Runs in the Family - Amanda Palmer

My friend has problems with winter and autumn

They give him prescriptions, they shine bright lights on him

They say it’s genetic, they say he can’t help it, they say you can catch it

But sometimes you’re born with it

My friend has blight, he gets shakes in the night

And they say there is no way that they could have caught it in

Time takes its toll on him, it is traditional, it is inherited

Predisposition

All day I’ve been wondering what is inside of me

Who can I blame for it?

I say it runs in the family

This family that carries me to such great lengths

To open my legs up to anyone who’ll have me

It runs in the family, I come by it honestly

Do what you want 'cause, who knows, it might

Fill me up, me up, me up, me up, me up, me up, me up, me up

Fill me up, me up, me up, me up, me up, me up, me up, me up

My friend’s depressed, she’s a wreck, she’s a mess

They’ve done all sorts of tests and they guess it has something to do

With her grandmother’s grandfather’s grandmother

Civil war soldiers who badly infected her

My friend has maladies, rickets, and allergies

That she dates back to the 17th century

Somehow she manages, in her misery

Strips in the city and shares all her best tricks with

Me?

Well, I’m well

Well, I mean I’m in hell

Well, I still have my health

(At least that’s what they tell me)

If wellness is this, what in hell’s name is sickness?

But business is business!

And business runs in the family

We tend to bruise easily bad in the blood

I’m telling you 'cause I just want you to know me

Know me and my family, we’re wonderful folks

But don’t get too close to me 'cause you might

Knock me up, me up, me up, me up, me up, me up, me up, me up

Knock me up, me up, me up, me up, me up, me up, me up, me up

Mary, have mercy

Now look what I’ve done

But don’t blame me because I can’t help where I come from

And running is something that we’ve always done well and mostly I can’t even

tell what I’m running from

Run from their pity, from responsibility

Run from the country and run from the city

I can run from the law, I can run from myself, I can run for my life,

I can run into debt, I can run from it all, I can run 'till I’m gone,

I can run for the Office, and run from the cause

I can run using every last ounce of energy

I cannot, I cannot

I cannot run from my family

They’re hiding inside me, corpses on ice

Come in if you’d like but just don’t tell my family

They’d never forgive me, they say that I’m crazy

But they would say anything if it would

Shut me up

Shut me up

Shut me up, me up, me up, me up, me up, me up, me up, me up

Shut me up, me up, me up, me up, me up, me up, me up, me up