As an artist who has always considered the individual and their place in the community through the use of sensorial experiences that involve the viewer, Niederlander began to specifically explore the aural soundscapes of the contemporary world she lives in around the #metoo movement and how innovative ways to use the creative porcess in a community engagement fashion might further facilitate a better understanding of the power structures we all live in. The List is a project of this ongoing research. The List is songs sung by females that narrate fury and frustration from many perspectives. The List offers the female voice as a positive, strong, and confident navigator of broad spectrum emotion, but most specifically emotions often considered taboo for females such as anger.
LYRICS: You can paint me any colour
And I can be your clown
But you ain’t got my number
Yeah, you can't pin me down
Yeah, you can't pin me down
Yeah, you can't pin me down
Now I got your back up
What do you not like?
Do you think I’m stuck up
Cause I’m always picking fights
You might think I’m one thing, but I am another
You can’t call my bluff
Time to back off, motherfucker
Do you really want me to write a feminist anthem?
I’m happy cooking dinner in the kitchen for my husband
Yeah, yeah
You can paint me any colour
And I can be your clown
But you ain’t got my number
Yeah, you can't pin me down
Yeah, you can't pin me down
Yeah, you can't pin me down
You ain't got me sussed yet
You're not even close
Baby it’s the one thingv
That I hate the most
All these contradictions pouring out of me
Just another girl in the 21st century
I am never gonna give you anything that you expect
You think I’m like the others, boy, you need to get your eyes
Checked, checked
You can paint me any colour
And I can be your clown
But you ain’t got my number
No, you can't pin me down
Yeah, you can't pin me down
Yeah, you can't pin me down
I could be your sister
I could be your mother
I could be your neighbour
I could be your lover
Do you like my body?
Do you like my mind?
What is it that you are having trouble to define?
I am never gonna give you anything that you expect
You think I’m like the others, boy, you need to get your eyes
Checked, checked
You can paint me any colour
I can be your russian doll
But you ain’t got my number
No, you can’t make me small
You can paint me any colour
And I can be your clown
But you ain’t got my number
No, you can’t pin me down
Yeah, you can’t pin me down
Yeah, you can’t pin me down
Yeah, you can’t pin me down
Yeah, you can’t pin me down
LYRICS: If all I was was black
Looking at you, you might look past
All the love I give (Got love to give)
I've got natural gifts (Got natural gifts)
Got a perspective (Got a perspective)
Might make your shift (The way you look at it)
I've got love
Got love
If all I did was cry
If all that feeling got left behind
I'd worry about you (What's in your mind)
I'd never live my life (Be wasting my time)
Oh, I won't be afraid (I won't be afraid)
If that's how you wanna stay (How you wanna stay)
I've got the love
Got love
If all I was was black
Don't you wanna know me more than that
All the love I give (Got love to give)
I've got natural gifts (Got natural gifts)
Got a perspective (Got a perspective)
Might make your shift (The way you look at it)
I've got the love, love
Got love
And it's time for more to love, ooh
Oh, it's time, it's time, for more love
All the love I give (Got love to give)
I've got natural gifts (Got natural gifts)
Got a perspective (Got a perspective)
Might make your shift (The way you look at it)
I've got love, love
I've got love
And it's time for more to love
Helen Reddy - I Am Woman
LYRICS: I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an' pretend
Cause I've heard it all before
And I've been down there on the floor
No one's ever gonna keep me down again
Oh yes, I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong
(Strong)
I am invincible
(Invincible)
I am woman
You can bend but never break me
Cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
Cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul
Oh yes, I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong
(Strong)
I am invincible
(Invincible)
I am woman
I am woman watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin' arms across the land
But I'm still an embryo
With a long, long way to go
Until I make my brother understand
Oh yes, I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can face anything
I am strong
(Strong)
I am invincible
(Invincible)
I am woman
I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong
I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong
I am woman
Aretha Franklin - Think
LYRICS: You better think (think)
Think about what you're trying to do to me
Yeah, think (think, think)
Let your mind go, let yourself be free
Let's go back, let's go back
Let's go way on way back when
I didn't even know you
You couldn't have been too much more than ten (just a child)
I ain't no psychiatrist, I ain't no doctor with degrees
But don't take too much high IQ to see what you're doing to me
You better think (think)
Think about what you're trying to do to me
Yeah, think (think, think)
Let your mind go, let yourself be free
'Cause freedom stands for freedom
Oh freedom, yeah freedom right now
Freedom, oh freedom
Give me some freedom, oh freedom
Yeah, think about it!
