Lowkey – Cradle Of Civilisation Lyrics
Lyrics
Intro
- If my mother got angry or frustrated with me, she'd say..."oh, esh ked heluwa el hurriya"
- ...and the basic translation of that is "Oh,how beautiful is freedom"
- But where is freedom
- Close my eyes, I can still hear my ummi saying
- Where is our freedom?
Hook
- Oh, esh ked heluwa el hurriya
Verse 1
- This is for Baghdad, the place of my mothers birth
- The cradle of civilization, for what it’s worth
- The land I’ve never seen, culture I’ve never known
- Iraq is in my heart, my blood, my flesh and bones
- The air I’ve never breathed, fragrance I’ve never smelt
- The pride I never had, the nationality that I never felt
- Saddam was bad, are the American’s even more so?
- They made me groan like I was missing part of my torso
- But I never picked up a grenade in my garden
- I never saw people I love die starving
- I never saw my family die through many years of sanctions
- While the ruler’s family lived in palaces and mansions
- Never had a family member kidnapped for a ransom
- Never lost a friend to violence that was random
- Bombings, occupation, torture, intimidation
- A million dead people doesn’t equal liberation
- Close my eyes, I can still hear my ummi saying
- Listen!
- Where is our freedom?
Hook
- Oh, esh ked heluwa el hurriya
Verse 2
- Forget division based on ethnicity or religion
- Whether you Sunni, Shia, Kurdish or Christian
- Pain is still pain if you’re a person that’s missing
- We all deserve a life in this earth that we live in
- Is there enough words that can say
- How deeply Baghdad is burnin' today
- And it’s not about pity, hands out or sympathy
- It’s about pride, respect, honour and dignity
- Babies being born with deformities from uranium
- Those babies aren’t just Iraqi, they’re Mesopotamian
- What I view on the news is making me shiver
- Cause I look at the victims and see the same face in the mirror
- This system of division makes it harder for you and me
- Peace is a question, the only answer is unity
- So many dreams about this place that I’ve never seen
- The place my family had to leave in the 70’s
- Close my eyes, I can still hear my ummi saying
- Where is our freedom?
Hook
- Oh, esh ked heluwa el hurriya
Verse 3
- It rains white phosphorus in Fallujah
- This is for those that won’t live to see the future
- Sorry that I wasn’t there, Sorry that I couldn’t help
- I’m sorry for every tear, Sorry you’ve been put through hell
- Still I feel like an immigrant, Englishman amongst Arabs and an Arab amongst Englishmen
- Like I said they never gave me the culture
- But they did give me Kubdad Haleb,Hakaka and Dolma
- Ana isme Kareem
- Wa ohmre thalatha wa-’ishrun
- Umi min Baghdad, wa abuya min Dover
- And that’s the combination that I carry on my shoulders
- Still I rep, till my death, till they kill and steal my flesh
- From now all the way back to Gilgamesh
- Such a villianized and criticized nation
- You will always be the cradle of civilization
- Close my eyes, I can still hear my ummi saying
- Where is our freedom?
Hook
- In my sleep, in my dreams Motherland I can still feel you calling me
- In my sleep, in my dreams Motherland I can still feel you calling me
- In my sleep, in my dreams Motherland I can still feel you calling me
- I can still feel you calling me
- I can still feel you calling me