Abaka

[Intro]
My name is Don Abaka
My name is Abaka
My name
Name
My name is Abaka
My name
My name is Abaka
My name
My name is
My name is Abaka
My name
My name is Abaka
My name
My name is Abaka

[Verse 1]
My father is Okun
Magdele Okun
And, his mother is of Scottish
Her name is Ayola
They were partition people (Partition people)
On my father's flag they were very proud of their
Okaganan Irish thing
And you know
He—
They never really talked about their African people
You know what I'm saying?
Now, on my mothеr's side
I used to hear, um, storiеs about her great-great-grandmother
A lady who mother died, Abaka (Abaka)
My name is Abaka
So I was born officially O'Connor
I changed it
Abaka (A-a-a, Abaka, Abaka)
We used to tease you about this old woman
Because there was a myth about her
That she was
Aje, old aje
Which means that she was a witch
And that she would
Um, at night she would give up skin
Underneath a tree
And fly away
And suck the blood
From people
Yes and in the early hours of morning she'd come back
And she'd sit on the tree and chant
"Kilame, kilame, kilame"
Which means
My skin stregthens skin
You know what is skin
And then her skin would come back onto her

[Verse 2]
Here's all the white people that have lied to us
The rest of my siblings didn't really take up Abaka
Very frankly, I don't know why
I lived in there for many many years
Moved to Kingston in the late part of the sixties
I came to live in England and it stuck with me I don't know why
It stayed with me though
Quite a charming lot
I moved to England
And the more I thought about it
I started meeting continental African people in London, you see
And, I spoke to a lady for proffering
Danielle
And, um, She let me touch with
Lord got me in the doctor's
Down we went past the veil
The minute I walked into his office
He just looked at me and said, "Move"
I told him my story and he was able to shed light on Abaka (Light on Abaka)
It was in Asante (Light on Abaka)
Mmm hmm
So
This is it
We must not stay 'cause I don't know why
I went to see an old Italian
Loyal as I'll be in Brixton
Made appointment
Waited, sat down
She looked at me, she said
"I charge 80 pounds an hour"
I told her what it was about
She listened to me
I told her, "I want to have my name changed" [?]
She said, "I'll do that for you but do you know the respect you'll get?"
You know, the day Mrs. Halley called me and told me my papers are ready
And I walked out joyfully
And I picked up my document that said
My name is Don Abaka
And I walked out of that place and I was slapped by a cloak of vindicative joy
I was a light in my step and felt I could do the impossible