You, think about it!
There ain't nothing you could ask
I could answer you but I won't (I won't)
I was gonna change, but I'm not
If you keep doing things I don't
You better think (think)
Think about what you're trying to do to me
Oh, think (think, think)
Let your mind go, let yourself be free
People walking around everyday
Playing games and taking scores
Trying to make other people lose their minds
Well be careful, you're going to lose yours
Oh, think (think)
Think about what you're trying to do to me
Wooh think (think)
Let your mind go, let yourself be free
Pat Benatar - Hell is for Children
LYRICS: They cry in the dark, so you can't see their tears
They hide in the light, so you can't see their fears
Forgive and forget, all the while
Love and pain become one and the same
In the eyes of a wounded child
Because hell
Hell is for children
And you know that their little lives can become such a mess
Hell
Hell is for children
And you shouldn't have to pay for your love with your bones and your flesh
Its all so confusing, this brutal abusing
They blacken your eyes, and then 'pologize
Youre daddys good girl, and don't tell mommy a thing
Be a good little boy, and you'll get a new toy
Tell grandma you fell off the swing
Because hell
Hell is for children
And you know that their little lives can become such a mess
Hell
Hell is for children
And you shouldn't have to pay for your love with your bones and your flesh
No, hell is for children
Hell
Hell is for hell
Hell is for hell
Hell is for children
Hell
Hell is for hell
Hell is for hell
Hell is for children
Hell
Hell is for hell
Hell is for hell
Hell is for children
Buckle Up: schoolgirls put message to end FGM into song
En Vogue - Free Your Mind
LYRICS: Prejudice, wrote a song about it
Like to hear it? Here it go
I wear tight clothing, high heeled shoes
It doesn't mean that I'm a prostitute, no no
I like rap music, wear hip hop clothes
That doesn't mean that I'm out sellin' dope no no
Oh my forgive me for having straight hair, no
It doesn't mean there's another blood in my heir yeah yeah
I might date another race or color
It doesn't mean I don't like my strong black brothers
Why oh why must it be this way
Before you can read me
you gottalearn how to see me, I said
Free your mind and the rest will follow
Be color blind, don't be so shallow
Free your mind and the rest will follow
Be color blind, don't be so shallow
So I'm a sistah
Buy things with cash
That really doesn't mean that all my credit's bad,
So why dispute me and waste my time
Because you really think the price is high for me
I can't look without being watched, and oh
You rang my buy before I made up my mind, OW!
Oh now attitude, why even bother
I can't change your mind, you can't change my color
Why oh why must it be this way?
Before you can read me you gotta learn how to see me, I said
Free your mind and the rest will follow
Be color blind, don't be so shallow…
Why oh why must it be this way?
Before you can read me you gotta learn how to see me, I said
Free your mind and the rest will follow
Be color blind, don't be so shallow... FREE YOUR MIND!
Plastiscines - Bitch
LYRICS:
I'm a bitch when I brush my teeth
I'm a bitch walking down this street
I'm a bitch when I paint my lips
I'm a bitch when people look at me
I'm a bitch in disguise
I'm a bitch that never minds
I'm a bitch just realize
I'm a bitch all the time
I'm a bitch, I T C H
I'm a bitch, I T C H
I'm a bitch, I T C H
I'm a bitch, I T C H, ooh
I'm a bitch when I walk my dog
I'm a bitch when I fall in love
I'm a bitch when I give a kiss
I'm a bitch when I sing like this
I'm a bitch in disguise
I'm a bitch that never minds
I'm a bitch, did you realize?
