Leslie Low - Strange Place To Be

I look like the majority but I hardly feel like one
Inside I'm a minority, a straits-born son
I know I may look yellow underneath the noon sun
But I like my food spicy with my sambal belacan
I am part Cantonese and part Peranakan
Inside I'm a minority, a straits-born son
My I.C. says I'm Chinese but I hardly feel like one
I barely speak the language I'm a straits-born son
I speak a little dialect but I'm hardly like the rest
To them I eat potatoes, I can order food at best
Can't help it if my father's father was here before the war
And my mother's mother was here from long before
A time when different flags were flown
Before we were Singapore
Some of them survived it all while others lined the shore
I count myself lucky when the horrors of before
Came by word of mouth to me yet through their eyes I saw
Reminded me of who I am and where I really belong
How I'm such a mixture of where everyone was from
I'm sure it has occurred to you as it's occurred to me
That many of us out here defy these categories
I know we maybe boxed into the colour of our skin
But we know now deep down inside there's so much more within
Sure it's way easier to justify the norm
With neat little boxes our identities become
Only just a partial glimpse of who we really are
Living within the clutches of the same paranoia
I prefer to just be called Singaporean
And level up the playing field of discrimination
Everyone to be given the same opportunities
Regardless of the differences between our communities
Sometimes I feel like shouting out my feelings to the wall
Everything that happens here just makes you feel small
The national narrative excludes ones like me
Focus groups they find me a statistical anomaly
Maybe when I get a job, then I'll finally be
A respectable member of our society
Then I will experience the joys of dignity
But I would never yield inside when it's all a fallacy
I wish we could connect beyond what separates us
Beyond mere pleasantries and national agendas
And find the ways to minimize inequality
And rise above the lower rungs of our society
We may never see the day when all this would be done
But I believe our efforts would soon amount to some
Hope for the future generations to come
Stranger things have happened here
Our momentum's just begun
Strange place to be
Strange place to be
Strange place to be

Written by:
Leslie Low

Publisher:
Lyrics © O/B/O DistroKid

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