Given nothing he could wash with
Exercise was not permitted
Steven Biko lay in shackles
Compliments of Colonel Goosen
Aaa-aah Africa

Port Elizabeth the prison
South Africa the nation
Steven Biko lay in shackles
Though his hands and feet were swollen

In the close interrogation
He was beaten like the others
He was put back in his shackles
Compliments of Colonel Goosen
Aaa-aah Africa
Aaa-aah Africa

He was sick and he was dying
Prison doctors came to see him
When the cops spoke to the doctors
They said nothing much was wrong here

Just a short stay in the infirmary
And it's back down to the shackles
On a urine-sodden mattress
Compliments of Colonel Goosen
Aaa-aah Africa
Aaa-aah Africa

When they found him in a coma
When the man was clearly dying
He was naked but they stowed him
In the back of a Land Rover

Though a hospital was nearby
It was no part of a prison
So they took him to Pretoria 750 miles
Aaa-aah Africa
Aaa-aah Africa

There was no one on the journey
Who could help the man survive it
And the medical equipment
Was just one bottle of water
Aaa-aah Africa
Aaa-aah Africa

Steven Biko in Pretoria
Was laid down upon a mattress
On the stone floor of a prison
And he died his lonely death there

Now the country was South Africa
The victim Steven Biko
The victim all South Africa
The victim all South Africa
At the death of Steven Biko
Aaa-aah Africa
Aaa-aah Africa

by Tom Paxton © 1985 Accabonac Music ASCAP