Ani DiFranco

[fox69]

"If Yr Not"

"If Yr Not"



If you’re not, if you’re not
If you’re not, if you’re not
If you’re not getting happier as you get older
Then you’re fuckin’ up

If you’re not, if you’re not
If you’re not, if you’re not
If you’re not aware that what you put out
Is what you get back
That you make the world through the way you act
You can’t harness the awesome power of that fact

And it builds up, it builds up
It builds up, it builds up
Yeah your love builds up till it’s bigger than you
Then it just carries you through
You better ready yourself cause whatcha gonna do
If you’re not

If you’re not, if you’re not
If you’re not, if you’re not
If you’re not, if you’re not
If you’re not, oh if you’re not

If you’re not getting happier as you get older
Then you’re fuckin’ up

 

[fox69]

"Imagine That"

"Imagine That"



imagine that i'm on stage under a watchtower of punishing light. and in the
haze is your face bathed in shadow and what's beyond you is hidden from sight.
and somebody right now is yawning and watching me like a tv. and i've been
frantically piling up sandbags against the flood waters of fatigue and
insecurity. and that's when i hear my guitar singing and so i just start
singing along. and somewhere in my chest all the noise just gets crushed by
the song. imagine that i'm at your mercy, imagine that you are at mine. just
pretend that i've been standing here, watching you watching me all of this
time. imagine that you are the weather in the tiny snow globe of this song.
and i am a statue of liberty one inch long. so here i am at my most hungry,
and here i am at my most full. and here i am waving a red cape, locking eyes
with a bull. imagine that i'm on stage under a watchtower of punishing light.
and in the haze is your face bathed in shadow and what's beyond you is hidden
from sight.

 

[fox69]

"Imperfectly"

"Imperfectly"



I'm okay
if you get me at a good angle
and you're okay
in the sort of light
and we don't look
like pages from a magazine
but that's all right
that's all right

I crashed your pickup truck
and then I had to drive it back home
I was crying
I was so scared
of what you would do
of what you would say
but you just started laughing
so I started laughing along
saying, it looks a little rough
but it runs okay
it looks a little rough
but it runs good anyway

we get a little further from perfection
each year on the road
I guess that's what they call character
I guess that's just the way it goes
better to be dusty than polished
like some store window mannequin
why don't you tocuh me where I'm rusty
let me stain your hands

when you're pretty as a picture
they pound down your door
but I've been offered love
in two dimensions before
and I know that it's not all
it's made out to be
let's show them how it's done
let's do it all imperfectly

 

[fox69]

"In Here"

"In Here"



even when i look right at you
i always just see through
and i always just see new things
to admire about you

am i what you thought you were getting?
does this love we make make you proud?
does it look like it did on the menu
minus, of course, the little dark cloud?

'course when we signed up for forever
we had no idea it was in here
i guess always is all this and then some
i guess at least that much is clear
and whenever i look at you
you know, i always just see through
and i always just see new things
to admire about you

 

[fox69]

"In Or Out"

"In Or Out"



guess there's something wrong with me
guess I don't fit in
no one wants to touch it
no one knows where to begin
I've got more than one membership
to more than one club
and I owe my life
to the people that I love

he looks me up and down
like he knows what time it is
like he's got my number
like he thinks it's his
he says,
call me, Miss DiFranco,
if there's anything I can do
I say,
It's Mr. DiFranco to you

somedays the line I walk
turns out to be straight
other days the line tends to
deviate
I've got no criteria for sex or race
I just want to hear your voice
I just want to see your face

She looks me up and down
like she thinks that I'll mature
like she's got my number
like it belongs to her
she says,
call me, Ms. DiFranco
if there's anything I can do
I say, I've got spots
I've got
stripes, too

their eyes are all asking
are you in, or are you out
and I think, oh man,
what is this about?
tonight you can't put me
up on any shelf
'cause I came here alone
I'm gonna leave by myself

I just want to show you
the way that I feel
and when I get tired
you can take the wheel
to me what's more important
is the person that I bring
not just getting to the same restaraunt
and eating the same thing

guess there's something wrong with me
guess I don't fit in
no one wants to touch it
no one knows where to begin
I've more than one membership
to more than one club
and I owe my life to the people that I love

 

[fox69]

"In The Margins"

"In The Margins"



Such an intent stare
One eye at a time
Your talons like fish hooks

You are a rare bird
The kind I wouldn't even mind
Writing in the margins of my books

Sometimes I see myself
Through the eyes of a stray dog
From an alley across the street
And my whole mission just seems so finite
My whole saga just seems so cheap

I mean I know that now is all there is
And love'll just makes you cry
So I live for the sight of a rare bird
Suddenly flying by

And I meet your stare
One eye at a time
Writing in the margins
Of my mind

Sometimes I see myself
Through the eyes of a stray dog
From an alley across the street
And my whole mission just seems so fine
My whole saga just seems so cheap

And that's when your song calls to me
From way up in a tree
And I look up
And the whole world
Is as it should be

 

[fox69]

"In The Way"

