Lindsey:
[Is there a reference in Bwana to Mick Fleetwood and his trip to Africa to record his The Visitor album?] There is actually. Mick and I were having a little tiff one day and uh...it's funny, this particular song was written and completely recorded - all those crazy, cartoon background vocals that are on there and everything. At that point, it really had no reference to bwana. And Richard Dashut who was helping me through the second phase of the album, said, "Why don't you go out and sing it sort of 50s style a little bit." And I went out that started singing a different way and really in a short period of time, a whole new melody evolved. At that point, the lyrics just sort of went with the new melody...don't ask me how [laughs]. There's nothing really negative about Mick in there, it was just that it was on my mind at the time [laughs]...Mick and I are close enough to make reference to one another in songs without really having to worry about it.
Innerview with Jim Ladd, 1981
[Was Mick’s trip to Africa the inspiration for Bwana?] Basically. It’s pretty light-hearted. Again, there’s a song with some of the ‘40s influence on it. It really isn’t very African at all, musically. It has some of that Lion Sleeps Tonight in it. The lyrics were actually written at the very end, after we’d done the tracks and the backing voices. The drum track for Bwana started out as being something very different. Eventually, that track turned into another song called Eyes of the World, which may be on the next Fleetwood Mac album. That happens to me a lot. Songs turn into other songs. Parts of one song are right for another. You never know.
BAM Magazine, November 1981
[The lead solo near the end sounds like a guitar synthesizer combined with some sort of distorted vocal.] It’s not a guitar, but you’re right about the vocal being distorted. What I did there was sing into a mike and then run the vocal through a cassette player in such a way that it would totally distort so it would sound like it was somewhere between a sax, a kazoo, and a guitar.
BAM Magazine, November 1981
There's something about the taste and attitude of '40s music that's very romantic. A few tunes on the album have a '40s flavor but they're handled in a rock 'n' roll context. This is one of them. Bwana is quite a melodic song, but it also conjures up images of a sort of jungle cartoonland.
Song Hits, May 1982
Bwana
The night brings the stranger
The jungle cries for more
The natives in the villages
The visitor at the door
We all have our demons
And sometimes they escape
But Bwana is the visitor
In control of your own fate
Bwana, bwana, bwana
Bwana, bwana, bwana
The night brings on strangers
The jungle cries for more
The natives in the villages
The visitor at the door
Bwana
Bwana is a Swahili word which is used in an equivalent way to several English forms of address.
Bwana is used for "Sir" and for "Mr." (written Bwana Jones or Bw. Jones). Bwana is also used for "Lord"; e.g., in the biblical verse where Jesus is referred to as 'The Lord'. The female equivalent of Bwana in Swahili is Bibi.
In context, Bwana may have other meanings. In some countries, it is occasionally used between female equals; if a woman is asked how Bwana is, it is understood that one is inquiring after her husband.
In countries where Swahili is commonly spoken, Bwana may be heard as a term of respect even if the conversation is being conducted in English.
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