Fela Kuti - Water No Get Enemy Song Lyric Breakdown For Songwriters

Short version You want to steal the power of Water No Get Enemy without sounding like a museum exhibit. You want the groove, the truth, the sass, and the way a single repeating line becomes a sermon. This guide gives you a literal lyric translation, a line by line breakdown, musical analysis you can use in modern pop or indie soul, songwriting takeaways, and exercises to make the idea stick. No lecture hall vibes. No dusty liner note energy. Just tactical moves you can use in the studio, in the bus, or in the shower where 90 percent of good hooks are conceived.

Everything below assumes you are a working songwriter who wants to learn craft from a master who taught crowds how to dance and how to think at the same time. We will explain any terms and acronyms so nothing feels like a secret club. Expect real life examples, studio level suggestions, and a few jokes because life is short and Fela would have laughed at our attempts to be overly pious about this music.

Why Water No Get Enemy matters

Fela Anikulapo Kuti wrote songs that were both grooves and sentences. He could make your body move and then shove a truth into your face while your hips were still figuring out what hit them. Water No Get Enemy is one of his most famous at once because it is simple and cunning. The repeated title phrase says a moral truth with the economy of a proverb. The band makes that proverb feel inevitable. The song is a masterclass in how repetition, phrasing, and groove can carry meaning without explanation.

For songwriters the lesson is simple and massive. Economy plus certainty equals power. A small repeated line delivered over a moving groove becomes ceremonial. If you want listeners to carry your idea into the world you need a line that works as both a chant and a lyric. Fela gives you that line and then layers music around it in a way that makes escape impossible.

Quick context on Fela and Afrobeat

Fela Kuti invented Afrobeat by fusing highlife, jazz, funk, and traditional Nigerian rhythms. He led a large ensemble with tight horns, interlocking percussion, and an obsession with groove. The songs often run long. They are less about verse chorus verse and more about movement toward a rhetorical peak. Fela wrote with Yoruba and Nigerian Pidgin English mixed into English. That gave his lines texture, rhythm, and cultural specificity. He was also a political agitator. His lyrics attacked corruption, colonization, and the hypocrisy of elites.

Understanding Fela means understanding that melody and message are married in the performance. He sings like someone making a sermon while a party insists on continuing. The result is a moral fiesta.

Where Water No Get Enemy sits in Fela's canon

Water No Get Enemy is from the early seventies period when Fela pushed Afrobeat into longer forms and more explicit commentary. This was music built for both clubs and protest grounds. The phrase itself references the idea that water has no enemy because it adapts. Water moves, it heals, it erodes, and it can drown. In other words water contains both literal and metaphorical meaning. For Fela it becomes shorthand for resilience and usefulness. The song's structure gives that phrase power by returning to it like a chorus and then by letting instruments argue the same point.

Literal translation and phrase meaning

Title phrase: Water No Get Enemy

Plain English translation: Water has no enemy. It means water does not fight. Water benefits all. You cannot hate water because it supports life and you often need it. At the same time water is powerful and cannot be bullied into being otherwise. Understand this as a double edged statement. It is both a claim of innocence and a warning about power that is missed at your peril.

Some of the lyrics include Pidgin English and Yoruba phrases. We will translate the lines and explain cultural or idiomatic meanings so you can use the same tool in your own lyric writing without appropriating cultural detail.

Full lyric with plain translation

Below we give a condensed lyric and then a plain English translation. We keep the spirit intact while explaining key words.

• Lyric: Water no get enemy
• Translation: Water has no enemy. It is useful to everyone and it flows where it must.
• Lyric: Everybody has enemy
• Translation: People pick fights. People make enemies. Water does not.
• Lyric: Even the devil get enemy
• Translation: Even evil has enemies. This highlights water's special status.
• Lyric: If you praise water good e go dey you for mind
• Translation: If you respect water you will be blessed. This uses a Pidgin structure. Good e go dey you for mind means you will have long term benefit in your life.
• Lyric: If you no say make you no touch am, you go touch am and you go like am
• Translation: If you think you should avoid water, you will find yourself needing it and enjoying it. This line points to human denial about dependencies.

