Ani DiFranco

[fox69]

"Asking Too Much"

"Asking Too Much"



I want somebody who sees the pointlessness
and still keeps their purpose in mind
I want somebody who has a tortured soul
some of the time
I want somebody who will either put out for me
or put me out of misery
or maybe just put it all to words
and make me say, you know
I never heard it put that way
make me say, what did you just say?
I want somebody who can hold my interest
hold it and never let it fall
someone who can flatten me with a kiss
that hits like a fist
or a sentence, that stops me like a brick wall
because if you hear me talking
listen to what I'm not saying
if you hear me playing guitar
listen to what I'm not playing
and don't ask me to put words
to all the spaces between notes
in fact if you have to ask, forget it
do and you'll regret it
I'm tired of being the interesting one
I'm tired of heving fun for two
just lay yourself on the line
and I might lay myself down by you
but don't sit behind your eyes
and wait for me to surprise you
I want somebody who can make me
scream until it's funny
give me a run for my money
I want someone who can
twist me up in knots
tell me, for the woman who has everything
what have you got?
I want someone who's not afraid of me
or anyone else
in other words I want someone
who's not afraid of themself

do you think I'm asking too much?

 

[fox69]

"Back Around"

"Back Around"



my lipstick
jumped ship
to a styrofoam cup
with the coffee gone
the conversation strong
all I got left to give
baby, is up
but sentiments like shadows grow
oh so long

guess I gotta go
don't get up
don't cry
it's really very simple
just kiss my cheek and say goodbye
I never really go anywhere anyway
I just pass through from time to time

bye bye baby
baby bye bye
maybe I'll see you
next time I'm in town
maybe when I'm through
falling off the face of the earth
I'll come back around
you know I love to come back around

ten hours of driving
will make your mind
kind of numb
but it's better than
ten dollars an hour
slamming a hammer on my thumb
and it's better than
five dollars an hour
selling people shit
I wouldn't buy myself
at least at the end of the day
I'm always somewhere else

bye bye baby
baby bye bye
maybe I'll see you
next time I'm in town
maybe when I'm through
falling off the face of the earth
I'll come back around
you know I love to come back around

 

[fox69]

"Back Back Back"

"Back Back Back"



Back back back in the back of your mind
Are you learning an angry language,
Tell me boy boy boy are you tending to your joy
Or are you just letting it vanquish
Back back back in the dark of your mind
Where the eyes of your demons are gleamin
Are you mad mad mad
About the life you never had
Even when you are dreaming.

Who are these old old people
In these nursing homes
Scowling away at nothing
Like big rag dolls just cursing at the walls
And pulling out all of their stuffing
Every day is a door leading back to the core
Yes, old age will distill you
And if you're this this this full of bitterness now
Some day it will just fill you

When you sit right down in the middle of yourself
You're gonna wanna have a comfortable chair
So renovate your soul before you get too old
Cuz you're gonna be housebound there
When you're old you fold up like an envelope
And you mail yourself right inside
And there's nowhere to go
Except out real slow
Are you ready, boy, for that ride?

Your arrogance is gaining on you
And so is eternity
You better practice happiness
You better practice humility
You took the air, you took the time
You were fed and you were free
Now you'd better put some beauty back
While you got the energy
You'd better put some beauty back, boy
While you got the energy

 

[fox69]

"Bliss Like This"

"Bliss Like This"



I said Venice
You heard Vegas
Now I say either way
Baby let's go
I get so shaky
And I just can't shake it
I bliss like this
I'm one of those

But I don't wanna wear you
Wear you like a band-aid
Wave you like a ticket
Out of my good grief
I just wanna know you
Know you like I know my garden
What you smell like when you're bloomin
What lives underneath
Deep down underneath
Way down underneath

We do a whole lotta laughin
At the shyness that surrounds us
I do a whole lotta lookin
Somewhere else
I don't need to look
No, I can just feel you
Besides every time I see you
It just forces me to look at myself

Cuz I get so shaky
And I just can't shake it
I bliss like this
I'm one of those
And I said Venice
And you heard Vegas
But now I say either way
Let's go
C'mon baby let's go

 

[fox69]

"Blood In The Boardroom"

"Blood In The Boardroom"



sitting in the boardroom
the I'm-so-bored room
listening to the suits
talk about their world
they can make straight lines
out of almost anything
except for the line
of my upper lip when it curls
dressed in my best greasy skin
and squinty eyes
I'm the only part of summer here
that made it inside
in the air-conditioned building
decorated with coporate flair
I wonder
can these boys smell me bleeding
though my underwear

there's men wearing the blood
of the women they love
there's white wearing the blood of the brown
but every woman learns to bleed from the moon
and we bleed to renew life
every time it's cut down
I got my vertebrae all stacked up
as high as they go
I but I still feel myself sliding
from the earth that I know
so I excuse myself and leave the room
say my period came early
but it's not a minute too soon

