WHEN THE PEOPLE MOVE, THE MUSIC MOVES TOO

Album Lyrics

THIS WAS MADE HERE

(by Meklit + Dan Wilson)

walking
flying
sailing
driving
made it
new shores
hope reign
sky pour
seeds that scatter
songs that shade and shelter
names get braided
as we are
this was made here
this was made here

daydreams
oceans
compass
open
two homes
in strange clothes
let the seams show
translate
pass on
transmission and omission
names get braided
as we are
this was made here
this was made here

years of in between and wander
learn to live within the longing
what an impossible condition
when back home is ever shifting
flung so far beyond our wellspring
but home
is more than a feeling,

it's a belonging
and i

i’m not going to wait, i'm not gonna
i’m not going to wait, i'm not gonna
i’m not going to wait, i'm not gonna
i’m not going away, way, way....

daydreams
oceans
compass
open
two homes
in strange clothes
let the seams show
translate
pass on
transmission and omission
names get braided
as we are
this was made here
this was made here
this was made here
this was made here
this was made
here

YERAKEH YERESAL

Tertachu asgebuat, lesua zefenulat
Tertachu negeruat, endemenfelegat
Tertachu asgebuat, bezema awediswat
temetalech esua yangeezay berucha

Ye alemeachen kenfoch, tesemeachew dikam
Ye adey abeba dinget seteweta
Bemetenum bihon yiqelal wu tretwa
Bedewel wubetishin ina dinq

Tineshum Tilekum
Ye raqeh yeresal
Fiqerem tesemtuatal endeh teresachay

Honom yetem alhedech
Ketig qomalech
feetuan teshefafena
titebeqalech egna estamenenqa

Translation:

call her and let her in, sing for her
call her and tell her we need her
call her and let her in, with your perfect melodies
and she will run

the wings of the world feeling tired
if only the addy abebay (a yellow flower associated with hope and sprintime) peaks out
If it could lessen the weight even just a little
You’d respond to beauty as the sound of a bell...

the small and the big
as they grow further are forgotten
And even love feels like she’s been left behind

but she didn’t go anywhere
she is here
Around the corner
With her face covered
she has waited up till now
until we wake up

call her and let her in, sing for her
call her and tell her we need her
call her and let her in, with your perfect melodies
and she will run

THE HUMAN ANIMAL

Animal, Animal, Animal
From savannah you were born
Two legs, two arms, two eyes and a restless soul

Animal, Animal, Animal
And it's you under the sky
Your feet on the ground
The only way you can reach higher

Oooooooh,
the human animal

There's something in us
Just a little bit rough
That longs to run
(Do you long to run?)

We capture this side of us
Hide what is fire
But we’re all made from love

Animal, Animal, Animal
And you want to fly away
From all those voices demanding you to be tame

Animal, Animal, Animal
That don’t mean you can't be kind
But what if a part of you knew how to
Stay wild

Oooooooh,
the human animal
Oooooooh,
the human animal

There's something in us
Just a little bit rough
That longs to run
The power of nature
It roar when it face you
But where you think your own roar came from?

Oooooooh,
the human animal
Oooooooh,
the human animal

There's something in us
Just a little bit rough
That longs to run
The power of nature
It roar when it face you
But where you think your own roar came from?

I WANT TO SING FOR THEM ALL

I grew up listening
To Michael and Aster
Prince and Mahmoud
They both took me there
Took me to that place
That music lets you find
Forget all your troubles
Unburden your mind

Along the way
I found Coltrane and Mary Armeday
And Dr. Mulatu
Guides me in what I do
They all have a place
At my table with me
Singing Ethio-Jazz
In 2017

I want to sing for them all

Leonard Cohen taught me
Words are your currency
And Muluken’s legacy
Was written in melody

They all have a place
At my table with me
Singing Ethio-Jazz
In 2017

SUPERNOVA

Where did you come from?
Where did you grow those bones?
Midnight is a mirror
Look up, your reflection falls

All the pieces collected
From debris left behind
Now gravity is possessing me
Electromagnetic mind

Remember when you'd fly without wings
How you loved how you loved
to feel the falling
Cross the universe on a string
And start over,
Ove - eh - er

Cause everything that we are was made in a supernova
Everything that we are was made in a supernova

In me stardust is living
One billion years gone by
So who is going to stop me
When it’s my time to fly

No ordinary girl
And you, a cosmic sailor with an appetite for earth
We wrap ourselves in this life
We showered down, we settled, from our home in the skies

So watch out
Jump back
And get down
The nebula is rumbling
You better start running
An explosion is coming,
Coming

Cause everything that we are was made in a supernova
Everything we are was made in a supernova
Everything that we are was made in a supernova
Everything we are was made in a supernova

Where did you come from?

MEMORIES OF THE FUTURE

And the fireworks roared like lions
And the children woke up from their beds
And the dreamers they became lucid

While our memories of the future waited

And the roads found their way to onwards
Shooting stars remembered to fall
And the deserts missed the weight, the weight of the water

While our memories of the future waited

If this is an offer,
then why should we stop here
And are you pretending that you are sure?

Here is something stronger.
Don't gloss it over.
Or are you the past knocking at my door?

And the painters mixes their pallets
And the drummers beat their drums
But at least the hunters put down their guns.

While our memories of the future waited

And the fireworks roared like lions
And the children woke up from their beds
And the dreamers they became lucid

YESTERDAY IS A TIZITA

Tizita direct translation = memory
Also a popular Ethiopian song form, songs of longing and nostalgia
Also an Ethiopian pentatonic scale/mode, found in both major and minor.

A person can be a question
A what if
A what might have happened
Behind your eyes, a reflection
No matter your face, your direction
They are a tizita

you just need to hear one
Your troubles
they’ll be far away
ask George Martin bout yesterday
I knew it before I pressed play
this was his tizita

Yesterday is a tizita
Yesterday is a tizita
Yesterday is a tizita

everyone on this planet
we all got it
add it up and it links us
whether or not we want it
you’re no stranger to me
cause you have your tizita

We remember it true
We remember a fog
we get the past right
and we get the past wrong
still it hits us so strong
When we have our tizita

Yesterday is a tizita
Yesterday is a tizita
Yesterday is a tizita

So who would I be if I had stayed
And what kind of Addis girl would I have made.
Look back to another past....

But time only goes in one way
Oh my heart and this weight
Tizita in my fate
Blues by another name
Sweetness inside of the pain

My tizita is a country
I left when i was young
There is unwritten history
And forgotten mother tongue
Memories never made
And others become this song
My tizita
Became this song
My tizita
My tizita
My tizita