Year of Lyrics, Week 45: ABC 123 by Tune-Yards

Anybody else a people pleaser to the point of self-destruction? I know I am and it's something that I've been working on for a long time. I've gotten better, but there are still somedays where I go too hard trying to be helpful or available and end up burning myself out. This whole song is full of really good lines which are still incredibly poignant despite being released in 2017, but this one really stuck with me. 

One of my first thoughts while I was pondering what to do for the visual with this one was The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. It's not a secret that I find the story disturbing and harmful for young children (it is far from the only story with the same message, but is one that is considered a classic and so is more readily available). I think that the idea of giving everything you have until nothing is left fits what I was thinking about when I chose this lyric well. I based the words here on the lettering of the cover of The Giving Tree that I had as a child and the background cover is a similar green. I wanted the trunk and leaves of the tree to look ghostly, a reminder of what would have been there, growing, if it hadn't been taken. The stump is clearer because it's what's left behind in reality instead of memory.

Tune-Yards - ABC 123

ABC 123 is taken from the new Tune-Yards album, I can feel you creep into my private life, which is released 19th January 2018. The video was directed by Dear Mr Quistgaard.

Tune-Yards is the music project of New England native Merrill Garbus. Garbus’s music draws from an eclectic variety of sources and utilizes elements such as loop pedals, ukulele, vocals, and lo-fi percussion, in addition to electric bass played by Nate Brenner.

tUnE-yArDs - ABC 123.

*actually I DON'T apologize for this throwback in advance⚡️