‘So They Say’ explores the notion that essentially, we are all someone else’s ‘They’. It is inspired by the Rudyard Kipling poem: ‘We and They’. The poem itself is part lamentation for the loss of empire, but it also manages to convey how on the basis of race, culture and nationality, we are all liable to assess and be assessed in a way in which neither party sees itself. In the same way, the song attempts to show how in the modern era, unquestioningly imbibing opinion and myth about other people may have consequences that go to previously uncharted levels of negativity for the maligned group.
lyrics
So They Say
Ola Onabule 2018
So they say, is a thing they say,
When they say things they should not say,
As to declare it the subtle way,
While hoping you will be just as they
Are choosing to say
Say, filling the world with the things they say
Yeah, shaping your world out of things they say
Oh, for all those tuned in to our hear say
Oh, We say the things that they'll come to say
So astounded to hear what you’d heard of me
Are things I can't believe you’re inclined to believe
Makes it easy to say what they say of you is true,
When facts are few, you’ll stoke a brew, of myth’s anew
So they say, is a thing they say,
When they say things they should not say,
As to declare it the subtle way,
While hoping you will be just as they
Are choosing to say
Say, filling the world with the things they say
Yeah, shaping your world out of things they say
Oh, for all those tuned in to our hear say
Oh, We say the things that they'll come to say
Clutch a bag close full of fearful streets you crossed,
I'll perceive of you my preconceptions worst,
In the absence of a presence of a shred of truth,
With facts are few, I'll stoke a brew, of myth’s anew
So they say, is a thing they say,
When they say things they should not say,
As to declare it the subtle way,
While hoping you will be just as they
Are choosing to say
Solo
So they'll say, they've heard people say
You’re not like us in anyway
Then they'll say, we don't mean to cause dismay
You’re not an equal us, but a lower other we call
‘they’, filling the world with the things they say
Yeah, shaping your world out of things they say
Oh, for all those tuned in to our hear say
Oh, We say the things that they'll come to say
Ad libs
You accountable for each of all of you
Me indictable for everything we do
One and all exemplars and inculpable
So they say, these are the things they say…
credits
from Point Less,
released August 30, 2019
Drums - Jack Pollitt, Bass - Phil Mulford, Guitar - John Parricelli, Piano - Ross Stanley, Percussion - Will Fry
Ola’s new album, POINT LESS has been critically received worldwide. The new
album is on the DownBeat list of Best Albums of 2019. .
Onabulé is a rugged individualist, a deeply soulful musician. Possessing an emotional intensity and vocal virtuosity, a poignant storyteller and capacity to cross cultural and musical boundaries with an unflinching lyrical pursuit of truth and justice. ...more
The opening track on Maulawi’s 1974 LP for the legendary Strata Records gets its funky grooves turned inside-out in these remixes. Bandcamp New & Notable Dec 19, 2021