"Congo Congo," by Leigh Herrick. Performed by Leigh Herrick. Cowbell and shekere, Leigh Herrick.

Lyrics

CONGO CONGO

Hey Mama Doudou's got a kilo for you
that coltan mined from Okapi Reserve & Hey
Mama Doudou's got a girl for you
who'll cook & clean & sex men up for all that
gold they're digging up in Congo
Congo comin up today for
Congo comin down &
Hey for a laptop Mama ain't never seen that
Mama's gonna work the camp gonna
work it, work it clean
bringin deep the old respectable trade
bring it deep into the forest
down into the mud of Congo
for coltan 80 bucks
where most folks live on 20 cents a day & Hey
Mama Doudou's got a line on all those girls
just sittin in town no school & poor with
Mama's gold between their thighs &
Mama's dear Ituri girls gonna help her schemes
get off the ground &
Hey Mama's got infringement plans:
alternative fees for discerning requests a hard
workin man can make in the mess of
struggle &
survive while haulin’ up that coltan
if he wants a little beauty in his tent
at least a little beauty in that wifely supply of
ill-got teens come fast into the forest
Come fast on in
between the fees & fines Mama Doudou sets
for the sexual habits of men who mine
for coltan
coltan come like gold in Congo
for Congo comin’ down &
Hey Mama Doudou’s gonna bring the cure
for all that sufisi goin’ round
in all the camps where men & women swap & trade
themselves between the trees in Congo
stripped
where a man’ll dig it up all day
Dig it for Sony
Dig for Nokia
Dig up to his crotch in coltan-mud
Dig it like iron                                                                                           
Dig up his gold
Dig it where okapi hide
Dig where Mbuti gather hunt & trade &
Hey that Mama’s makin’ her way
sellin’ bread @ $800. for 50 bucks spent
to bake Mama’s forward lookin’ master plan & Hey
Mama Doudou’s hardy men gonna help to
bring it on that in the mud of Congo Congo
gonna come a little of the Promised Land
Gonna coltan come that Congo Congo
Gonna coltan bring it down &
Mama Doudou knows those civil wars come on
come on sometimes come down to Congo
Congo comin’ down & Hey
Mama knows how war gets passed around
& ‘round & how the muddy profits come in trade
Come traded for the guns
& all the tradin’ parties come
Come together
Come around
to get their hands on the globalization of
Congo
Congo
comin’
down
& Mama Doudou knows the tales:
that bush meat fried means capacitor currents flow & even officials from Nations United
in the the world of high-tech planning know
there’s a problem come to Congo:
     a colonized history of tearing up
     a history of breaking down
     of one-time rubber
     one-time ivory
     one-time slavery
come around
to Congo
Congo comin’ down & Hey
Mama Doudou knows the world’s a track
a train of muddy want & need
whose veins come all the way to Congo
where Mama boards & hopes to leave behind
all those disparities rustling through remaining trees
that call out loud or slip in silence
between the workers’ stiffened knees saying
Congo Congo up for sale
Saying
Congo
Congo
comin’
down  
 
October 11, 2001