It’s been this way since
Time began, time began:
Take more than an inch
And you’ll hang, and you’ll hang;

Steal and in a cell
You will rot, you will rot;
Know too much then, well,
You’ll be shot, you’ll be shot.

I believed in a short while the prison camps must be
Out of sight, out of sight -
But I came to this town that’s so murky and dusty
With no life, with no life.

Crowds of people walked round but they didn’t seem human,
With their eyes blank and dim.
I looked at the black faces that passed in the gloom and
They weren’t strangers or kin.

It’s been this way since
Time began, time began:
Take more than an inch
And you’ll hang, and you’ll hang;

Steal and in a cell
You will rot, you will rot;
Know too much then, well,
You’ll be shot, you’ll be shot.

And so why did I curse my sad fate for no reason?
What a sham, what a sham!
And so why did I yearn for so long for my freedom
In the camps, in the camps?

Crowds of people walked round but they didn’t seem human,
With their eyes blank and dim.
I looked at the black faces that passed in the gloom and
They weren’t strangers or kin.