Bona fide: adjective genuine; real. adverb chiefly Law without intention to deceive — ORIGIN Latin, ‘with good faith’.
I’m bona fide hermit out with the sun
I admit that it’s not everyone’s ideal existence
Or their idea of fun
Seems to work for me
I’m waiting for the moment
The time will come I know it
The strength of my conviction will recognise my soul(Stellar, ‘Part of Me’)
Boh Runga, who has incidentally got a new solo album out at the moment, originally came to prominence through her snappy pop outfit Stellar. (I refuse to add the superfluous and attention-seeking asterisk at the end). Their first album, 1999’s Mix, was a strong collection of potential singles, with the downbeat Part of Me following the up-tempo What You Do (Bastard) into the New Zealand top 20. In the first line of Part of Me, which reached number 4 in the local pop charts, she injects a little Latin primer to set the scene for an above-average lyrical effort. Perhaps it contributed in some small way to Mix winning album of the year at the New Zealand Music Awards in 2000, although I suspect Runga’s quality allround song-writing and (if memory serves) American producer J.D. Souther‘s knob-twiddling work also played a major role.
Rock Vocab 