Tuesday, June 5, 2007

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.

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent, good old war-song, filled with motivation to crush the English.

Anonymous said...

Fascinating - is there still resentment towards the British in SA? I think it's interesting how concentration camps are associated with the Nazis when in fact they were a British invention. Very emotional song/lyrics/video - how is stuff like this impacting on politically correct friendly and tolerant thoughts and actions, I wonder? And isn't it odd when people don't sing in English (or is that just me?) ;-)

Anonymous said...

There is a great difference between the SA-camps, that were coined as concentration c. due to the overrowding etc., to the German camps. Dreadful as the SA-c.s were, they are not the same as the German camps, as these were designed to kill, they were an actual device for genocide. According to different encyclopedias, the SA-camps were not intended to kill, as were not the camps in Kenya or the Indian reservations, for that matter. Of course, that does not by any means exuse or diminish the horrors of SA-camps, but there is a difference.

Anonymous said...

på tide med en aldri så liten oppdatering?

Anonymous said...

hallo fetterfyr, nå er det en stund siden forrige oppdatering.. :)

Hugh said...

It's a good song, but I hope it doesn't get remembered as a symbol for nationalism

ps...
a 'streepsak' is like a grain-pouch,
and 'hulle gaan dit nog sien' means 'as they shall see'

mooi bly julle!

Anonymous said...

Overall a good attempt at the translation.

This line...
Generaal, generaal soos een man, sal ons om jou val (general like a man, shall we fall with you?)

is actually translated in its meaning as, "General, we will follow you as one"

Anonymous said...

'streepsak' in this case perhaps sandbag- burlap grain sack filled with sand to protect the trenches?

Anonymous said...

Its a nice song, I won't lie. Please allow me to translate it for you as well, as I would do it. please send me ur email adress. Mine is dewetw@mailbox.co.za. Thanx!!

Anonymous said...

This song created quite an uproar in SA when it first came out. Its a beautiful song that arouses pride in a nation that at one stage was down trodden. plingvild i dont think there is a lot recentment towards the british in sa. this song was written to tell the story of a small group of men that defeated the british army.in many ways the concentration camps in germany and sa differ yes but the sad part is that we forget the torture the victims went through. in sa over 50 000 women and children died in those camps. songs such as de la rey are good because they remind as a world community not to repeat the mistakes of yesterday.people attach to much symbolism to the song as it was considered racist and hate speech but it isn't. its a history lesson.

Tired of this Planet I live on said...

I am so tired of these Afrikaans people going on about De La Rey and the Boer War. They live in the past. I know this is part of history and must be respected but that anger still remains. It's well over 100 years. Noone is alive that's responsible for anything. Move on Dammit!

Anonymous said...

From what I understand, the women and children in the SA concentration camps were used as shields. So as the Boer were shooting the Brits, the Brits would hold the Boers' family members in front of themselves as shields and the women and children actually ended up being shot by South Africans.
However, De la Rey is a very beautiful song. Thank you so much for translating and for the others who made the translation more complete.

Anonymous said...

Just another myth about the 'poor, brave, noble' Boers... let's get the facts straight: in 1899, the Boers were the ones who attacked the British colonies of Cape Colony and Natal, and at the beginning of the war, they outnumbered the scattered Imperial garrisons by 2:1.
When the Boer armies were subsequently shattered, a few thousand die-hards fought on in what would today be called a terrorist campaign. Many thousands of Boers fought on the British side - something that no one admits to these days.

Yes, people died in the camps and that is tragic, but they were mainly the old and infirm, and infants - the sort of people who were likely to die anyway, especially in those times. Indeed, in some of the camps, the mortality rate was actually lower than amoung 'free' people.

Great song and stirring stuff - but ahistorical nonsense.

Anonymous said...

The concentration camp was not a British invention - the Spanish used them several years earlier.

Anonymous said...

ok the second 2 last guy, the rittish attacked us 1st because we didn't want 2 allow them 2 mine our gold and diamonds ok....so stop trying to change the facts budy! OK!

Unknown said...

The second to last guy seems to be one of those pricks who can only see the trees but not the entire forest which is a critical difference between somebody who actually is an intellectual student of history and just a lackey who wants to show off how much he knows.

Sure, initially the Boers had numerical advantage. Yes, there were Boers who fought on the side of Britain. But what's critical in historical analysis of the Boer War (or any historic materials for that matter) is the poignant yet the complicated force that perceptions and remembrance of history takes form as. Bringing those few "as a matter of facts" is, in the overall study of history, irrelevant to the general position of the Boer War in Afrikaner national psyche.

Great song, one of those that makes me want to learn Afrikaans and sing along in a bar with a big group of folks. Pity that there is a minority of anachronistic, past-ridden, delusional and pitiful souls who are trying to hijack the song to give a wrong message.

