brothers

[Verse 1] Our father hid a lot of painful memories A bunch of shit he never shared But when he died, I went out looking for them For all the things he never said Thought he was born in 1948 But was born a whole decade before Thought he was brought up in New Zealand But he was born and brought up in Samoa We thought that he was only half-Samoan That his mother was a German Jew But I went and found his birth certificate And he lied about that too [Verse 2] Our father's love was unmistakeable And he gave us еverything he had And I guess that mеant pretending he was half-white To give his kids a better chance My sister, she lives out in New York City Been there since I was seventeen And I think she hates it, but like most New Yorkers She just can't bring herself to leave She used to love to watch our father cooking And imitate the things she'd seen And now she makes the most amazing things And she also sings better than me And when he died, she and her husband stayed To keep my mother company And even though it fucked them up a lot They did a better job than me [Verse 3] And I wish that we could see them every weekend And she could cook her famous meals And I wish that I could hang out with her husband More than a couple of times a year Our brother Wesley is a quiet man And he is the second of us four And he inherited our father's hands But he looks like me a little more He has a love that's unmistakable And he's seen police brutality He lives in Auckland with his wife and dog And he stands a shade above six-three Our father left him with a cousin then He got into trouble frequently Me and my sister only heard of him In 2018 [Verse 4] Our brother Matthew is a baker, and He stands a mighty seven feet He was brought up in a Māori family And speaks Te Reo fluently He didn't know about our father 'til I I guess he was about eighteen And he did some time for something awesome And he's the sweetest guy you'll ever meet He came to meet me at a festival And he told me everything he knew That our father left him at the hospital But if he forgives him, then I should too [Interlude] La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la, la-la-la La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la, la-la-la La-la-la-la, la-la-la [Verse 5] I know our father had his reasons But that can never make it right or fair And I hate myself for stealing all his love When my brothers thought that he was dead So as I dig through the collateral The secrets hid throughout the years I know I'll hardly ever answer them But it's the way to keep him near [Outro] La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la, la-la-la La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la, la-la La-la-la-la, la-la, la-la