Vienna Teng - Grandmother Song (03.08.2009) Jacksonville

Vienna Teng performs Grandmother Song off her new album Inland Territory.

Florida Theater, Jacksonville, FL.
http://viennateng.com/

Oh girl you think you got time
You're gonna get 'round to it way down the line
But one step, two step, you fall behind
So you better have a good plan
Oh girl you think you got time
You're gonna get 'round to it way down the line
But I'm telling you no matter what you have in mind
You're still gonna need a man

Take it from your grandmother, I've been 'round
No one's gonna take care of you
In that world you've got yourself into
All the good boys, oh baby they're in grad school

Oh girl, your story's all wrong
Your dream'll be a nightmare before too long
Turning thirty and still trying to sing your songs
Come on who do you think you are
Oh girl, it's too heavy a load
Your mama and your baba they are worried souls
How you gonna raise a family when you're on the road
With some tattooed boy with a guitar

Take it from your grandmother, I've been 'round
This music career isn't real life
It won't see you through to when you're sixty-five
When the tide turns you won't survive
You'll sit on the banks and cry

Oh girl you've never know war
When they come in the night and knock on the door
You can go from the high life to dirty poor
And lose everything you knew
But the one thing they can't take away from you
Is your mind and the education you've been through
O you find a man who understands that too
Make sure that he stays true
Gives respect where its due
Make sure he knows what he's got in you

Because a woman isn't just for cooking meals
Scrubbing floors, making babies
A woman's got ambitions same as he does
Maybe more
When the sirens wailed and the bombs fell
We ran from the schoolyard into hell
And what we could've been time will never tell
'cause we never had your chances
The advantages that you've been handed

Take it from your grandmother, I've been around

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Vienna
• Teng
• live
• Grandmother's
• Song
• Inland
• Territory

[AAparallel]

It also illustrates how observant and talented Vienna Teng is.

[kevinpunz]

For a Taiwanese-American to take a form of art perfected by African-Americans and then apply it to womenkind illustrates what a great country America is.

[gakirin]

There is something tremendous about this song and it's universal application to women everywhere.

[stapper2]

Isn't it great that she can continue in the "Joni Mitchell/Carole King" genre of confessional music? It def takes courage. But I sense this song isn't as much about her past, but more about where she's headed. . . . since ten years have passed and the musician life is easy for the young, but trickier to balance as you get older.

[RosaLui]

I LOVE this song. :3 She played it for us when I saw her on Long Island... and she was wearing the same dress that day too! :D

[tachikomas]

Take this in the nicest way possible: I a an avid fan of Vienna Teng, but this makes me bleed to hear her sing this. It seems scary how autobiogrphical. It takes a lot of courage to sing and make this song. He has an incredible amount of talent. it is just so rare to get insight into the songwriter's sould this deeply.

'she made a song about her grandmother telling her Singing and songwriting won't pan out, TEN YEARS into making it.'

Bleeding edge.