Ani DiFranco

[fox69]

"Alla This"

"Alla This"



I will not stand immersed
In this ultra violent curse
I won't let you make a tool of me
I will keep my mind and body free

Bye, bye, minutiae
Of the day to day drama
I'm expanding exponentially
I am consciousness without identity

I am many things made of everything
But I will not be your bank roll
I won't idle in your drive through
I won't watch your electric sideshow
I got way better places to go

I will maintain the truth
I knew naturally as a child
I won't forfeit my creativity
To a world that's all laid out for me

I will look at everything around me
And I will vow to bear in mind
That all of this was just someone's idea
It could just as well be mine

I won't rent you my time
I won't sell you my brain
I won't pray to a male God
'Cause you know that would be insane

And you know that I can't support the troops
'Cause every last one of them is being duped here
And I will not rest a wink
Until the women have regrouped

I am many things made of everything
But I will not be your bank roll
I won't idle in your drive through
I won't watch your electric sideshow
I got way better places to go

 

[fox69]

"Allergic To Water"

"Allergic To Water"



You can't even imagine
The tortuous state I've been existing in
I am allergic to water
It itches my throat and it blisters my skin
Still, I drink cuz I have to, I bathe cuz I have to
But boy it's a pain
But I don't cry
Cuz it hurts to cry
And I don't go outside in the rain

And you may wonder what would possess
Someone like me to go on
You may wonder how it's possible
Something so basic could go wrong
And all I can say is
If you stretch your mind all the way as far as it goes
There's someone out there who lives further than that
In a place you can never know

So right now if you’re looking at me
You can assume that I am thirsty
And a good day is one when that ache in my brain
Can remain at a doable three
And I don't really want your sympathy
I'm just telling you so you'll understand
This is me, sincerely
Doin' the best that I can

 

[fox69]

"Amazing Grace"

"Amazing Grace"



amazing grace
how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me
i once was lost
but now i'm found
was blind but now i see

'twas grace that taught
my heart to fear
and grace that fear relieved
how precious did
that grace appear
the hour i first believed

through many dangers
toils and snares
i have already come
'twas grace that brought me
safely thus far
and grace will lead me home

and when this heart
and flesh shall fail
and mortal life shall cease
i shall possess
within the vail
a life of joy and peace

 

[fox69]

"Amendment"

"Amendment"



Wouldn't it be nice if
We had an amendment
To give civil rights to
Women
To once and for all just
Really lay it down from
The point of view of women

I know what you're thinking
That's just redundant
Chicks got it good now
They can almost be president
But is worker against worker
Time and time again
Cause the rich use certain issues as a tool
When I say we need the E.R.A ain't cause I'm a fool
It's cause without it nobody can get away
With anything cruel

And you don't need to go far like
Just over to Canada
To feel the heightened sense of
Live and let live
What is it about Americans
Like so many pit-bulls
Trained to attack them
To never give

We gotta put down abortion
Put it down in the books for good
As central to the civil rights
Of women
Make diversity legal
Make it finally understood
Through the civil rights of women

And if you don't like abortion
Don't have an abortion
And teach your children
How they can avoid them
But don't treat all women
Like they are your children
Compassion has many faces
Many names
And if men can kill and be decorated
Instead of blamed
Then a woman called upon to mother
Can choose to refrain

And contrary to eons
Of old time religion
Your body is your only
True dominion
Nature is not here to serve you
Or at any cause to preserve you
That's just some preacher man's
Old time opinion

Life is sacred
Life is also profane
A woman's life
It must be hers to name
Let out an amendment
Put this brutal game to rest
Trust, women will still take you
To their breast
Trust, women will always
Do their best
Trust, our differences make us stronger
Not less

In this amendment shall be
Family structure shall be free
We'll have the right to civil union
With equal rights and
Equal protection
Intolerance finally
Ruined

And then there's the kids rights
They'll naturally be on board
The funnel through which
Women's lives are poured
Our family is so big
And we're all so very small
Let a web of relationship
Be laid over it all

Over the strutter of power piled up to the sky
Over the illusion of autonomy on which it relies
Over any absolute that nature does not supply

And the birthing woman shall regain her place
In a circle of women, in a sacred space
Turn off the machines, put away the knifes
This amendment shall deliver from bondage midwives

 

[fox69]

"Angel Food"

"Angel Food"



if the mattress was a table top
and the bed sheet was a page
we'd be written out
like a couple of question marks
my convex to your concave
and we'd be lying here
at the end of a sentence
and asks, are you ready now?
are you gonna glow in the dark?
are you gonna show me how?

do you like to watch when water misbehaves?
do you like waves?
as the wind shifts
and shifts again
the sail smiles
and gently slaps around the mast
ballast
ballast
ballast

when you come to me
come to me with cake
in your pocket
come to me nicely
with that soft kinda cake
that's mostly icing
come to me ready and rude
bring me angel food
angel food

 

[fox69]

"Angry Anymore"