Anonymous said...

Its is a beautiful song, and fill me with pride, and a sense of being.I am afrikaans myself. I see there are a few idiots on this site. Just remeber we afrikaaners were in south africa long before the british. Who like parasites came and updet the apple cart so to speak.The boers fought the british who like cowards adopted a scorched earth policy on the boer farms and had their famalies put into concentration camps. people died in their thousand due to the british, my great grandmother was one of the survivors of a camp. And the British have still not paid for the lives lost in those camps. Funny how hitlers minions had to pay for the loss of lives yet we afrikaaners are still waiting for justice to be done. And the song is historically correct. by du Plessis.

O'Neill said...

To many here know nothing about this war. Sinse most talk of concentration camps, here is some truths.

My mother is now 85 and her father and uncles were in battle. Some under De Wet and 1 under Cronje. 1 ucle did not fight and remained on his farm.

Kithener came along and with his scorched earth tactic made it a 'SPORT' shooting civillians with rewards for the most bagged kills. we talking about women and children here.

The uncle that stayed on his farm died in a 'HELL CAMP' as they were known with his wife and kids. The so called POW discovered broken glass in their meal (ground maize) rations...this was murder and nothing less. Emily Hobbhouse is witness to all this.

the 1st peace accord was signed in my great great grandfathers house at Majuba, the house still stands as a monument to this day and known as O'Neills Cottage in Natal.

The Anglo-Boer war was the worst war in 100 years of GB history.

Anonymous said...

dd somebody say "steal our gold and diamonds"? really

Anonymous said...

he problem I have with most white afrikaans speaking folk is, They seem to have a misplaced sense of entitlement.

Let me explain, They sing the “De la rey” song and wave the Apatheid flag and even sing the old anthem. But yet they are the first to cry foul when Julius sings “Dhabula Ibhunu” or “Shoot the Boer”.

At first I didn’t understand the meaning of “shoot the boer” and frankly I found it offensive. But I engaged a lot of Africans and asked them what the song really means. It turns out that the song was a revolutionary song sang during the struggle. It was sang to rally the people against the Apatheid system enforced by the “Boers”. By the way, all African nations that had a revolutionary movement have such songs. My Zimbabwean gardener tells me they even had more vile revolutionary songs. The "Shoot the Boer" song is in itself a valid revolutionary song.

However, one can ask is it appropriate to sing such a song when we are trying to bridge the racial divide?

The answer is NO, and neither are songs like “de la rey” and waving the Apatheid era flag. Both songs belong in the museums. I find such actions embracing and disgusting. Its people who act like this who make me watch rugby matches at home or at pubs because I can’t stand such unruly behaviour.

Sadly, even young people join in these acts of madness. They should be better than us at healing this broken land. Shame on us. What legacy are we leaving and what lessons are we teaching them?

In short, what I am saying is if we don’t want “them” to sing “shoot the boer”, “we” should also desist from such reckless and destructive gestures.

Please stop blurring our reputation. Its not all off us who subscribe to such

David Kent

Anonymous said...

I spent two months in SA primarily with Afrikaaners, and I did note a lot of negative sentiment towards "British" South Africans. At one point it was even mildly directed towards me because I spoke English, even though I was an eastern European-descended Canadian with no British blood.

Anonymous said...

Dude, if you're gonna make the effort to translate the song, at least translate it Properly! Daar is onkruit in jou taaltuin! Maak die moeite om jou taal suiwer te hou.

Anonymous said...

it's such nice song of a war,but i think it promotes segregations again if we can still sing it.

Anonymous said...

it's such nice song of a war,but i think it promotes segregations again if we can still sing it.

Anonymous said...

Hey, an Englishman here. please Don't hate me for what my ancestors did, one of a handfull of stuff i am not proud of my country for is the Boer war. we were assholes, and I wish we never set foot on south Africa as it is for the Afrikaners. You Boers are always welcome here in England.

Anonymous said...

top [url=http://www.001casino.com/]free casino games[/url] brake the latest [url=http://www.casinolasvegass.com/]online casinos[/url] free no deposit reward at the chief [url=http://www.baywatchcasino.com/]baywatchcasino.com
[/url].

Anonymous said...

Broken land, being ravaged and degraded by a subclass of human. I cannot blame the boer for wanting to live separate from the murderous an unconstructive black. Zimbabwe is a great country now isn't it. Yes we can be one, it's just going to take another 400 years of evolution before we can truly call ourselves the same species.

Unknown said...

Its niuce that you took the time to translate the song but your translation needs a little improvement

De La Rey, De La Rey sal jy die Boere kom lei?(De La Rey, can you come lead the boers)

Should have been translated to:
De La Rey, De La Rey, will you lead the boers)

Generaal, generaal soos een man, sal ons om jou val. (General like a man, shall we fall with you)

Should have been

General General like one man, shall we fall with you

Anonymous said...

