The Death of Stephen Biko

"On the stone floor of a prison, he died his lonely death there"

Welcome to new subscribers and regular readers! Thank you for joining me for today’s song, “The Death of Stephen Biko” by Tom Paxton, Bob Gibson, and Anne Hills. If you’d like to hear the song before you read about it, I’ve included a YouTube video below the article.
Below, you’ll find my interpretation of the lyrics which are written in italics. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below. TOEIC (PBT) 450+, Eiken 2, CEFR B1.

Black Activist Steven Biko, founder of the Black Consciousness Movement in King William's Town, South Africa on September 3, 1976 ( John Burns/The New York Times) (Sanele Ntshingana Wikimedia Commons)

(654 words)
In the country of South Africa in 1948, a law separating people by race became known as apartheid. Because of apartheid, people with different skin colors had to live in different neighborhoods, go to different schools, and even work different jobs. Many non-whites lost their land. It was like they were living in two completely separate worlds, and it wasn't fair to the people who weren't white.

There was a brave man named Steve Biko who fought against this unfair rule. He wanted everyone in South Africa to be treated the same. But one day, on August 18, 1977, the police arrested him. They put him alone (solitary) in a police room.
Stephen Biko lay in shackles on a urine-sodden mattress
In the solitary section, he was made to lie there naked
Given nothing he could wash with, exercise was not permitted

The next line says compliments of. Imagine you are in a hotel and someone delivers something to your room, a special flower arrangement, for example. If they say “Compliments of the hotel”, it means that it is a gift from the hotel, and you don’t have to pay for it. Here, this is irony. The police chief Colonel Piet Goosen ordered Biko to be handcuffed. It was not a gift to Biko.
Stephen Biko lay in shackles, compliments of Colonel Goosen
Ah, ah, Africa

Biko fought back, and during the fight, Biko hit his head against the wall. One of the police officers who were questioning him found a piece of hose and beat him.
Port Elizabeth the prison, South Africa the nation
Stephen Biko lay in shackles, though his hands and feet were swollen
In the close interrogation he was beaten like the others
He was put back in the shackles, compliments of Colonel Goosen

garden hose (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

Later, officers realized something was wrong with Biko. He couldn’t speak clearly, and he lost control of his bladder.
He was sick and he was dying, prison doctors came to see him
When the cops spoke to the doctors they said, “Nothing much is wrong here”
An infirmary is a room in the prison where there is staff to help people who are ill.
Just a short stay in the infirmary, then it's back down to the shackles
On a urine-sodden mattress, compliments of Colonel Goosen

When they found him in a coma, when the man was clearly dying
He was naked, but they stowed him in the back of a Land Rover
Though a hospital was near by, it was no part of a prison
So they took him to Pretoria - seven hundred fifty miles

It was a long way from where he was arrested to the hospital where he was found – about as far as driving from Sapporo to Hiroshima. He was only wearing underwear, and he still had chains on his legs.

Map of South Africa (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

There was no one on the journey who could help the man survive it
And the medical equipment was just one bottle of water
When they reached Pretoria prison they brought no medical records with them
And they said, he might be faking, it's a hunger strike he's staging

Stephen Biko in Pretoria was laid down upon a mattress
On the stone floor of a prison, and he died his lonely death there
Now, the country was South Africa; the victim, Stephen Biko
The victim, all South Africa
At the death of Stephen Biko

Stephen Biko died while he was in police custody on September 12, 1977. He died of a brain hemorrhage.

At first, the police said they hadn’t hurt Steve Biko. But later, people found out that he was probably beaten very badly while he was locked up. Years later, in 1997, five police officers who used to have those jobs said they were the ones who killed him. They asked for forgiveness, but in 1999, they were told no, they couldn't be forgiven for what they had done.

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Leaving a comment is a good way to practice your writing skills.

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Vocabulary

solitary 独房
shackles 足かせ
urine 尿
sodden びしょ濡れ
naked 裸
swollen 腫れ
interrogation 尋問
bladder 膀胱
infirmary 診療所
coma 昏睡
stow 積み込む
stage 演じる
custody 拘留
brain hemorrhage 脳出血

There is another song about Stephen Biko. It’s by Peter Gabriel. The lyrics are quite easy to understand.

Sources

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2025, April 25). Black Consciousness Movement. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Consciousness-movement. Accessed 10 May 2025.

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2025a, March 25). Steve Biko. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Steve-Biko. Accessed 10 May 2025.

McKenzie, D., & Swails, B. (2018, November 20). Land was stolen under apartheid. It still hasn’t been given back. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/20/africa/south-africa-land-reform-intl. Accessed 10 May 2025.

South African Press Association. 1996. Policeman tells Truth Commission how he beat Biko. Sept. 10, 1997. https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/media/1997/9709/s970910f.htm. Accessed 10 May 2025.

Using your own language as a form of resistance