Coffin for Head of State

In 1976, Nigerian Vice President Olusegun Obasanjo succeeded Head of State General Mohammed. after his assassination, and continued the military junta until 1979. In 1978, Afro beat musician Fela Kuti’s Kalakuta Republic (commune) was stormed by Obasanjo’s military, Fela’s mother being thrown from a two story window and dying of consequent injuries. Fela Kuti’s song Coffin for Head of State is a voice expressing the political corruption, religious differences, and the people’s way of life in Nigeria, while also exposing a personal account of how Kuti’s life was affected under the military regime.

Coffin for Head of State is like a narrative, bringing listeners on a “waka” through Nigeria in 1978. First Fela starts out in “any village anywhere in Africa,” seeing the pastor’s house, the poor living conditions, but then eventually seeing the “business places.” Fela’s diction of business is business, but is likewise addressing the government. In the 1970s, Nigeria was governed by the economics of the oil boom which fed into the corruption of the state.

In Nigeria, there is a religious divide, Northern Nigeria being mainly Muslim and Southern Nigeria being mainly Christian. Throughout the song Kuti praises “Through Jesus Christ our Lord, by the grace of Almighty Lord” but eventually transitions to “Through Mohammed our Lord, by the grace of Almighty Allah,” speaking for all Nigerians to pray to God to end the military rule.

At the end of the song, Fela sings, “I go government places, I see see see, all the bad bad bad things, them dey do do do,” pointing out Obasanjo and Yar’Adua. Kuti then proceeds to list the “bad bad bad things” the government has done, from stealing money, to killing students and burning houses. The song then switches to a personal note, for “they kill my mama.” Kuti then describes his embark up to the doors of Obasanjo and Yar’Adua to deliver his mothers coffin, where “them no want take am, but them take am!” The acceptance of Kuti’s mothers’ coffin symbolizes the beginning of the end to the Nigerian military governance.

Coffin for Head of State is not merely an Afro beat song by Fela Kuti, but an account of the political corruption and military government Nigeria faced for over a decade, as well as a personal story of how this regime affected the Nigerian people, like Fela Kuti himself.