Lyrics to
The Family

This version of The Family was released by Nina Simone in 1978.

Our About Nina Simone page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for The Family from 1978 as well as all of the other lyrics from Nina Simone that we have in our lyrics database.

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The weevils all took to cotton and cows all took to dry
But the varmints left behind, some took up to die
Trouble took to Daddy like dew drops take to night
Mama took to cryin’ a lot and Daddy took to wine

And I took a train outta there
I told the engineer I don’t believe there’s no help, maybe
Heaven help the tie that binds a family
Heaven help the tie that binds a family
Heaven help the tie that binds a family

Flowers took to Daddy and Daddy, he took to calm
Sister took to black wheel nights and Mama cried alone
Brother, he took up preaching and the bank man took the farm
They came and took my mom away, she can’t do herself no harm

And I took a train outta there
I told the engineer I don’t believe there’s no help, maybe
Heaven help the tie that binds a family
Heaven help the tie that binds a family
Heaven help the tie that binds a family

The weevils all took to cotton and cows all took to dry
But the varmints left behind, some took up to die
Trouble took to Daddy like dew drops take to night
Mama took to cryin’ a lot and Daddy took to wine

And I took a train outta there
I told the engineer I don’t believe there’s no help handy
Looks like even God can’t save the family
Looks like only God can save the family

And I took a train outta there
I told the engineer I don’t believe there’s no help handy
Looks like only God can save the family
Looks like only God can save the family

And I took a train outta there
I told the engineer I don’t believe there’s no help handy
Looks like only God can save the family
Looks like only God can save the family

And I took a train outta there
I told the engineer I don’t believe there’s no help handy
Looks like even God can’t save the family
Looks like only God can save the family

And I took a train outta there, you hear me
I told the engineer I don’t believe there’s no help handy
Looks like even God can’t save the family
Looks like even God can’t save the family

Looks like only God can save the family
Looks like only God can save the family
Looks like only God can save the family
Looks like only God can save the family

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Want more lyrics and songs by Nina Simone?

Nina Simone has released many songs over the years besides The Family. Nina Simone released songs from 1958 to 1987 spanning across albums like Little Girl Blue, At Town Hall, The Amazing Nina Simone, At Newport, Forbidden Fruit, At The Village Gate, Nina Simone Sings Ellington, At Carnegie Hall, Broadway Blues Ballads, Folksy Nina, Nina Simone In Concert, Pastel Blues, I Put A Spell On You, Nina Simone With Strings, Wild Is The Wind, Let It All Out, Nina Simone Sings The Blues, High Priestess Of Soul, Silk And Soul, Nuff Said!, Nina Simone And Piano!, To Love Somebody, Black Gold, Here Comes The Sun, Emergency Ward, It Is Finished, Baltimore, Fodder On My Wings, Nina's Back, Let It Be Me, and Live At Ronnie Scott's. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Nina Simone.

If you're a fan of the music of the 1970s looking for more songs from 1978 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and The Family by Nina Simone

When you decide to study the lyrics to The Family, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1978 song by Nina Simone. Some of the lyrics to The Family have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Nina Simone and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to The Family if you take apart the structure of the words. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to The Family" means the words set to the music of The Family, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Nina Simone. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to The Family and the lyrics to The Family are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Nina Simone who came here looking just for the lyrics to The Family, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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