DESCRIPTION:
Ebba Chitambo founded Wells Fargo in 1973. He came up with the band’s name from a stagecoach in a cowboy comic book. Ebba and Josi Ndlovu co-wrote the revolutionary anthem of the time, a song titled “Have Gun Will Travel,” which included the provocative line: “Watch out/freedom is coming/have gun will travel/you better hold on.”
The song accomplished what the racist Rhodesian government feared most: it brought together young whites, blacks, and mixed-race supporters of the independence movement. Wells Fargo concerts attracted fans from all walks of life. The song became a revolutionary anthem on the front lines in the bush and at home in the townships. The government decided it had seen enough interracial unity. As told by Ebba, police repeatedly raided Wells Fargo concerts and music festivals, beating concert goers and band members. Josi was eventually arrested by government agents for playing the song with his new band Eye of Liberty.
The Special Branch, Rhodesia’s internal security force, recognized the song’s influence, too. They began placing informants at Wells Fargo concerts to spy on the crowd and to ask questions about the politics of Ebba and other band members.
As pressure mounted, Ebba responded entrepreneurially: He decided to switch the lyrics to coded language that their fans would recognize. Instead of “freedom is coming/have gun will travel” in the chorus, the lyrics were changed to “big storm is coming/thunder and lighting.” The song’s title was also changed to “Watch Out.”
Fans knew that the “big storm” was the revolution, and “thunder and lighting” meant bombs and gun flashes. But when band members were interrogated by secret police, they kept their story straight: the “big storm” was Wells Fargo, and the song was about the band bragging how great their music was.
By the mid-70s, Wells Fargo was arguably the most popular band in the “Zim heavy” rock scene in Rhodesia. The liberal white Rhodesians who operated Afro Soul, a subsidiary of South Africa’s Teal Records, believed they might be able to get the Rhodesian Censorship Board to approve the coded version of “Watch Out.” The prospect of profits was great enough for them to risk government retaliation, so they recorded and released the song.
But Rhodesian authorities were well-acquainted with the song by then, and they banned it from state-controlled radio. But underground radio loved it, and according to Ebba, the “Watch Out” single was a big seller by heavy rock standards, estimating the record sold at least 15,000 copies despite the official blackout. Entrepreneurs prevailed despite government attempts to silence them.