Americana from Feelings by Naomi Westwater
This song is about being multiracial in America and feeling, not only like I don’t fit in, but like my country doesn’t want me to exist. I wrote this song after spending 6 months in Rio de Janeiro, where there are a lot of multiracial people, and I felt I really fit there. Everyone in Rio thought I was lying when I said I was American, and when I came back home, I felt like, “yeah, I don’t belong to this country.”
Tracklist
| 5. | Americana | 5:30 |
Lyrics
My mother, she created me
White mother, passed down her genes
And my Black daddy, he got in there too
So somebody tell me, what am I to you?
Oh what am I to you?
What am I to you?
What am I to you?
What am I to you?
White fingers tangled in my natural hair
Chemicals burned me, but I was brave I didn't care
Tried to teach me knowledge, but I saw to the truth
When you showed me judgement corrupting my youth
What am I to you?
Tell me, what am I to you?
What am I to you?
What am I to you?
Catcalling as I walk down the street
Brasília Nation has a place for me
Cause "Americana" doesn't seem to fit
Lost all my identification
America you buried it, you buried it, you buried it
Oh, what am I to you?
What am I to you?
What am I to you?
Tell me, what am I to you?
What am I to you?
What am I to you?
What am I to you?
What am I to you?
Credits
music and lyrics written by Naomi Westwater
performances by Alex Chacon (electric guitar), Cooper Evello (piano, keys), Dana Roth (electric bass), Francis Pena (drums), Naomi Westwater (vocals)
produced by Naomi Westwater
mixed by Dan Babai
mastered by Bella Corich
License
All rights reserved.
Naomi Westwater (they/she) is a queer, Black-multiracial singer-songwriter from Massachusetts. Their work combines folk-rock music, poetry, and spirituality. Their hope is that through ritual and storytelling they can aid nature in the end of capitalism and the return to community, creativity, and collective joy.