[Intro: Sámi joik male lead, wordless joik vocables over a pounding frame drum] Voia voia, nana nana, voia voia, lu lu lu [Verse 1: Sámi joik male lead, hard and low over a heavy kick and a pounding frame drum] My grandmother had one rule when the sky went green and wide Keep your hands down in your pockets, keep your voice low, stay inside 'Cause the lights can see you wavin', and the lights don't like the show And they come down low to take you, and they take you when they go Then my cousin came up north from the city with his phone And a hundred thousand strangers who would watch him on his own He said "Halloween up here, man, this is content, this is gold" And I said "keep your hands down, cousin," and he laughed into the cold Then the sky went green, and grinnin', he waved his phone up bold [Hook: Sámi joik male lead, full drums] Keep your hands down, cousin, don't you wave up at the sky It's the oldest rule we got, and you don't get to ask why Hands down the prettiest thing you will ever see up there And hands down the hungriest, it'll take you by the hair [Verse 2: Sámi joik male lead, harder, frame drum and sub bass pounding] And the green came down like curtains, and it crackled on the snow And the reindeer broke and scattered, and the dogs lay flat and low And his boots came off the tundra by a foot, and then by two And he looked at me and mouthed it, "cousin, tell me what to do" And the old folks say a joik is not a song about a man It's the man himself, you sing him, and you hold him where you stand So I opened up my throat and put the whole of him in sound Every stupid joke, his grin, his muddy boots, I sang him down Nana, voia, that's my cousin, and he's heavy, and he's mine You can't have him, he's been joiked, and he's been joiked in perfect time [Verse 3: Sámi joik male lead, vocable surge, the words give way to pure joik vocables] So the sky pulled up, I pulled down, like a rope across the snow All night long, a tug of war, the lights above and me below When I ran out of words, I sang his chin, I sang his grin And the way he cheats at checkers, and his hat, and where he's been Voia voia, nana nana, lu lu lu lu lu Voia voia, nana nana, I am holdin' on to you And by mornin' he was standin' with his boots back on the ground And the sky went pale and empty, and it never made a sound [Final Hook: Sámi joik male lead, full drums] Keep your hands down, cousin, don't you wave up at the sky It's the oldest rule we got, and you don't get to ask why Hands down the prettiest thing you will ever see up there And hands down the hungriest, it'll take you by the hair [End]
