Ka tangi te tītī, ka tangi te kākā
Ka tangi hoki ahau
Ka tangi te tītī, ka tangi te kākā
Ka tangi hoki ahau
I never forgot it embedded and threaded
From the bottom of the roots to the tip of my family tree
Stepping to heaven like tukutuku panels
Which my tipuna have taken all in stride
Before they left this earth now the resting in peace
Lesson learned I keep it in my brain tightly woven like whariki
Knowers as a tamariki wish I listened to wisdom
Instead of being a know it all
Now I'm struggling to understand the basic whaikorero
Can't blame it on getting my ears screwed too much
Watch listen and learn boy coz one day will be your turn boy
Never really grasped what they were saying
Until the inevitable happened
Whanau reunion we praying paying our respect
Our tipuna we'll never forget
To believe that you're gone something I'll never accept
I'll keep on piecing my own til I breathe my last breathe
The legacy you left I'm grateful and forever in debt
Ka tangi te tītī, ka tangi te kākā
Ka tangi hoki ahau
Ka tangi te tītī, ka tangi te kākā
Ka tangi hoki ahau
Im deep in wananga in our wharenui back home
Looking at your pictures in the wall kowhaiwhai on the backbone
That poutokomanawa stand tall right up to the tekoteko
Learning te reo māori now is my passion and my wero
I gotta make the connection now before it becomes to late
To suffer the loss of our land and our language will be too great
Apirana Ngata's crusade to learn a new way
Still keep our culture close
Still te reo is what we struggle with the most even though
I've been brought up round the marae
Watching our koro speak on the paepae
Can't help but feel that mamae
Coz wonder what gonna happen when koro's gone
Who's gone hold the mauri of his tokotoko on
And wear that moko strong all the songs
Of our ancestors lessons left for our people
They could foresee the evil what colonisation could lead to
It's not our fault but it's our responsibility
The opportunity to rewrite history
And it starts with.
Ka tangi te tītī, ka tangi te kākā
Ka tangi hoki ahau Tihei mauri ora!
Ka tangi te tītī, ka tangi te kākā
Ka tangi hoki ahau Tihei mauri ora!
Ka tangi te tītī, ka tangi te kākā
Ka tangi hoki ahau Tihei mauri ora!
Ka tangi te tītī, ka tangi te kākā
Ka tangi hoki ahau Tihei mauri ora!