That is not exhaustive. Fela writes additional call and response parts and horn lines that answer the sung lines. The point is not exact literal translation as if we were doing academic work. The point is to show how a few repeatable phrases form a scaffold that supports improvisation and rhetorical expansion.

Line by line breakdown for writers

We will walk the title and key phrases and explain how each function works in the song. You can copy these moves in any genre from country to trap to indie pop.

Title phrase as proverb and chant

Why it works

• Short and repeatable. The phrase sits on obvious meter and can be sung in many rhythmic ways.
• Ambiguous but clear. On first listen you get a literal sense. On second listen you get metaphor. That double life gives the line staying power.
• Call friendly. It invites the band and the crowd to answer. That is why it feels like a communal truth.

Songwriter takeaway

• Write a title that can be chanted. Make it simple enough to repeat in a bar or two yet deep enough to reward repeat listens.
• Make the title slightly open to interpretation. If it means one thing only, it becomes a slogan. If it holds two readings it becomes a story plus a slogan.

Repetition as argument

Fela repeats the line until the phrase becomes a fact inside the listener. That is persuasion through habit. The horns and percussion vary so repetition does not feel dull. The same approach works in songwriting when you layer small changes over repeated words. A repeated chorus with one altered word on the last pass becomes a revelation.

Songwriter takeaway

• Repeat a small phrase to build authority and memory. Change one word on the final pass for a twist or reveal.
• Let instruments change while lyrics stay constant. The ear notices the difference and the phrase holds weight.

Call and response as texture and persuasion

Fela uses responses from backing singers and horns to make a line feel communal. The response does two jobs. It answers the line and it comments on the line. The band can be your editorial voice. When you write modern songs think of the band as an extension of your chorus. A backing vocal can translate or can add sarcasm. A horn stab can be the punchline that makes the lyric land.

Songwriter takeaway

• Write responses that either restate the line or subvert it for color. Both strategies work depending on the mood.
• Use a short instrumental counter phrase that returns across the song. It becomes as recognizable as the lyric itself.

Use of Pidgin English and local language as rhythm

Fela mixes languages not for exoticism but for rhythm and authenticity. Pidgin and Yoruba have different syllable shapes and stresses. That alters prosody and gives the lines bounce. He places Pidgin phrases where they can ride the groove as percussion would. That is a lesson for writers of any background. The shape of a phrase matters more than its dictionary meaning.

Real life scenario

Imagine you are texting a friend and you write something that sounds better aloud than on paper. You will likely choose words that match the timing of the text thumb taps. That is the same instinct Fela uses when he chooses Pidgin phrases. They are rhythmic and conversational.

Musical analysis you can steal

We will translate musical elements into songwriting moves. Remember that Fela is as much an arranger as he is a lyricist. The lyrics and the band are partners. If you skip the arrangement you miss half of the message.

Groove and tempo

Water No Get Enemy locks into a medium slow groove that feels like a steady river. That tempo is perfect because it allows room for horns, guitars, and percussion to converse. For songwriters the tempo choice determines the rhetorical posture of the lyric. Fast tempo says panic or joy. Medium slow says reflection with motion. Choose tempo to match the mood you want the listener to inhabit.

Songwriter exercise

• Write your chorus at three tempos. Sing the chorus over a slow metronome, a medium metronome, and a fast metronome. Note which tempo reveals the line like a jewel.

Interlocking percussion and space

Afrobeat uses many percussion players who each play simple parts that interlock. That creates momentum without crowding the vocal. As a songwriter you can mimic this by arranging minimal but distinct rhythmic elements. If your beats are modern electronic do not pile snares and busy hats on top of your lead vocal. Think of rhythm as a bed that lifts the lyric not as noise that competes.

Horn arrangements as argument and punctuation

Fela uses horns to comment. They answer, they ask questions, they punctuate. Horns can be sarcastic. Horns can be mournful. The arrangement makes the lyric feel larger than the person singing. For modern writers consider treating your lead synth or guitar as a horn voice. Write a motif that reacts to the lyric. Use it like an editor who plans one crisp sentence after every paragraph.