Clip bitch
I'm a bitch every time
I'm a bitch, I T C H
I'm a bitch, I T C H
I'm a bitch, I T C H
I'm a bitch, I T C H
I'm a bitch, I T C H
I'm a bitch, I T C H
I'm a bitch, I T C H
I'm a bitch, I T C H
B I T C H in disguise
B I T C H, B I T C H in disguise
B I T C H, B I T C H in disguise
B I T C H, B I T C H in disguise
B I T C H, I'm a bitch
I T C H, I'm a bitch
I T C H, I'm a bitch
I'm a bitch
LYRICS:
What that hair look like
Bet that hair look nice
Don’t that make you sweat?
Don’t that feel too tight?
Yo what yo hair look like
Bet yo hair look nice
How long your hair is
You need to get yo life
You only see Oriental
You steady working that dental
You poppin off at the lip
And run ya mouth like a treadmill
Not your exotic vacation
I’m bored with your fascination
I need that PayPal, PayPal, PayPal
If you want education
All around the world
Love women every shading
be so liberated
All around the world
Love women every shading
power run deep
So even if you hate it
I still wrap my hijab
Wrap my hijab
Wrap my hijab
Wrap, wrap my hijab
Keep swaggin my hijabis
Swag-Swaggin my hijabis
Swaggin my hijabis
Swag-swaggin my hijabis
Me and my hijabi ladies
We was born in the eighties
So pretty like the Euphrates
and party like some Kuwaitis
Deeper than some diplomas
Current like some hot yoga
Takin back the misnomers and
Teleportin through trauma
Teleportin through trauma
Teleportin through trauma
I been stackin my karma
Nefertiti, no drama
Make a feminist planet
Women haters get banished
Covered up or not don’t ever take us for granted
You’re just jealous of my sisters
These Mipsters, These hippies
These Prissies, These Sufis
These Dreddies, These Sunnis
These Shii’s, Yemenis
Somalis, Libnanis, Pakistanis
These Soories, Sudanis
Iraqis, Punjabies
Afghanis, Yazeedis
Khaleejis, Indonesians
Egyptians, Canadians
Algerians, Nigerians
Americans, Libyans
Tunisians, Palestinians
Hidden beyond the Mekong in Laos
Senegalese and Burkina Faso
Dead Fox - Courtney Barnett
LYRICS: Jen insists that we buy organic vegetables
And I must admit that I was a little sceptical at first
A little pesticide can't hurt
Never having too much money
I get the cheap stuff at the supermarket
But they're all pumped up with shit
A friend told me that they stick nicotine in the apples
If you can't see me, I can't see you
(I can't see you)
If you can't see me, I can't see you
Heading down the Highway Hume
Somewhere at the end of June
Taxidermied kangaroos are littered on the shoulders
A possum Jackson Pollock is painted in the tar
Sometimes I think a single sneeze could be the end of us
My hay-fever is turning up, just swerved into a passing truck
Big business overtaking without indicating
He passes on the right, been driving through the night
To bring us the best price
If you can't see me, I can't see you
(I can't see you)
If you can't see me, I can't see you
More people die on the road than they do in the ocean
Maybe we should mull over culling cars instead of sharks
Or just lock them up in parks where we can go and view them
There's a bypass over Holbrook now
Paid for with burgers no doubt
I've lost count of all the cows, there'll be no salad sandwiches
The law of averages says we'll stop in the next town
Where petrol price is down
What do I know anyhow?
If you can't see me, I can't see you
(I can't see you)
If you can't see me, I can't see you
If you can't see me, I can't see you
(I can't see you)
If you can't see me, I can't see you
Ah ah ah
LYRICS: No water in the water fountain
No side on the sidewalk
If you say Old Molly Hare, whatcha doin’ there?
Nothing much to do when you're going nowhere
Woohaw!
Woohaw!
Gotcha
We're gonna get the water from your house (your house)
No water in the water fountain
No wood in the woodstock
And you say old Molly Hare
Whatcha doin’ there?
Nothing much to do when you're going nowhere
Woohaw!
Woohaw!
Gotcha
We're gonna get the water from your house (your house)
Nothing feels like dying like the drying of my skin and lawn
Why do we just sit here while they watch us wither til we’re gone?
