North Songtext
von Emmy the Great

There′s a place I'm gonna leave to
When all this questioning is through
I′m gonna set my course to somewhere further North
Than my eyes have ever viewed
And though I know that the thought proceeds me
I know that others seek it too
But when I get where the needle leads me
Well I swear, and I swear, you'll never lead me away again

And in the time when the peace of islands
Was first by human hand disturbed
They built their houses and they said obedience
Was all the lives of men were worth
And in the shadow of the temperance
They laid boundaries in the dirt
And when the door had a narrow entrance
With their hands on their shirts they would pray for the non-believers


And there's a place called North
And they′re gathering there to sing
And I knock three times and beg them
But they will not let me in
And "Oh, my girl" they say
"You′re the carrier to no gain"
But I lay, what I can, somewhere North of this and
Would you turn me away again?

And do you go where the needle leads to
And when you get there will you change?
Out where the nights are soft
And now you go because you think that Paradise should be tamed
And how you live is by a map of humanity
And now you grip it 'cause you think that it saves
But I′ve seen what you see
It looks different to me
I see lights to the shore
And all these hearts beating other rhythms
Now they die to be born
And all their mysteries are dying with them


And there's a place called North
And you′re gathering there to sing
And I knock three times and beg you
But you will not let me in
But though I love so hard
Now I'm the carrier to this gate
And I lay, what I can, somewhere North of us and
Would you turn me away again?

And would these winds would lift
And they carry me to your door
And I knock three times and tell you
I can′t help where I was born
But don't I love enough
Isn't holiness where it forms?
If I take, what I have, to the North
Is there room on your piece of Heaven?

Oh would you turn me away again?