"I remember District Six" Lyrics

I remember District 6 (l997?)
(transcribed by Adam Haupt)

Ek is 'n laaitie vannie Ses
Daai's wat ek opgegroei het, District 6, sien djy. Ja.

I remember the days in District 6 ...

I remember the days in District 6,
the laughter of adults and little kids,
Hanover Street and the market loepies.'
Goema music was always the heart beat.
I remember the days in District 6,
the sound of the snoek horn,
and the ouens used to broke with a lekker song,
the mister with the perd and kar used to collect scrap iron.
As a Iaaitie I was crying
and in my o' there was a traantjie?
if didn't have a waentjie,

I used to take my seil plankie, rub it with kers vet and Sunlight soap,
sail down the Upper Sheppard Street slopes.

This is the heart and soul of the young and old
Without District 6 we're in the cold.

Now and then my father used to gooi a braai;
on Sundays we used to jump in the Valiant and go to Hout Baai
for krief and snoek or we just go to take a look.
I remember the Cool Cats on the hoek
and how the mopsters used to vloek
when they get geroek
and we had competitions to see who had the loudest poep.
And we had problems with the Group
and my ouma used-to skel from the stoep saying: "julle boere moet loep."

I remember, I remember the days in District 6.
I remember, I remember the days in District 6.

I used to go to school at Zonnebloem
and my cousins used to go to George Golding.
I remember the whole thing as if it was yesterday and the way we used to play
"Oupa Jimmy Oupa Jimmy kom oorie brug?"
Skoeloeloe en kennetjie.

Every weekend we used to go to the mountain to fetch danne bolle.
I remember the huis jol
and how we used to skiet ghatties and kap tol
while the girls played handies en net bol.
I remember sago pudding and tamatie bredie
and when we became the needy,
the neighbours would always keep their door open.
In times of hardship surviving in District 6 was hard work,
but we could always depend on the neighbours' support.
So I'm taking it back to the dry dock, Upper Ashley Street and
the Seven Steps
where the mense slept during summer with the vensters kept open.
Ja, Nuwe jaar was altyd warm. We had klopse en langarm.
We used to slat nat with a lekker stuk vastrap.
We used to jap the ice cream bak,
Gat sit daar agter in die jaard en ... en-vreet skelmpies in die hok.

This is the heart and soul of the young and old
Without District 6 we're in the cold.
This is the heart and soul of the young and old

Without District 6 we're in the cold.

I remember, I remember the days in District 6.
I remember, I remember the days in District 6.

I remember when the bulldozers came.
As a laaitie it confused my brain.
The sandtrokke disturbed our game.
What could it be? I never knew WE
were gonna lose Upper Sheppard Street 75 and 73,
Boeta Doellah, Antie Fouzie, Motjie Mary and the Baptist kerkie,

or where we were going to stay.
78 to 79 it was vat jou goed en trek maar verre time.
I remember selling lood en scrap irons and how we used to mines for gelukke
in the stukkende huise.
We used to find old koois and dooie muise.
Like luise, they threw us on the Cape Flats
and it all happened when my father ended on his back.
I remember District 6.