Youtube: Johnny and Jesse Clegg - Report

Johnny and Jesse Clegg
report about their relationship

Cruel, crazy, beautiful world
Great heart

view also
Jesse Clegg:
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=KUwOghh...


"For my son and all the children of his generation who will have to deal wilh all that my generalion has bequeathed to the 21st century."
"Für meinen Sohn und alle Kinder seiner Generation, die mit dem Erbe, das meine Generation dem 21. Jahrhundert hinterläßt, fertig werden müssen."

Johnny Clegg & Savuka - Cruel, Crazy And Beautiful World
from Cruel, Crazy Beautiful World 1990

You have to wash with the crocodile in the river
You have to swim with the sharks in the sea
You have to live with the crooked politician
Trust those things that you can never see
Ayeye ayeye jesse mfana (jesse boy) ayeye ayeye

You got to trust your lover when you go away
Keep on believing that tomorrow brings a better day
Sometimes you will smile while you're crying inside
And just once you will turn away while the truth is shining bright
Ayeye ayeye Jesse mfana (Jesse boy) ayeye ayeye

Chorus :
It's a cruel crazy beautiful world
Every time you wake up I hope it's under a blue sky
It's a cruel crazy beautiful world
One day when you wake up I will have to say goodbye
Goodbye -- It's your world so live in it!

Beyond the door, strange cruel beautiful years lie waiting for you
It kills me to know you won't escape loneliness,
Maybe you lose hope too
Ayeye ayeye jesse mfana ayeye ayeye

Chorus :
It's a cruel crazy beautiful world
Every time you wake up I hope it's under a blue sky
It's a cruel crazy beautiful world
One day when you wake up I will have to say goodbye
Goodbye -- It's your world so live in it!

When I feel your small body close to mine
I feel weak and strong at the same time
So few years to give you wings to fly
Show you the stars to guide your ship by

Chorus :
It's a cruel crazy beautiful world
Every time you wake up I hope it's under a blue sky
It's a cruel crazy beautiful world
One day when you wake up I will have to say goodbye
Goodbye -- It's your world so live in it!

It's your world so live in it

++++++++++++++

JJ: Johnny Clegg & Son

Date: 16-11-2008 Producer: Carol Albertyn Christie Presenter: Bonita Gorrie-Nuttall Genre: Entertainment
http://www.mnet.co.za/Mnet/Shows/carteblanche/story.asp?Id=3607

"Today" is a track from Jesse Clegg's debut album. There is something about the haunting melody that has propelled it onto all the local charts. It was one of a couple of songs he recorded as a teenager and then played them back to his father - Johnny Clegg.

Johnny Clegg (Musician): "So Jesse came back quite shy, and he said, 'Here they are.' And when I heard them I was just...you know when your son grows up in front of you in that moment? That was a very big moment for me to see my son and I heard it and I looked at him and saw him...he's just grown into another thing. Amazing moment."

Bonita Gorrie-Nuttall (Carte Blanche presenter): "How did you feel about taking it to your dad for the first time - for him to listen to it?"

Jesse Clegg: "It was terrifying - absolutely terrifying. I honestly thought my future was in this moment - if my dad liked it I could be a musician; if he didn't like it I would have to think about something else."

Johnny: "And when I went to see David Gresham to tell him about the album, David said to me, 'You sound shocked.' I said, 'No, it's just that these songs are so good and I was never there - he wrote them quietly and he went straight to studio and he did them and then he presented them to me. And every time it was like, 'Wow.'"

Bonita: "It can't be easy to have a musical father, and to follow in his footsteps - especially given that they walk to very different rhythms."

Johnny Clegg is an international icon and he is known affectionately by most as the 'white Zulu'. His music and energy has played a pivotal role in our country's cultural transformation. But he is also the father of two sons, a role he takes very seriously.

Bonita: "So was it really important for you that your kids were also drawn to music and were involved in it?"

Johnny: "No. Not at all. It wasn't important to me that my children spoke Zulu, it wasn't important for me that my children did music. It was important for me that my children got and opportunity to find their way and to find confidence and independence."

Jesse: "I was exposed to music all the time when I was young. I was going to shows, my dad had musicians over, my dad would have rehearsals in the lounge. All day and all night it was just music, music, music."

Jesse was a typical road child. His playpen for the first six years of his life was the international music stage.

Bonita: "So Jesse, you started going on tour with your dad when you were six months old. Do you remember being on tour with him as a little boy?"

Jesse: "Vaguely. I remember moments of it, and they're always very fond memories. They're always amazing."

Johnny: "For a child it's like growing up like a gypsy. You know, you do a five month tour or a six month tour and you're doing different countries..."

Jesse: "Every gig we went to is a new town and a new environment. It was just so exciting - it was very stimulating."

Johnny: "When he was four, five we would arrive home and he would say, 'Where's the bus? The bus is gone.' So it took him time to land. I said, 'No, this is where we stay.'"

Johnny's work has always been political and at times a thorn in the side of the apartheid government. As a social commentator, he was acutely aware at the time of Jesse's birth that the world was going through a tremendous transition.

Johnny: "At that time it was the collapse of the Berlin Wall, so 1989. There was the promise of a new world. There was the promise of a single super power. There was the collapse of the national party in South Africa, and the beginning of dialogue with Nelson Mandela - 1990. That whole epoch held the most amazing set of promises."

When Jesse was just a little boy, his devoted father wrote a moving tribute to him to guide on his journey through life: 'Cruel Crazy Beautiful World'.

Johnny: "I wanted to sing a song for my son, and write a song for him which wasn't really a kind of fairytale, but drew on African experience..."

Clip - 'Crazy Cruel Beautiful World' by Johnny Clegg: "You've got to swim with the sharks in the sea. You've got to live with the crooked politicians..."

Johnny: "And really every line was preparing him saying, 'What you are going to have to do to get through...' And so some of them are funny and some of them are sad, but in the end remember, there's always a 'Cruel Crazy Beautiful' aspect to life in general."

['Crazy Cruel Beautiful World' by Johnny Clegg]: "...keep on believing tomorrow brings a better day..."

Jesse: "The lyrics, I think, are very wise and in a way I think he was trying to give me a message. He was trying to just put the world into perspective for me: you will have great times and you will have difficult times - it's not all peaches and cream. There's going to be difficult moments. It's an important message and I've always tried to remember that."

During Jesse's youth he experimented with several musical instruments: the sax, drums, and clarinet, but like his father he settled on the guitar. The similarity ends there, at 20 Jesse has found his groove and it is quite definitely rock.

Bonita: "How do you feel about the fact that some people might have expected you to be a dancing Zulu boy?"

Jesse: "I don't know. I know there's a bit of a shock factor when they listen to the song and they say, 'This doesn't sound like anything the Clegg family would make.'"

Johnny: "I say to him, 'Jess, this is not my kind of music. So I can hear melody and I can hear rhythm and I like the lyric, but I don't know where you're going with this. But what I do hear is good, or not really my bag - so good luck.'"

Johnny: "We are very, very close - and at times I think too close. I am fascinated by anyone's journey and my son's journey in particular has been a very intense one for both of us. I think he's felt a lot of pressure in his life. Either to match, or to find a place for himself in my life and me in his life - as father to son."

Johnny is very aware that the musical language they share has deepened their relationship and although they walk different rhythmic paths he is justifiably proud of his son's debut in the musical arena.

Jesse: "My dad is my biggest mentor. If I have any problem I can always go to my dad and he'll have some brilliant opinion and some brilliant solution that I've just never thought of - that is awesome."