers)
De La Rey, De La Rey
Generaal, generaal soos een man, sal ons om jou val. (General like a man, shall we fall with you)
Generaal De La Rey.

Oor die khakies wat lag (hear the british who laugh)
'n handjie van ons teen 'n hele groot mag (a handful of us against the whole great army)
en die kranse lê hier teen ons rug (and the cliffs are here against our backs)
hulle dink dis verby (they think it has passed)

Maar die hart van 'n Boer lê dieper en wyer, hulle gaan dit nog sien (but the heart of a boer is deeper and wider, they can still see it)
Op 'n perd kom hy aan, die Leeu van die Wes Transvaal (on a horse he comes, the lion from west-transvaal)

De La Rey, De La Rey sal jy die Boere kom lei? (de la rey, can you come lead the boers?)
De La Rey, De La Rey
Generaal, generaal soos een man, sal ons om jou val. (general as a man,shall we fall with you)
Generaal De La Rey.

Want my vrou en my kind lê in 'n kamp en vergaan (because my wife and my child are in a [concentration] camp, decaying)
en die khakies se murg loop oor 'n nasie wat weer op sal staan. (and the british's marrow runs over a nation which shall rise again)

De La Rey, De La Rey sal jy die Boere kom lei?
De La Rey, De La Rey
Generaal, generaal soos een man, sal ons om jou val (general like a man, shall we fall with you?)
Generaal De La Rey.