"In The Way"



no you didn't just leave
I actually kicked you out
I couldn't hardly believe
that the words came out my mouth
you couldn't hardly believe
what you heard yourself discuss
and you packed up all your things
and you said goodbye to us

tell me what is in the way
in the way of my love for you?
tell me what is in the way
in the way of my love for you?
hafta get it outta of the way of my love
hafta get it outta of the way of my love

and now there's nothing left to lose,
and the screen just says "Fini"
and each night in separate rooms
we cry separately
and every day we yell
down each other's holes
two slippery strippers
swinging round two poles

tell me what is in the way
in the way of my love for you?
tell me what is in the way
in the way of my love for you?
yeah there's something in the way of my love for you
yeah there's something in the way of my love

so we took down all the pictures
and then we took down all the walls
packed up our expectations
piled them in the hall
yeah we bagged our future
kicked it to the curb
and then we stood there unencumbered
and we stood there undeterred
cause we were done clinging
to the things we were afraid to lose
and the only thing left
was a breathtaking view
you looked at me
and I looked at you
and we said, "How about now,
"what you wanna do?"

now there's something in the way
in the way of my love for you
now there's something in the way
in the way of my love for you
I have to get it out the way
out the way of my love for you
I have to get it out the way
out the way of my love for you

no you didn't just leave
no you didn't just leave
no you didn't just leave
no you didn't just leave

 

[fox69]

"Independence Day"

"Independence Day"



we drove the car to the top of the parking ramp
on the 4th of july
we sat out on the hood with a couple of warm beers and watched the fireworks
explode in the sky
and there was an exodus of birds from the trees
but they didnt know, we were only pretending
and the people all looked up, and were pleased
and the birds flew around like the whole world was ending
and i don't think war is noble
and i don't like to think that love is like war
and i gotta big hot cherry bomb, and i want to slip it through the mail slot
of your front door

don't leave me here
i've got your back now
you'd better have mine
cause you say the coast is clear
but you say that all the time

so many sheep i quit counting
sleepless and embarrassed about the way that i feel
trying to make mole hills out of mountains
building base camp at the bottom of a really big deal
and did i tell you how i stopped eating?
when you stopped calling me
and i was cramped up shitting rivers for weeks
and pretending that i was finally free

don't leave me here
now that your back
you'd better stay this time
cause you say the coast is clear
but you say that all the time

we drove the car to the top of the parking ramp,
on the 4th of july
and i planted my dusty boots on the bumper and sat out on the hood,
and looked up at the sky

 

[fox69]

"Itch"

"Itch"



I am evening the score
I am cutting the umbilical cord
curled with my teeth against my knees
I am scratching at my consciousness
like a bitch with fleas
I think you'll be greatly pleased
to learn that yours was the hardest
itch to relieve

this is me
without my hair
welcome to my open stare
I got nothing to hide no more
why disguise what isn't there
I am an eyesore
I am a detour
you can find me crying on
the shoulder of the road
and I will tell you
what you want to hear
before you go
and that is that
yours was the hardest itch to relieve
yours was the hardest itch to relieve

I've mapped out my course
looks like it's all uphill
I've got a heavy heart to carry
but a very strong will
it's just hard to travel
in the shadow
of regret
in fact it's so hard
that I haven't actually left yet

 

[fox69]

"J"

"J"



Can’t sit on my porch and smoke a J
And remember how peaceful life can be
But all night long are a bunch of pushers
Selling drugs right there on my TV
Drugs that whether or not I buy
Are gonna end up in my water supply
Along with who knows what else, who knows when,
Just gotta take a deep breath and drink it in

And ‘round here there’s one thing people know
It’s that government ain’t there for you, it’s all for show
And I’m trying to tell them it don’t have to be so
But I can understand that their confidence is low
Cause ‘round here people’re so high they can’t see
Over the tops of the tall pine trees
Down to the mouth of the Mississippi

Oh, blood ignited in a blighted sky
Oh, blood on the water like we all could die
Blood in the reeds glistening in the sun
Blood on our hands, each and everyone,
Here in the calm before the wars
When the earth shrugs us off like dinosaurs
Here in the sunset days of yore
The first signs washing ashore

And goddess, come and lift us here in deepest Louisiana
In the gut, where hunches come from
A message goes out loud as it can

And you’d have thought we’d have come more far somehow
Since the changing of the guard and all
I mean dude could be FDR right now
And instead he’s just shifting his weight
And the disappointment is the knockout blow
Filmed in torturous slow-mo
Oh hope, please come where I can see
Don’t let the poison get the best of me

And goddess, come and lift us here in deepest Louisiana
In the gut, where hunches come from
A message goes out loud as it can

Of, truth is for telling, truth is foretold
Truth is for those with the guts to behold
We got vampires down here in Louisiana
We need voodoo dolls, we need talisman
We need wooden stakes and shards of light
We need harbingers riding through the night
We need fountain pens, we need whale harpoons
To overthrow the oil tycoons

Cause there’s no fish in the water, no birds in the sky
No life in the soil, no end to the lie
No time like the present and it’s passing us by
But it’s never too late, never too late to try
Cause if we all had to change, we all just would
And we would move closer and that would be good
And we would buy local and we would buy less
And we’d realize that wasn’t our happiness
No, that wasn’t our happiness
No, that wasn’t our happiness
No, that wasn’t our happiness
No, that wasn’t…

And goddess, come and lift us here in deepest Louisiana
And goddess, come and lift us here in deepest Louisiana
And goddess, come and lift us here in deepest Louisiana
In the gut, where hunches come from
A message goes out loud as it can