"Angry Anymore"



growing up it was just me and my mom
against the world
and all my sympathies were with her
when i was a little girl
but now i've seen both my parents
play out the hands they were dealt
and as each year goes by
i know more about how my father must have felt

i just want you to understand
that i know what all the fighting was for
and i just want you to understand
that i'm not angry anymore
i'm not angry anymore

she taught me how to wage a cold war
with quiet charm
but i just want to walk
through my life unarmed
to accept and just get by
like my father learned to do
but without all the acceptance and getting by
that got my father through

night falls like people into love
we generate our own light
to compensate
for the lack of light from above
every time we fight
a cold wind blows our way

but we learn like the trees
how to bend
how to sway and say

i, i think i understand
what all this fighting is for
and baby, i just want you to understand
that i'm not angry anymore
no, i'm not angry anymore

 

[fox69]

"Animal"

"Animal"



More and more there is this animal
Looking out through my eyes
At all the traffic on the road to nowhere
At all the shiny stuff around to buy
At all the wires in the air
At all the people shopping
For the same blank stare
At america the drastic
That isolated geographic
That's become infested with millionaires

When you grow up surrounded
By willful ignorance
You have to believe
Mercy has its own country
And that it's round and borderless
And then you have to grow wings
And rise above it all
Like there
Where that hawk is circling
Above that strip mall

More and more there is this animal
Looking out through my eyes
Seeing that animals only take from this world
What they need to survive
But she is prowling through all the religions of men
Seeing that time and time and time again
Their gods have made them
Special and above
Nature's law
And the respect thereof

And I think when you grow up surrounded
By willful ignorance
You have to believe that mercy has its own country
And that it's round and borderless
And then you just grow wings
And rise above it all
Like there where that hawk is circling
Above that strip mall

Ask any eco-system
Harm here is harm there
And there and there
And aggression begets aggression
It's a very simple lesson
That long preceded any king of heaven
And there's this brutal imperial power
That my passport says I represent
But it will never represent where my heart lives
Only vaguely where it went

Cuz I know when you grow up surrounded
By willful ignorance
You learn that mercy has its own country
And that it's round and borderless
And then you just grow wings
And rise above it all
Like there
Where that hawk is circling
Above that strip mall

 

[fox69]

"Anticipate"

"Anticipate"



you are subtle as a window pane
standing in my view
but I will wait for it to rain
so that I can see you
you call me up at night
when there's no light passing through
and you think that I don't understand
but I do

we don't say everything that we could
so that we can say later
oh, you misunderstood
I hold my cards up
close to my chest
I say what I have to
and I hold back the rest

'cause someone you don't know
is someone you don't know
get a firm grip, girl
before you let go
for every hand extended
another lies in wait
keep your eye on that one
anticipate

dress down get out there
pick a fight with the police
we will get it all on film
for the new release
seems like everyone's an actor
or they're an actor's best friend
I wonder what was wrong to begin with
that they should all have to pretend
we lost sight of everything
when we have to keep checking our backs
I think we should all just smile
come clean
and relax

if there's anything I've learned
all these years on my own
it's how to find my own way there
and how to find my own way back home

 

[fox69]

"Anyday"

"Anyday"



I will lean into you
and you can be the wind
I will open up my mouth
and you can come rushing in
you can rush in so hard
and make it so I can't breathe
I breathe too much anyway
I can do that anyday

I just wish I knew who you were
I wish you'd make yourself known
probably you don't know I'm her
the woman you want to call home
I'll keep my ear to the wall
I'll keep my eye on the door
'cause I've heard all my own jokes
and they're just not funny anymore
I laugh too much anyway
I can do that anyday

have you ever been bent or pulled
have you ever been played like strings
if I could see you I could strum you
I could break you
make you sing
but I guess you can't really see the wind
it just comes in and fills the space
and everytime something moves
you think that you have seen its face
and I've always got my guitar to play
but I can do that anyday

 

[fox69]

"AS IS"

"AS IS"



You can't hide
Behind social graces
So don't try
To be all touchy feely
Cause you lie
In my face of all places
But I've got no
Problem with that really

What bugs me
Is that you believe what you're saying
What bothers me
Is that you don't know how you feel
What scares me
Is that while you're telling me stories
You actually
Believe that they are real

And I've got
No illusions about you
And guess what?
I never did
And when I said
When I said I'll take it
I meant,
I meant as is

Just give up
And admit you're an asshole
You would be
In some good company
I think you'd find
That your friends would forgive you
Or maybe I
Am just speaking for me

Cause when I look around
I think this, this is good enough
And I try to laugh
At whatever life brings
Cause when I look down
I just miss all the good stuff
When I look up
I just trip over things

And I've got
No illusions about you...

You can't hide
Behind social graces
Cause I don't buy it
Like everyone else
And you can lie
In my face of all places
Just don't
Lie to yourself

Cause I've got
No illusions about you
And guess what?
I never did
And when I say
When I say I'll take it
I mean,
I mean as is...

...as is...