I can't seem to feel it
I can't seem to feel it
I can’t seem to feel I’ll kneel
I’ll kneel I’ll kneel the cold steel
You will ride the whip
You'll ride the crack
No use in fighting back
You'll sledge the hammer if there's no one else to take the flak
I can't seem to feel it
I can't seem to find it
Your fist clenched my neck
We're neck and neck and neck…
No water in the water fountain
No phone in the phone booth
And you say old Molly Hare
Whatcha doin’ there
Jump back, jump back Daddy shot a bear
Woohaw!
Woohaw!
Gotcha
We're gonna get the water from your house (your house)
I saved up all my pennies and I gave them to this special guy
When he had enough of them he bought himself a cherry pie
He gave me a dollar
A blood-soaked dollar
I cannot get the spot out but
It's okay it still works in the store
Greasy man come and dig my well
Life without your water is a burning hell
Serve me up with your home-grown rice
Anything make me shit nice
Se pou zanmi zwen, se pou zanmi zwen
And the two-pound chicken tastes better with friends
A two-pound chicken tastes better with two
And I know where to find YOU so
Listen to the words I said
Let it sink into your head
A vertigo round-and-round-and-round
Now I'm in your bed
How did I get ahead?
Whoop!
Thread your fingers through my hair
Fingers through my hair
Give me a dress
Give me a press
I give a thing a caress
Would-ja, would-ja, would-ja
Listen to the words I say!
Sound like a floral bouquet
A lyrical round-and-roundandroundandround
Okay
Take a picture it'll last all day, hey
Your fingers through my hair
Do it 'til you disappear
Gimme your head
Gimme your head
Off with his head!
HEY HEY HEY HEY
No water in the water fountain
Floral bouquet
A lyrical round-and-roundandroundandround
No side on the sidewalk
Take a picture it'll last all day, hey
And you say old Molly Hare, Hare
Nothing much to do when you're going nowhere
Woohaw!
Woohaw!
Gotcha, gotcha
We're gonna get the water from your house, your house
Sister Rosetta Tharpe: That's All
LYRICS: I'm gonna tell you the notch of facts
That the man don't understand the good book right and that's all
That's all
You know what?
We got to have more love
More understanding everyday of our lives
And that's all
Yeah
When you see folks jump from this or that
They don't know they don't know where the devil's at
That's all
That's all
They got to have more love, more understanding
Everyday of their lives I tell ya that's all
Listen, people fighting one another
And think they're doing swell
And all they want is your money
And you can go to heeeeyyyyy
That's all
That's all
Ya'll got to have religion, yeah, I tell ya that's all
Now you can go to the college
Go to the schools
Have a good religion he use for educated blues
That's all
Yeah, that's all
He got to have more love, more understanding
Everyday of our lives and that's all
Erykah Badu - Penitentiary Philosophy
LYRICS: Here's my philosophy
Livin' in a penitentiary
Brothers all on the corner
Tryin' to make believe
Turn around ain't got no pot to pee make me
Mad when I see ya sad
Can't stand to see ya hustle' doin' bad
But you can't win when your will is weak
When you're knocked on the ground
Evil
Don't you test me
Evil
You won't win
Oh why
World
Why world
Do want me to be so mad yeah
So mad yeah
Oh why world
Why world
Do you want me to be so mad yeah
So mad yeah
I'm tellin' you the truth I hope I'm not being too cruel
Since you ain't playing by the rules
We're bout to kick you off your stool
Evil
Don't you test me
Evil
You won't win
Oh why
Why
Why world
Do you want me to be so mad yeah
So mad yeah
Why in the world world
Why world
Do you want me be so mad yeah
Say why
I am a warrior princess