Extended jams as persuasive method

Fela lets phrases live inside long grooves. The band repeats and changes subtly. This slow reveal is persuasive because the listener begins to believe the phrase as the band becomes more insistent. For radio or streaming you cannot always afford fifteen minute jams. But you can use extended instrumental tags or repeated hook passes. The key is not length but evolution. Each repeat needs a small change.

Prosody and phrasing: how Fela fits words into groove

Prosody is the matchup between spoken stress and musical stress. Fela places important words on heavy beats and stretches vowels when he wants the audience to linger. Sometimes he compresses words to make them push like percussion. As a songwriter you must speak your lyrics out loud. If the stressed syllable falls on a weak beat change the word or move the note. Comfort for the singer is comfort for the listener because it feels natural in the mouth.

Practical tip

• Record yourself speaking every line in time with a click. Mark where natural stress falls. Align those stresses with your largest musical moments.

Metaphor craft and economy

Fela uses a single metaphor and wrings every angle from it. Water is survival, water is power, water is cleansing, water is something people take for granted. That concentrated philosophy lets the listener build associations without being told every moral. The craft move is to pick one strong image and avoid rescuing it with too many competing images.

Songwriter exercise

• Pick an image like light, phone, train, or mirror. Write a chorus that repeats a single line about that image while verses explore three concrete scenes that show the image at work.

How to write a politically sharp lyric without alienating listeners

Fela was direct. He did not whisper. But he did not lecture in paragraphs. He used a repeated proverb as the anchor and then let the music carry urgency. If you want political potency in your song use the same technique. Make a simple, repeatable line that frames the argument. Use specific scenes to bring people in. Let the groove do the persuasion so you are not talking at the listener.

Example approach

• Title line as moral
• Verse one as a specific scene that shows the problem
• Pre chorus as moment of rising emotion
• Chorus returns to the title with the band stronger
• Bridge offers a small solution or a haunting question

Ethics of borrowing and cultural respect

Fela used Yoruba and Pidgin because they were his languages. You should not replicate language you do not understand as exotic ornament. Do one of three things. Write from your own cultural vocabulary with the same attention to texture and rhythm. Collaborate with artists who speak the language and pay them or credit them. Or use translation and consultation until you can say the line with authority. Cultural borrowing without respect looks like costume. Fela was messy and brilliant. You can be brilliant with respect.

Real life relatable scenarios to apply these lessons

Scenario one

You are making a breakup anthem that needs emotional weight and replayability. Pick a title that works as a chant. Example: My Phone Is Gone. Use verses that show small domestic details. Let the chorus keep repeating the title while the production layers change. On the final chorus change one word to reveal who took the phone back head on.

Scenario two

You want a protest song for a local cause. Choose a proverb that frames the fight. Use call and response with local singers to make it feel communal. Keep the instrumental pocket simple so people on foot can sing along when the band is not there.

Scenario three

You write indie pop with introspective lyrics. Borrow the idea of one repeated line that becomes a mantra. Place it in the middle eight and repeat it with an added harmony. The mantra will feel like a personal ritual that your fans can sing in the car.

Practical arrangements for a modern songwriter

If you are not leading a fifteen piece band start minimal. Here are arrangement maps you can steal and use in a modern context.

Map A minimal band version

• Kick and low percussion on two and four
• Bass with a repeated riff that moves slowly
• Guitar or keys playing rhythmic chords similar to the original Afrobeat feel
• Lead vocal with backing singers repeating the title
• Harmonica or synth motif that acts like horns

Map B electronic producer version

• Deep sub bass with shuffled percussion
• Percussive sample pack with multiple congas or bongos layered for texture
• Plucky synth motif playing the horn line in a loop
• Lead vocal doubled with small delays to create call and response
• Breaks with removed elements to create space before the final chant

Vocal delivery and performance tips

Fela sings like a preacher with a grin. The delivery mixes conversational tone with righteous intensity. As a vocalist you can do similar things. Deliver verses like you are telling a secret to someone next to you. Deliver the chorus like you are teaching a lesson to an audience that will repeat it.

• Record two pass types. One intimate pass where the mic is close. One loud declarative pass for the chorus.
• Layer a spoken vocal under one chorus to give a radio friendly surprise.
• Use small ad libs from backing singers to make the chorus feel alive and improvised.

