The pagodas and the palaces
Dressed in gold leaf, hide the damages
Spot the Geisha as she balances
Life's a cakewalk, full of challenges
Go to Russia, see the Red Square
Lenin's body lying dead there
From Kyoto, Hiroshima
Watch the black cloud crawling nearer
[Pre-Chorus 1]
There were riots in America
Just when things were getting better
All the things I've done and seen
Still I don't know what life means
[Chorus]
All the people living in, living in the world today
We're united by our love, we're united by our pain (Ooh)
All the things that I've done and I've seen
Still, I don't know, don't know what it means
[Verse 2]
Fly to Athens, pass the Parthenon
See the village where my father's from
To Chicago from Angola
São Paulo to Verona
And anywhere you go, you'll see (Ooh)
People are just like you and me (Ooh)
All the things I've done and seen
Still, I don't know what life means
[Chorus]
All the people living in, living in the world today
We're united by our love, we're united by our pain (Ooh)
All the things that I've done and I've seen
Still, I don't know, don't know what it means
To be human
(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh)
(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh)
Still, I don't know, don't know what it means
To be human, a real human being
[Bridge]
I like to think about how we all look from afar
People driving fancy cars look like beetles to the stars
The missiles and the bombs sound like symphonies gone wrong
And if there is a God, they'll know why it's so hard
[Chorus]
To be human
(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh)
(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh)
To be human
Still, I don't know, don't know what it means
To be human, a real human being
(To be human)
I want connection, ooh
I wanna feel human again
(To be human)
Lost my direction, ooh
I wanna feel human again
To be human, to be human
To be human, to be human
About
“To Be Human” is the seventh track from Marina’s fourth studio album LOVE + FEAR.
On April 5, 2019, she posted about the importance of the song to her personally and how it’s meant to represent unity despite cultural differences, and how we’re all going through the human experience in our own way:
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
In an Instagram story, Marina answered a fan’s question about which song on LOVE + FEAR was “the most political song”:
It is called “To Be Human.”
On April 5th, she uploaded to her Twitter a video of her explaining the importance of this song on the record:
Track 7 is “To Be Human" and it’s probably the most important song on this record for me because […] thematically it sums up the headspace that I’ve come from in the past 3 years. I think the subject matter is really important, it talks about unity. I namecheck a lot of places around the world: São Paulo, Verona, Angola, Chicago, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Greece. And I think when I was writing that I wanted to create this picture of humanity, because in our political climate we are constantly being made to see other people as “other”. If you’re from a different culture, you’re seen as different and potentially dangerous and I really hate that. I really think that’s a sad way to see humanity. So I wrote this song really thinking about that and for that reason it really forms a core part of the record.
- 2.Superstar
- 3.Orange Trees
- 4.Baby
- 6.True
- 7.To Be Human
- 10.Life Is Strange
- 11.You
- 12.Karma
- 14.Too Afraid
- 15.No More Suckers
