"Give Yourself Up to Yourself" was written by Spiegel and an old friend, Justin Halverson, when they were sitting along the shores of Lake Bde Maka Ska. They were talking about their shared experience with a storm in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota, and how reverent they felt toward the earth’s gorgeous, terrifying, and at times deadly power during storms, especially during the restful serenity in the moments following. Spiegel had these chords she really liked in her back pocket, so with guitar in hand, Justin and her wrote the first verse and chorus together about humanity’s only choice to “follow” the forces of the suffering planet when faced with environmental destruction. She then developed this song, raised the tempo, gave the song a dynamic, smooth 12/8 beat with a bassy, core-shaking melody in an attempt to emulate a thunderstorm in the North Woods. This was the first tune she introduced to her band in the spring of 2022, and it quickly became a fan favorite of their sets performed in Minneapolis over that summer.
Lyrics
As we sat on a lake
Thinking ‘bout things
Waiting for the earth to take back what’s hers
As we follow
As we sat in the sand
Dirt in our hands
Waiting for the air to take back what’s hers
As we follow
And we washed up on the shore
Baptized ourselves
Sailing to the edge of where we came from
As we follow
Ahhhhh
Give yourself up to, give yourself up to
yourself
Never let nobody tell you you’re somebody
else
What is your story, what is your story to
tell?
What are the scars in your story that you
have to shed?
As I fell into the void
Tumbling down
Crashed into a rolling river of doubt
I thought no one had followed
You grabbed onto my hand
Said, “Don’t worry, my friend,”
Swam me to the edge of where we came down and said, “I will always follow”
My bones quivered and shook
I needed the sun
To warm my weary bones
And then when she came around
There you followed
Ahhhhh
Give yourself up to, give yourself up to
yourself
Never let nobody tell you you’re somebody else
Heaven is closer when you lay your
worries to rest
Darling, you wonder what healing your
story could do
Darling, you wonder what healing your story
could do