| Song | The Promise |
| Artist | Johnny Clegg & Savuka |
| Album | Heat Dust & Dreams |
| Electric chair didn't burn a hair | |
| And the newspaperman asked why | |
| And while the warden explain in great detail | |
| The newsman looked in the sky | |
| "i'm sure!", he said, "if you look a little deeper | |
| For something in his life | |
| We could understand the reason why | |
| He reached out for a knife." | |
| Oooh! what happened to the promise? | |
| Oooh! what happened to the one we knew? | |
| So, onto a a train the newspaperman rode | |
| Down to the southern lands | |
| To find out about a child long gone | |
| Turned into a lightning man. | |
| Chorus: | |
| Oooh! what happened to the promise? | |
| Oooh! what happened to the one we knew? | |
| Oooh! what happened to the promise? | |
| Oooh! what happened to the heart so true. | |
| "some of them make it through", she said | |
| "some of them never do, and one of them | |
| Got lost in time -- that child of mine | |
| Oh, i loved that child of mine!" | |
| Arriving in a country town | |
| With a notepad in his hand | |
| He spoke to the mother and the father | |
| And a friend and a teacher and a preacher man | |
| They all recalled a regular boy chewing gim | |
| And playing in the sand | |
| Nothing could explain how he became | |
| A lonely lightning man | |
| And when the coffin came | |
| On the southbound train | |
| And the old folks shuffled by | |
| The one they came to bury | |
| Was not very heavy, just a child lost in time | |
| Chorus | |
| What happens to the clear blue eye | |
| When it enters the forest? | |
| Does anybody know where the little one goes? | |
| What happens to the child in time? | |
| , some of them make it through | |
| , some of them never do | |
| , some of them are lost and saved | |
| , some of them find their way | |
| Oooh -- hold on to the promise | |
| We're going to make it through my baby | |
| We're going to make it through my little darling |
| Electric chair didn' t burn a hair | |
| And the newspaperman asked why | |
| And while the warden explain in great detail | |
| The newsman looked in the sky | |
| " i' m sure!", he said, " if you look a little deeper | |
| For something in his life | |
| We could understand the reason why | |
| He reached out for a knife." | |
| Oooh! what happened to the promise? | |
| Oooh! what happened to the one we knew? | |
| So, onto a a train the newspaperman rode | |
| Down to the southern lands | |
| To find out about a child long gone | |
| Turned into a lightning man. | |
| Chorus: | |
| Oooh! what happened to the promise? | |
| Oooh! what happened to the one we knew? | |
| Oooh! what happened to the promise? | |
| Oooh! what happened to the heart so true. | |
| " some of them make it through", she said | |
| " some of them never do, and one of them | |
| Got lost in time that child of mine | |
| Oh, i loved that child of mine!" | |
| Arriving in a country town | |
| With a notepad in his hand | |
| He spoke to the mother and the father | |
| And a friend and a teacher and a preacher man | |
| They all recalled a regular boy chewing gim | |
| And playing in the sand | |
| Nothing could explain how he became | |
| A lonely lightning man | |
| And when the coffin came | |
| On the southbound train | |
| And the old folks shuffled by | |
| The one they came to bury | |
| Was not very heavy, just a child lost in time | |
| Chorus | |
| What happens to the clear blue eye | |
| When it enters the forest? | |
| Does anybody know where the little one goes? | |
| What happens to the child in time? | |
| , some of them make it through | |
| , some of them never do | |
| , some of them are lost and saved | |
| , some of them find their way | |
| Oooh hold on to the promise | |
| We' re going to make it through my baby | |
| We' re going to make it through my little darling |