I go and find the only other woman on the floor
is the secretary sitting at the desk by the door
I ask her if she's got a tampon I could use
she says
oh honey, what a hassle for you
sure I do
you know I do
I say
it ain't no hassle, no, it ain't no mess
right now it's the only power
that I possess
these businessmen got the money
they got the instruments of death
But I can make life
I can make breath
sitting in the boardroom
the I'm-so-bored room
listening to the suits talk about their world
I didn't really have much to say
the whole time I was there
so I just left a big brown bloodstain
on their white chair

 

[fox69]

"Bodily"

"Bodily"



You broke me bodily
The heart ain't the half of it
And I'll never learn to laugh at it
In my good natured way
In fact I'm laughing less in general
But I learned a lot at my own funeral
And I knew you'd be the death of me
So I guess that's the price I pay

I'm trying to make new memories
In cities where we fell in love
My head just barely above
The darkest water I've ever known
You had me in that cage
You had me jumpin through those hoops for you
Still, I think I'd stoop for you
Stoop for your eyes alone

From that bomb shell moon in yet another lovely dress
To the deep mahogany sheen of a roach
I am trying to take an appreciative approach
To life in your wake
I focus on the quiet now
And occasionally I'll fall asleep somehow
And emptiness has its solace
In that there's nothing left to take

 

[fox69]

"Born A Lion"

"Born A Lion"



I'm not hurting anyone
I'm just telling my truth
and if there
if there is something wrong
then maybe
there's something wrong with you
what's the big deal
get over it
relax
just 'cause I do up in your face
what other people do behind your back
why we all gotta look
gotta act the same
I say
if you're born a lion
don't bother trying to act tame
everything I do
I do for the first time
I got a big crush on you
and it's crushing my mind
can I follow you home
and listen to you think
leave my lip prints on your cups
leave my hairs in your sink
they think I'm out there
out there living on the fringe
well
this is my world
and I invited them in
they should try living
by my rules for a day
nobody would die
there'd be lots of stuff to say
I'm not hurting anyone
no I'm not hurting anyone

 

[fox69]

"Both Hands"

"Both Hands"



I am walking
out in the rain
and I am listening to the low moan
of the dial tone again
and I am getting
nowhere with you
and I can't let it go
and I can't get through...
the old woman behind the pink curtains
and the closed door
on the first floor
she's listening through the air shaft
to see how long our swan song can last
and both hands
now use both hands
oh, no don't close your eyes
I am writing
graffitti on your body
I am drawing the story of
how hard we tried
I am watching your chest rise and fall
like the tides of my life,
and the rest of it all
and your bones have been my bedframe
and your flesh has been my pillow
I am waiting for sleep
to offer up the deep
with both hands
in eachother's shadows we grew less and less tall
and eventually our theories couldn't explain it all
and I'm recording our history now on the bedroom wall
and when we leave the landlord will come
and paint over it all
and I am walking
out in the rain
and I am listening to the low moan of the dial tone again
and I am getting nowhere with you
and I can't let it go
and I can't get though
So now use both hands
please use both hands
oh, no don't close your eyes
I am writing graffitti on your body
I am drawing the story of how hard we tried
hard we tried
how hard we tried

 

[fox69]

"Brief Bus Stop"

"Brief Bus Stop"



she sat there like a photograph
of someone much further away
we shared a brief bus stop
on one of those inbetween days
she gave me her smile
and I looked underneath
at the lipstick on her teeth

she asked me for a light
and if I thought her hair looked okay
we grew out of the small talk
into stuff strangers just don't say
we discovered we are both
pleasently furious half of the time
when we're not just toeing the line

we sat underneath the shelter
as the rain came down outside
the bench was cold
against the underside of our thighs
I said I think we need new responses
each question's a revolving door
and she said, yeah,
my life may not be something special
but it's never been lived before

we decided our urgency will wane
when we grow old
and there will be a new generation of anger
new stories to be told
but I said, I don't know if I can wait
for that peace to be mine
and she said, well, you know,
we've been waiting for this bus
for an awfully long time

 

[fox69]

"Bubble"

"Bubble"



I hated to pop the bubble
Of me and you
But it only held enough oxygen
For a trip or two
To the moon and back again
Tell me, do you remember when
Our love had such grace
We were floating above this whole place

It's dawn on the corner
Where the city tests its squeaky breaks
Outside my bedroom window
A doppler muffler and a boomin bass
It's dawn and the snow
Is turning on its deepest blue
So I go outside just to stand there and
Look at my hands against the color
I find I always return to

I want you to always remember for me
Baby, if you can
How much you hated the woman
Who made you a man
And remember for me won't you
Back further before that
How you loved her like a boy
Cried from the joy
When you weren't laughing

No, I hated to pop the bubble
Of me and you
But it only held enough oxygen
For a trip or two
To the moon and back again
Do you remember when
Our love had such grace
We were floating above this whole place

So I hear these days you too
Are trying your hand at sleeplessness
A few more dizzying doppler lovers
And then a booming loneliness
How innocent the young student
On the day school has begun
When I said this was what I wanted
Did you think I thought it would be fun?

No, I hated to pop the bubble
Of me and you
But it only held enough oxygen
For a trip or two
To the moon and back again
Oh but I remember when
Our love had such grace
We were floating above this whole place