O Leon, O Leon, O Leon, Wellahiya,
O Leon, O Leon, O Leon, Wellahiya,
Out on the water I can hear them call,
I feel the rhythm inside of me,
This is the moment I've been waiting for,
When I'm hearing the drums in the night,
When I'm seeing the river of light, hey, hey;
Out on the water it's another world,
I feel the power inside of me,
The flame is here and now it has to burn,
You can live but you cannot survive,
And it's something you cannot deny,
To the waiting heart - this waiting heart,
To the waiting heart - this waiting heart;
Oh I'm holding on, I'm just holding on,
Holding on, Wellahiya,
Holding on, I'm just holding on,
Holding on, Wellahiya;
And maybe tonight - tonight I'll go -
I'll go down to the river where my love will be,
This time - this time I know -
She will lay down beside me, 'cos everything comes,
To the waiting heart - this waiting heart,
To the waiting heart - this waiting heart, hey, hey;
Out on the water I can hear them call,
I feel the rhythm inside of me,
This is the moment I've been waiting for,
It is here, now I'm breaking away,
And it's fortune that favours the brave,
And the waiting heart, oh the waiting heart,
This waiting heart - oh the waiting heart,
This waiting heart - oh yeah the waiting heart,
This waiting heart - oh this waiting heart,
This waiting heart;
Mamana Mamana Mamana Mamana Mamana Mamana,
This waiting heart...
Holding on I'm just holding on...
Out on the water I can hear them calling...
This waiting heart.
"I wrote it in Australia, while I was sitting at a piano in a Perth hotel. I was sort of thinking about hearing a boatload of Maori rowers, sitting in one of their long boats and chanting to themselves. That's how the idea for the chant featured in the song began. It vaguely reminded me of a guy waiting in a lagoon who hears chanting in the distance and realises that this is his moment. Not of deliverance at all, but of the excitement and anticipation that grows with doing something new and moving on to fresh fields. It's actually very hard to explain! It's not exactly a nonsense song, because I don't write those, but a lot of the words are created to work with the excitement of the tune. It's fun, basically; a lot of fun. It's a great dance tune, an up-tempo thing, which was inspired by Australia, I would say."
The Getaway Gazette, September 1989
Albums
"This Waiting Heart" appears on the following albums:
