tune-yards

nowhere, man

yes I meant to scare you.
just like that dream where your guns get pulled back on you
they rip pieces of your fertile skin
for every sin
sin against the people

NOWHERE TO RUN!
NOWHERE TO HIDE!

you whine that you're discluded
and with that single word erase the very story of my life
so I rip pieces of my fertile skin
nowhere woman finds her little ways to win

NOWHERE TO RUN!
NOWHERE TO HIDE!

screaming babies are your problem
screaming
babies are YOUR problem
seems like jesus and dylan got the whole thing wrong
if you cannot hear a woman then how can you write her song?

NOWHERE TO RUN!
(adapt)
NOWHERE TO HIDE!
(you've got)

Hamir Atwal - drums
Nate Brenner - bass, percussion, Pittsburgh Modular synth
Merrill Garbus - CDJ, uke, drum programming, keys, percussion
Craig Brenner - Piano, Yamaha DX7, Mellotron, Prophet 6
Ross Peacock - Korg MS-20

make it right.

top down doesn't cut it
will I love you, can I love you
top down doesn't cut it
can I love you at all

top down never cut it
like a brother, like a sister
top down never cut it
can I love you at all

so she asked was I willing to pay
not to punish but heal from this pain
be the truth and live up to my name
I said go ahead, make me human,
make it right, make it right

wake up, woman, mirror
say I love you, can I love you
wake up, woman, mirror
liberation for all

wake up, woman, mirror
never man enough, never man enough
top down, never led to
liberation for all

top down doesn't cut it
will I love you, can I love you
top down doesn't cut it
can I love you at all

in my voice you can hear what I owe
it's a debt from a long time ago
poisons all of the seeds that I sow
so go ahead make me human,
make it right, make it right, make it right, make it right

he cried out, well how much would it take
there's no end to a history I can't shake
was he willing for his children's sake
to look ahead as a human, and make it right...

Hamir Atwal - drums
Nate Brenner - bass
Craig Brenner - DX-7
Merrill Garbus - Moog Voyager, drum programming, keys, tape loops, vocals
Rob Ewing - trombone
Ross Peacock - MS-20
Produced by Tune-Yards and John Hill

hypnotized

the trees are in the meadow
the cows are in the trees
the people aren't anywhere to be found
better take one of these

the trees are in the meadow
the cows are in the pigs
the people aren't anywhere to be found
the gravedigger digs

look into my eyes
I know you honey
look into my eyes
I see you honey
look into my eyes
I know it honey
look into my eyes
quiet, quiet!

look into my eyes
oh, I know you honey
look into my eyes
oh, I feel it honey
look into my eyes
you're hypnotized

silent as a citizen
city streets of ghosts & past
they used to laugh and dance here
until a spell was cast

look into my eyes
I know you honey
look into my eyes
I see you honey
look into my eyes
I know it honey
look into my eyes
quiet quiet!

look into my eyes
Oh, I know you honey
look into my eyes
oh, I feel you honey
look into my eyes
you're hypnotized

(you got it again)
(honey, don't)

that mirror draws down your head
you think the image is real
your tears are melting your face
but you forgot how to feel
remember your lungs, remember your lungs
the weight of your bones, remember your lungs
wake up and look into my eyes!

Hamir Atwal - drums
Nate Brenner - bass, MS-20, piano, percussion, Mellotron, Prophet 6, found sounds
Merrill Garbus - drum programming, piano, percussion, ghost synth, loops, vocals

homewrecker

thinking 'bout your money
think about the homes you wreck
never mind the money
thinking 'bout your mo-mo-mo-mo-mo-money

I'm looking for a home
I'm looking for a home
since I don't come from anywhere
a house will make me strong
a longing to belong, a longing to belong
I asked you for redemption and I sang a little song

a pre-approval for a life of wiping history away
a pre-approval for a debt that I will never pay
dare yourself to think it, think it all the way through
dare yourself to think 'cause everyday it comes true

thinking 'bout your money
think about the homes you wreck
never mind the money
thinking 'bout your mo-mo-mo-mo-mo-money

I'm looking for my people
I cannot find my people
I lost them in the killings at the temple and the steeple
I feel so overwhelmed
abandoned and ashamed
so I remain the passenger, the driver is deranged

I ate your babies from the nest where you were keeping them safe
I called it safety when I doomed you to both prison and rape
so I comfort ate, so I comfort
ate your eggs so greedily and sickness was my fate

(oh somewhere there's a place I'll find my/ rhyme
and wind up nowhere that is mine
Tending to the mending of the troubled times)

Hamir Atwal - drums
Nate Brenner - bass, piano, vocals
Merrill Garbus - electric kalimba, drum programming, percussion, vocals
Ross Peacock - MS-20

silence pt. 1 (when we say "we")

silence.

not in my lifetime I know
I know I know
not in my lifetime

not in my lifetime I know
I know I know
not in my lifetime

travel time.

1 2 3 4 1 2 let you hear it
3 4 1 feel it and hear it
3 4 2 feel it and be it
3 4 5 1 2

I am wrapped within you
I spread my roots into all your limbs
and my voice all around you
cells vibrating without and within

not in my lifetime I know...

there's a secret that I keep
when you think that I am weeping
I am one drop in the ocean
one toe in the ground
one fist of many fingers

why would I claim my little piece of the pie
she said change yourself to change the world*
and I am gonna try

*"To make a revolution, people must not only struggle against existing institutions. They must make a philosophical/ spiritual leap and become more 'human' human beings. In order to change/transform the world, they must change/transform themselves." - Grace Lee Boggs, Living for Change

Hamir Atwal - drums
Nate Brenner - bass, bolsa bass, percussion
Merrill Garbus - drums and drum programming, piano, vocals, loops, effects
Toni Hartley - vocals
Tunde Olaniron - vocals
Patricia Preware - vocals
Ross Peacock - MS-20

silence pt. 2 (who is "we"?)

Merrill Garbus - vocals

hold yourself.

parents are children
parents are children and
parents were children
all of the time

parents they made us, and
they tried to raise us but
parents betrayed us
even when they tried.

they held us close and dear
and told us lies that they'd been
telling themselves for years
they'll suffocate me so I'll

hold myself now
I have to
hold myself now
no choice of when and I don't know how
but I will
hold myself now

child I won't have you
I cannot have you
child I won't have you
and I'm telling you why

I cannot mend this
I have to end this
I can't pretend 
 without a break inside

I'll hold you close and dear
I'll tell you lies that I've been telling myself for years
I'll suffocate you so you

hold yourself now
you have to
hold yourself now
no choice of when and who knows how
but you will
hold yourself now

we all have doubt
we all have rage
we all have trouble being brave enough to turn the page
but we will

hold ourselves now
yes we will
hold ourselves now
no choice of when
and who knows how
but we must
hold ourselves now

hold ourselves now
yes we will
hold ourselves now
no choice of when
and we are learning how
so we will
hold ourselves now

we all have doubt
we all have rage
we all have trouble being brave enough to turn the page

Hamir Atwal - drums
Nate Brenner - bass, drum programming, percussion, keys, vocals
Merrill Garbus - vocals, drum programming, DX7, Mellotron, piano, percussion, loops
Matt Nelson - saxophone
Ross Peacock - MS-20

sometime

give me time!

sometime
(give me time!)
we will look back on this time
sometime
(give me time!)
gotta go easy on yourself sometimes
we will look back on this time
(give me time!)
hear me out, hear me out, hear me out

when they say our world is destroyed
sometimes I nod and say, I know
other times I breathe in, breathe out, shake my head no no no 'cause
easter eggs reveal themselves from beneath the melted snow.
birth and rebirth at once, hidden below.

oh

sometime
(give me time!)
we will look back on this time.
sometime
(give me time!)
gotta go easy on yourself, take care of yourself
'cause we will look back on this time
so take care of yourself

time will tell it all in a picture book you read to someone else's kids
so soothing the pages turn, the concrete, the known.
thank goodness we know better now
thank goodness truth prevailed
in the meantime, pull the blanket up and dream behind the veil
(in the meantime, pull the blanket up and dream how seeds are sown
in the meantime, forgive yourself, so you can swim freely home.
forgive yourself, forgive yourself, so you can swim freely now
or else your dense, bold body will sink all the way down.)