I have come from the other sun
Gather all of your members
Unite them as one
Move together in harmony
Build a bridge
Now destroy a bridge
Eliminate your weakness
Conquer evil, the demon
And live forever together
Why can't we get along and
Take all the funky tones
And make up a funky song
That be bangin' on and on
Make me
Mad when I see ya sad
With the same look ya momma had
But ya can't win when your will is weak
But ya get out ya seat
Oh why
Why
Why world do you want me to be so mad
So mad yeah
Why in the world
World
Why world do you want me to be so mad yeah
So mad yeah
Why in the world
World
Why world do you want me to be so mad yeah
So mad yeah
Why in the world
World
Why world do you want me to be so mad yeah
So mad yeah
Make me, make me, make me, make me, make me, make me, oh why
Why in the
Why yeah
Why yeah
Why yeah
Why yeah
Tracy Chapman - Born to Fight
LYRICS: They're tryin' to take away my pride
By stripping me of everything I own
They're tryin' to hurt me inside
And make me into a white man's drone
But this one's not for sale
And I was born to fight
I ain't been knocked down yet
I was born to fight
I'm the surest bet
There ain't no man no woman
No beast alive that can beat me
'Cause I'm born to fight
They're tryin' to dig into my soul
And take away the spirit of my God
They're tryin' to take control
And monitor my every thought
I won't let down my guard
And I was born to fight
I ain't been knocked down yet
I was born to fight
I'm the surest bet
There ain't no man no woman
No beast alive that can beat me
'Cause I'm born to fight
Indigo Girls - Prince of Darkness
LYRICS: My place is of the sun and
This place is of the dark (and I)
I do not feel the romance
I do not catch the spark
I don't know when I noticed life was life at my expense
The words of my heart lined up like prisoners on a fence
The dreams came in like needy children tugging at my sleeve
I said I have no way of feeding you so leave
But there was a time I asked my father for a dollar
And he gave it a ten dollar raise
When I needed my mother and I called her
She stayed with me for days (days)
Now someone's on the telephone
Desperate in his pain
Someone's on the bathroom floor
Doing her cocaine
Someone's got his finger on the button in some room
No one can convince me we aren't gluttons for our doom
But I tried to make this place my place
I asked for Providence to smile upon me with His sweet face
Yeah but I'll tell you...
My place is of the sun and
This place is of the dark (and I)
I do not feel the romance
I do not catch the spark
My place is of the sun and this place is of the dark
And I do not feel the romance, I will not be...
(By grace, my sight grows stronger and I will not Be a Pawn
For the Prince of Darkness any longer)
Maybe there's no haven in this world for tender age
My heart beat like the wings of wild birds in a cage
My greatest hope my greatest cause to grieve
And my heart flew from its cage and it bled upon my sleeve
The cries of passion were like wounds that needed healing
I couldn't hear them for the thunder
I was half the naked distance between hell and heaven's ceiling
And he almost pulled me under (under)
Now someone's on the telephone
Desperate in his pain
Someone's on the bathroom floor
Doing her cocaine
Someone's got his finger on the button in some room
No one can convince me we aren't gluttons for our doom
But I tried to make this place my place
I asked for Providence to smile upon me with His sweet face
Yeah but I'll tell you...
My place is of the sun and
This place is of the dark (and I)
I do not feel the romance
I do not catch the spark
My place is of the sun and this place is of the dark
And I do not feel the romance, I will not be...
