This song reminds me so strongly of my grandmothers funeral. After the ceremony we had nowhere to go but to a nearby roadhouse for a meal. I was pretty broken up by then and this music came on and I had to make my excuses and go outside to have a really good cry.
Tragically beautiful. The fact that this song got ANY airplay in 1988 shows how music has literally gone to shit nowadays. No emotion, no pathos, no talent.
I love this song, it brings back memories in the 90s.
When I was in Secondary school, quite a few school concerts featured this song as the soundtrack for dance performances. Good days :)
Total and utter mystery how this lady with the voice of an angel never reached stratospheric stardom......but in a way its quite nice she didn't, shes like a hidden gem that many people have still haven't discovered.....
Lyrics
Don't ask me why
I'm running out of laughter
There's tears in these eyes,
not happy ever after
And I thought it was plain to see
And I thought the whole world could be
And I thought we'd be happy ever after.
You could say that
I'm living in a pipe dream
It's just looking back,
things are never what they seem
And I hope I can safely say
And I hope most things go my way
And I hope they'll be happy ever after.
Down in Southern Africa no happy ever after
Not now, but soon forever
While they're sitting comfortably
In that white winter city
How can we be happy ever after?
Um by yay
Est ce le South Africa
So don't ask me why
I'm running out of laughter
There's tears in these eyes,
not happy ever after.
And I thought it was plain to see
And I thought that maybe you and me
And I thought we'd be happy ever after.
Um by yay
Um by yay
Um by yay
Est ce le South Africa
I was in my teens when I first heard this song in the late 80s and I didn't know much about the world then. This song got me to learn more about the apartheid in South Africa.
My boyfriend of 10 years turn me on to Julia and I loved all of her songs especially this one. A year later he dropped me for someone younger and I had always related to this particular song . Even more after that. I experienced it and it really sucked! It took me 11 years to get over it and I've been single ever since and will be single till the end. I've made my own happiness now so I will be happy ever after...
