Help me split a string into elements

[DFS]

Typical cases:
  lines = [('one\ntwo\nthree\n')]
  print(str(lines[0]).splitlines())
  ['one', 'two', 'three']

  lines = [('one two three\n')]
  print(str(lines[0]).split())
  ['one', 'two', 'three']


That's the result I'm wanting, but I get data in a slightly different 
format:

lines = [('one\ntwo\nthree\n',)]

Note the comma after the string data, but inside the paren. 
splitlines() doesn't work on it:

print(str(lines[0]).splitlines())
["('one\\ntwo\\nthree\\n',)"]


I've banged my head enough - can someone spot an easy fix?

Thanks