(By grace, my sight grows stronger and I will not Be a Pawn
For the Prince of Darkness any longer)
Jill Scott - Hate on Me
LYRICS:
If I could give you the world on a silver platter
Would it even matter, you'd still be mad at me
If I could find in all this a dozen roses
Which I would give to you, you'd still be miserable
Here reality I'm gon' be who I be and I don't feel no faults
For all the lies that you bought
You can try as you may, break me down but I say
That it ain't up to you, gone and do what you do
Hate on me, hater, now or later
'Cause I'm gonna do me, you'll be mad, baby
Go 'head and hate on me, hater, I'm not afraid of
What I got I paid for, you can hate on me
Ooh, if I gave you peaches outta my own garden
And I made you a peach pie, would you slap me high
Wonder if I gave you diamonds out of my own womb
Would you feel the love in that or ask why not the moon
If I gave you sanity for the whole of humanity
Had all the solutions for the pain and pollution
No matter where I live, despite the things I give
You'll always be this way, so go 'head and
Hate on me, hater, now or later
'Cause I'm gonna do me, you'll be mad, baby
Go 'head and hate on me, hater, I'm not afraid of
What I got I paid for, you can hate on me (repeat)
You cannot hate on me 'cause my mind is free
Feel my destiny, so shall it be
You cannot hate on me 'cause my mind is free
Feel my destiny, so shall it be
Hate on me, hater, now or later
'Cause I'm gonna do me, you'll be mad, baby
Go 'head and hate on me, hater, I'm not afraid of
What I got I paid for, you can hate on me (repeat)
You cannot hate on me 'cause my mind is free
Feel my destiny, so shall it be
You cannot hate on me 'cause my mind is free
Feel my destiny, so shall it be
Hate on me, hater, now or later
'Cause I'm gonna do me, you'll be made, baby
Go 'head and hate on me, hater, I'm not afraid of
What I got I paid for, you can hate on me
The McClymonts - Cover I Won't Back Down
LYRICS:
Well, I won't back down
No, I won't back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won't back down
No, I'll stand my ground
Won't be turned around
And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down
Gonna stand my ground
And I won't back down
(I won't back down)
Hey, baby, there ain't no easy way out
(I won't back down)
Hey, I will stand my ground
And I won't back down
Well I know what's right
I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin' me around
But I'll stand my ground
And I won't back down
(I won't back down)
Hey, baby, there ain't no easy way out
(I won't back down)
Hey, I will stand my ground
And I won't back down
Hey baby, there ain't no easy way out
(I won't back down)
Hey, I won't back down
(I won't back down)
Hey, baby, there ain't no easy way out
(I won't back down)
Hey, I will stand my ground
And I won't back down
No, I won't back down
LYRICS: United we stand, divided we fall
For every dime they give us a battle must be fought
So working people use your power the key to liberty
Don't support the rich man's style of luxury
There ain't no way they can ever keep us down
There ain't no way they can ever keep us down
We won't be bought, we won't be sold
To be treated right, well that's our goal
There ain't no way they can ever keep us down
We've been shot, we've been jailed, lord its a sin
Women and children stood right by the men
We've got a union contract that keeps the worker free
They'll never shoot that union out of me
They'll never shoot that union out of me, oh no
They'll never shoot that union out of me
Got a contract in our hand signed by the blood of honest
Men
They'll never shoot that union out of me
The power wheel is rolling, rolling right along
The government is keep it going going strong
So working people get your help from your own kind
Your welfare on the rich man's mind
Your welfare on the rich man's mind
Your welfare on the rich man's mind
They want the power in their hands just to keep out of the workers hands
Your welfare on the rich man's mind
They'll never, never, never keep us down
They'll never, never, never keep us down
The cheat, rob and kill but we'll stop that big wheel
They'll never, never, never keep us down
LYRICS:
In the deep dark hills of eastern Kentucky
That's the place where I trace my bloodline
And it's there I read on a hillside gravestone
You will never leave Harlan alive
Oh, my granddad's dad walked down
Katahrins Mountain
And he asked Tillie Helton to be his bride
Said, won't you walk with me out of the mouth
Of this holler
Or we'll never leave Harlan alive
Where the sun comes up about ten in the morning
And the sun goes down about three in the day
And you fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinking
And you spend your life just thinkin' of how to get away
No one ever knew there was coal in them mountains
Till a man from the Northeast arrived
Waving hundred dollar bills he said I'll pay ya for your minerals
But he never left Harlan alive
Granny sold out cheap and they moved out west
Of Pineville
To a farm where big Richland River winds
I bet they danced them a jig, laughed and sang a new song
Who said we'd never leave Harlan alive
But the times got hard and tobacco wasn't selling
And ole granddad knew what he'd do to survive
He went and dug for Harlan coal
And sent the money back to granny
But he never left Harlan alive
Where the sun comes up about ten in the morning
And the sun goes down about three in the day
And you fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinking
And you spend your life just thinkin' of how to get away
Where the sun comes up about ten in the morning
And the sun goes down about three in the day
And you fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinking
And you spend your life digging coal from the bottom of your grave
In the deep dark hills of eastern Kentucky
That's the place where I trace my bloodline
And it's there I read on a hillside gravestone
You will never leave Harlan alive