This article will help you find the best tablet
PC. 1 tablet supports 1080p HD video playback with 1280x800 capacitive display, which
will bring you an exciting movie enjoyment. Like the Apple i - Pad Keyboard Dock listed
above, the Logitech Android Keyboard has many tablet-friendly features.


Review my webpage samsung galaxy tab

Anonymous said...

Another fact which a lot of people are interested in
is the battery. You can buy these accessories
and also the new at huge discounts and free shipping too only at.
The DIGIC II processor lets you shoot up to
4 frames per second, and will produce prints that are large
enough for almost any purpose.

my site - canon eos 6d

Anonymous said...

You see people passing time by checking on friends, catching up on texts or e-mail or playing a video game
oblivious to what is happening around. When it comes to connectivity, the
T-Mobile G1 packs a real punch. Navigation is
the most important change brought about by smartphones.


Review my site samsung galaxy s4

Anonymous said...

There is always a case to be made for a larger monitor to better enjoy the web, and the Ben
- Q EW2420HD is certainly on my list for combining two HDMI
ports, full HD (I have no time for HD-ready devices), an attractive bezel,
and a price on the right side of $300. Replacing a laptop can have an excellent effect on anyone who is
currently lending their computer to their student offspring, allowing parents to reclaim
their computers. Kindle Fire Covers come in many styles and designs.


Review my web page ... kindle fire review

Anonymous said...

Many homes have fireplaces for both warmth and decor.
Recent times have noticed a massive increase the realm of computerized thermostats, nest looks to
turn bradenton surrounding. This is the second
installment from my Go Green & Save Some Green Series where I will share with you a few simple and effective tips
on how to start becoming green around the house.


Also visit my blog: nest thermostat

Anonymous said...

It is a GPS Smartphone and enabled with A-GPS with
Google Maps allowing you to navigate through your city, or
an unknown one, with ease. Samsung, the New York Times, is reporting, is set to
offer for sale the Samsung Galaxy S IV which will offer automatic scrolling by monitoring eye movements.
For additional information you can get additional at website.



Feel free to visit my web page - samsung galaxy s3

Anonymous said...

They (Sony) purchased Crackle for a reputed $65 million in 2006,
just prior to Google's $1. There are Blu-ray home theater systems which have the capability to stream Netflix, Pandora, You - Tube, or other media applications, Apple TV and Roku XD is technology that basically gives you the option to not have to pay for a Blu-ray player. The speed of our broadband lines also remains unknown for the perfect enjoyment of movies in our tests with an average of clogged lines playback was smooth but the start time of the film was not at all constant, reaching even to few minutes.

Feel free to visit my web page new apple tv

Anonymous said...

Stephen Rannazzisi as Kevin Mac - Arthur, a district attorney; league commissioner.
Hulu have made sure set-top boxes such as Roku cannot stream its content on your big screen tv.
Air - Play will also be coming quickly on Airplay-enabled speakers
and stereo methods.

Unknown said...

Funny that i was just browsing here around and seeing this comment. For me (19 years old) seeing you said waving the old apartheid flag around and singing the old anthem i must say that i am an Afrikaner also my whole family is and my grandparents live on a farm, grew up in apartheid and aslo my both my grandfathers were in the military in apartheid time they are proud "white afrikaners" as you call us who you have a problem with and none of them own an old flag from back then. Noone sings the old anthem also. I myself don't even know the old anthem. People like you are the ones trying really hard to put in a bad name for "white afrikaners" judging us i presume? Also how does de la rey go with "kill the boer?" de la rey is not about apartheid and aslo nothing to do with race....de la rey is a song about afrikaners history. How is that a problem and how is it offensive? The song doesn't instigate killing someone or a specific group of people. Other than" kill the boer". Also white afrikaners history is being left out in South Africa, but atleast we have de la rey. I finished school last year and we didn't even really learn anything about afrikaners. Our education system is slowly making sure that fades away. Our Museums aren't looked after or getting any fundings whatsoever,but I'm not going to go to much into detail i just want other people to know that what he said is absolutely absurd saying that a song like de la ray is disgusting and should not be allowed. It's a beautiful song about our history that is al it isn't offensive in any way seriously how can you even relate it to something like "kill the boer" the song isn't even about the apartheid or black people in South Africa there is now race involved and no anger or hatred or hate speech. The people like you trying to make a bad name for "white afrikaners" are the ones with the hate for i don't know what reason. Me and as far as i know none of my friends or children in my family grew up being learned to raise the old flag and go on about apartheid or stuff like that. Not sure were you coke from but you talking a lot of bullshit man.