Notes From The Underground (Antes Que Seja Tarde) - Manhattan Transfer

Beneath the marbled halls of Pretoria

There’s the faintest sound rising from the underground

Behind the prison walls poets fantasize

Voices lost are found captive in the underground

The dream is still alive, immune to their commands

Bravery abounds steadfast in the underground

Until the day arrives, children understand

Father’s safe and sound living in the underground

Look to the days ahead

Gather your prayers like roses

Think of the life that waits after the battle’s over

Look to the land beyond you

Out where the fields are golden

There will be gifts untold, yes after the battle’s over

If I should not return, know that you are my pleasure

Shelter yourselves, my treasures, until the battle’s over

The dream is still alive, immune to their commands

We are pound for pound stronger in the underground

The longer we survive the less they can withstand

Time will turn around over to the underground

10 miles from Soweto under a thorn tree’s branches

Shanty will be no longer after the battle’s over

Somewhere a breeze is drifting over a blue-green ocean

There will be time for beauty after the battle’s over

Children, I must be going — cherish your mother’s memory

Now turn these words to ashes antes que seja tarde

The dream is still alive, immune to their commands

Time will turn around over to the underground

The longer we survive the less they can withstand

Time will turn around over to the underground

Beneath the marbled halls where the power lies

There’s the faintest sound rising from the underground

Behind the prison walls poets fantasize

Voices lost are found captive in the underground

The dream is still alive, immune to their commands

Bravery abounds steadfast in the underground

Until the day arrives, children understand

Father’s safe and sound living in the underground