Hamir Atwal - percussion
Nate Brenner - bass, MS-20, Prophet 6
Merrill Garbus - drums, drum programming, uke, piano, percussion, vocals
Ross Peacock - MS-20

under your lip

I'm just looking for something to make me mad
nothing personal, just sick of being sad
I don't wanna know your vision
and I don't wanna hear opinions
I want a quiet, quiet quiet lets me hear the truth I know there is

I don't wanna know what's under your lip
I don't wanna know what's under your lip
oh a body knows a truth you can't hear
I'm alive, I'm alive and I'll live without whatever's coming out of your lip
outta your lip, outta your lip

I dream of hands on strands of my hair at the nape of my neck
my skull and teeth being slammed like the shell of a clam on a slab of cement
so I don't need to be forgiven
it's hard enough to make this livin'
I need a quiet, quiet quiet lets me know somewhere there's room to give

I don't wanna know what's under your lip
I don't really trust what's under your lip
oh a body knows a truth you can't hear
I'm alive, I'm alive and I'll live without whatever's coming out of your lip
outta your lip, outta your lip

I know what I am!
I'm alive

I don't wanna know what's under your lip
I don't really trust just knowing you'll trip
oh a body knows a truth you can't hear
I'm alive, I'm alive and I'll live without whatever's coming out of your lip
outta your lip, outta your lip

oh no no no no
oh no no no no
oh no no no no
oh no no no no

Hamir Atwal - drums
Nate Brenner - bass, Prophet 6, percussion
Merrill Garbus - drums and drum programming, percussion, DX7, Juno, Mellotron, loops, vocals
Matt Nelson - saxophone

my neighbor

oooo
let me love, let me love, let me love

my neighbor held the key to my survival
the loneliest woman I ever saw
her death around the corner
her children screaming at her
pounding fists upon her rotting wooden floor
my neighbor held the key to my survival
I made sure to lock the door

oooo
let me love, let me love, let me love

my enemy held the key to my survival
but my envy overtook my brain
I saw her doubled over
and recognized myself and said
"perhaps I'll quit besmirching her name."
my enemy held the key to my survival
and I killed her all the same

(time! it's time, it's time, it's time)

my neighbor held the key to my survival
the garbage truck kept passing her by
another week full of trash
she folds herself exactly in half

oooo
let me love, let me love, let me love

Hamir Atwal - drums
Nate Brenner - bass, Pittsburgh, DX7, MS-20, percussion
Merrill Garbus - drum programming, DX7, percussion, vocals
Ross Peacock - Prophet 6

be not afraid.

tell me what you really want
tell me what you really want
nothing
nothing
nothing, really

be not afraid
spit out your mouthful
what they can't take
won't be your downfall

be not afraid
others will follow
take what life gave
eat up and swallow

tell me what you really want.
tell me what you really want.
I know we never say it straight
but go ahead and change the game-o
I'll hold your hand, you be bold and tell me what you can

sweet child, we set you up to die
so now you take my life, it's my time
don't regret a thing
don't worry 'bout me, don't worry 'bout me
it's my time
don't regret a thing, just sing

be not afraid
spit out your mouthful
what they can't take
won't be your downfall

be not afraid
others will follow
take what life gave
eat up and swallow

/

(cut it.)

Hamir Atwal - drums
Nate Brenner - bass, Voyager, drum programming
Merrill Garbus - drums and drum programming, uke, Mellotron, loops, CDJ, vocals
Ruth Garbus - vocals
Ross Peacock - MS-20