My time

Beat.

It was different then,

We were sacred then.

Back then, way back

Way back, way back then

Way back when I lived, I lived with

My shadow.

My shadow, they called her.

The people of my village.

Of my small, small village.

The people, they called her

My shadow.

When the sun go rise, when the sun go sink

We went hand in hand, til the sky went pink

Back then, way back,

Way back, way back then

Way back when I lived,

When I lived I loved her.

Teju What are you talking about?

Yetunde I’m talking about my time, Teju. In my time, there was none of this ye-ye oyinbo judgement. In my time there were boy-brides of Sango. Boy-brides! The god of thunder himself, would take boy-brides in his ceremonies!

Babatunde That is different. That was for religious practices –

Yetunde (quoting her own song)

It was different then,

We were sacred then.

People like us, we were sacred then.

Babatunde You’re telling us you’re gay?

Yetunde (beat) They did not have this word in my time.

Teju You’re like me.

Yetunde Yes, Teju. I’m like you and Omotara. In my time, women would take women for husbands.

Adebisi That’s not true.

Yetunde In my time, in my Nigeria, before it was even called Nigeria, we understood: You go want who you go want.

Adebisi I don’t believe you. Polygamy, yes, but –

Babatunde Why didn’t you tell us?

Yetunde I didn’t want you to think I was biased. For the blessing. I didn’t want you to try and take my vote away.

Adebisi She’s lying!

Yetunde When the white man came with his missionaries and puritanical nonsense, it scattered our people. They polluted our ways. They stopped us from being who we were, who we are, from loving who we love. They tried to stamp out our ways, our rituals, our beliefs. They scraped our culture with their dirty nails and it’s still bleeding today.

Adebisi Homosexuality, in our people, it was never accepted!

Yetunde Who you think go write your history book, Ade?

Adebisi I’m not listening to this rubbish. I’m going to the edge, see if the gods have left a trail for us.

Yetunde (forcefully) Fire doesn’t crackle

It dey roar, it dey roar

No dey crackle am, crackle

It dey roar, it dey roar.

Back when, way back

When the first, the first

The first of them came

When they first made settle

On the edge of our land,

On the edge of our village.

Just the edge of our land.

They were kind, so it seemed,

They were kind. O, they were kind

So it seemed, they were kind.

They were spreading their word,

‘The word of God.’ Through interpreters,

Telling of ‘The word of their God.’

And slowly, slowly, the people dem change.

The people, my people,

the people dem change.