''Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World'' is a studio album from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

n artist

Johnny Clegg Jonathan Paul Clegg, (7 June 195316 July 2019) was a South African musician, singer-songwriter, dancer, anthropologist and anti-apartheid activist, some of whose work was in musicology focused on the music of indigenous South African people ...

and his band

Savuka Savuka, occasionally referred to as Johnny Clegg & Savuka, was a multi-racial South African band formed in 1986 by Johnny Clegg after the disbanding of Juluka. Savuka's music blended traditional Zulu musical influences with Celtic music and ro ...

. Released in 1989 and produced by Hilton Rosenthal and Bobby Summerfield, it is today recognized as probably the band's greatest album, containing hits such as " Dela" and "Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World". The title track is addressed and dedicated to Clegg's son

Jesse Jesse may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jesse (biblical figure), father of David in the Bible. * Jesse (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Jesse (surname), a list of people Music * ''Jesse'' ( ...

, born in 1988, who is depicted on Clegg's shoulders on the album cover. The song "One (Hu)' Man One Vote" was written in honor of David Webster, a friend of Johnny Clegg and anti-

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

activist who had been assassinated three weeks earlier. The lyrics of "Warsaw 1943" were inspired from the works of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

author

Czesław Miłosz Czesław Miłosz (, also , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. Regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century, he won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature. In its citation, ...

. In Canada, the album reached #67, March 24, 1990. The title track appears in the soundtrack of the movie '' Opportunity Knocks''. In 1997, the song "Dela (I Know Why the Dog Howls at the Moon)" was released on the soundtrack of

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's '' George of the Jungle''.

Track listing

All songs written by Johnny Clegg except as noted. # "One (Hu)' Man One Vote" (Johnny Clegg, Bobby Summerfield) # "Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World" # "Jericho" # " Dela (I Know Why the Dog Howls at the Moon)" # "Moliva" # "It's an Illusion" # "Bombs Away" # "Woman Be My Country" # "Rolling Ocean" (Clegg, Steve Mavuso) # "Warsaw 1943 (I Never Betrayed The Revolution)" # "Vezandlebe" (hidden track)

Personnel

- vocals, guitars, concertina, mouth bow *Mandisa Dlanga - vocals *Solly Letwaba – bass guitar, vocals *Derek de Beer – drums, percussion, vocals *Keith Hutchinson – keyboards, flute, saxophone, vocals *Steve Mavuso – keyboards, vocals * Dudu Zulu – percussion, vocals

Additional personnel

Alex Acuña Alejandro Neciosup Acuña (born December 12, 1944), known professionally as Alex Acuña, is a Peruvian-American drummer and percussionist. Background Born in Pativilca, Peru, Acuña played in local bands such as La Orquesta de los Hermanos Nec ...

- percussion *Tom Regis - keyboards *Benn Clatworthy - tenor saxophone *Howard Shear - trumpet *Roy Wigan - trumpet *John Baxter - backing vocals *Bobby Summerfield - mixer, recording engineer, keyboards, drum programming, electronic percussion *Hilton Rosenthal - keyboards, backing vocals Savuka albums Capitol Records albums 1989 albums {{1980s-album-stub