Writing exercises inspired by Water No Get Enemy

Exercise 1: Single image chorus

1. Pick one everyday element like bread, light, elevator, or coffee.
2. Write a one line chorus that states something paradoxical about the item. Keep it short and repeatable.
3. Write two verses that show specific scenes where the item matters.
4. Arrange a two minute loop and sing the chorus five times with small instrumental changes on each repeat.

Exercise 2: Pidgin friendly rhythm pass

1. Imagine a line in your local dialect or in plain conversational English.
2. Speak the line over a click. Mark the syllables that fall on beats one and three.
3. Rewrite to push important syllables onto strong beats. Keep the natural speech shape.

Exercise 3: Call and response demo

1. Record a short phrase you want to repeat. Keep it under six words.
2. Record four separate responses. One response repeats the phrase softly. One denies it. One elaborates. One asks a question back.
3. Place those responses across the chorus and listen for which one gives the chorus strength.

How to avoid sounding derivative

Do not copy Fela the way a tribute band copies a setlist. Steal the method not the melody. The method is economy, repetition, call and response, and instrumental commentary. Your content should be personal. Put your image at the heart of the chorus. If your title is My Phone Is Gone the song will not sound like Water No Get Enemy even if it borrows the technique of repeating a proverb like line. Also ask collaborators from the culture you reference to contribute honestly. Good borrowing adds perspective. Bad borrowing is wallpaper.

Production tips for clarity and punch

• Leave space around the lead vocal. Reduce competing mid frequency elements in the chorus so the title breathes.
• Use slight stereo movement on backing vocals to make the call and response feel like a group not a single smear.
• On the final chorus add a new percussion voice or a horn stack to signal finality. Small new elements make repetition feel like progress.
• If you have room add a one bar instrumental tag after the chorus. That tag becomes a signature that listeners imitate.

Action plan you can follow in the studio today

1. Pick your central image or proverb. Keep it to a five word maximum.
2. Write a two line verse that shows a specific scene involving that image.
3. Make a simple four bar loop with bass and rhythm. Lock the groove before you sing anything.
4. Sing your title over the loop until a natural phrasing arrives. Repeat the title five times and note which pass feels strongest.
5. Add one response voice. Make that response say either yes or no or add a small detail.
6. Record a full demo with a one minute instrumental break where the band can talk under the title.
7. Play the demo for three people who would never text you back after two am. Ask which line they can sing when they wake up. If they can sing one line you are good.

FAQ for songwriters about Water No Get Enemy

What does Water No Get Enemy mean

It is a proverb that says water does not have enemies because it is necessary and powerful. For Fela it is both an ethical statement and a warning. The phrase acts like a mantra that can be read as comfort or threat depending on context.

How can I use Fela style repetition without boring listeners

Change something on each repeat. Add a percussion layer. Swap a backing vocal. Move a horn motif by one beat. Repetition must feel like insistence not like laziness. The small changes create forward motion.

Is it appropriation to use another language for rhythm in my songs

You must act with respect. Use your own language or collaborate. If you want to use phrases from another culture get consent, consult speakers, and credit contributors. Rhythm shaped by language is powerful. Do not treat language like a costume.

Can the title phrase be a sentence that is not poetic at first glance

Yes. Everyday language is often the most powerful. The title should be easy to chant and sing. Let the music make the ordinary feel profound. A plain phrase sung with conviction can become a proverb.

How long should I let a repeated chorus breathe in a streaming era

Streaming favors concision but emotion matters more than seconds. Get to your hook quickly and allow enough repetition for the phrase to land. Four to six chorus passes in total can fit within three to four minutes if you plan the arrangement wisely. Use small changes to keep listeners engaged.

What instruments recreate the Afrobeat feel if I cannot afford a big band

Use a tight bass line, rhythm guitar or percussive keys, layered percussion samples, and a horn synth patch. Program the percussion to interlock rather than to be dense. The feel is more about patterns than number of players.

How do I write a chorus that works as a chant in live performance

Keep words short. Use a strong consonant to start or end the words so the audience can shout them. Allow space in the arrangement for the crowd to join. Repetition helps. If you can teach the crowd to clap a rhythm during the chorus you win half the room.

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