Ani DiFranco

[fox69]

"Gratitude"

"Gratitude"



thank you
for letting me stay here
thank you for taking me in
thank you
for the beer and the food
thank you
for loaning me bus fare
thank you for showing me around
that was a very kind thing to do
thank you
for the use of the clean towel
thank you for half of your bed
we can sleep here like brother and sister,
you said

but you changed the rules
in an hour or two
and I don't know what you
and your sisters do
but please don't
please stop
this is not my obligation
what does my body have to do
with my gratitude?

look at you
little white lying
for the purpose of justifying
what you're trying to do
I know that you feel my resistance
I know that you heard what I said
otherwise you wouldn't need the excuse

thank you
for letting me stay here
thank you for taking me in
I don't know where else
I would have turned
but I don't come and go
like a pop song
that you can play incessantly
and then foget when it's gone
you can't write me off
and you don't turn me on

so don't change the rules
in an hour or two
I don't know what you and your
sisters do
but please don't
please stop
this is not my obligation
what does my body have to do
with my gratitude?

 

[fox69]

"Gravel"

"Gravel"



i heard the sound of your bike,
as your wheels hit the gravel,
then your engine in the driveway
cutting off
and i pushed through the screen door
and i stood out on the porch
thinking figh, fight, fight
at all costs,
but instead i let you in,
just like i've always done
and i sat you down and offered you a beer
and across the kitchen table
i fired several rounds,
but you were still sitting here
when the smoke cleared.
and you came crawling back
to say that you wanna
make good in the end

and oh, oh,
let me count the ways
that i abhore you,
and you were never a good lay
and you were never a good friend
but, oh, oh, what else can i say...
i adore you

all i need is my leather,
one t-shirt and two socks,
i'll keep my hands warm
in your pockets
and we can use the engine block,
and we'll ride out to california
with my arms around your chest,
and i'll pretend that this is real
'cuz this is what i like best,
and you've been juggling two women
like a stupid circus clown
telling us both we are the one
and maybe you can keep me from ever being happy,
but you're not gonna stop me from having fun.
so let's go before i change my mind
i'll leave the luggage of all your lives behind
'cuz i am bigger than everything that came before

and you were never very kind,
and you let me way down every time
but oh, oh, oh what can i say...
i adore you

i heard the sound of your bike,
as your wheels hit the gravel,
then your engine in the driveway
cutting off

 

[fox69]

"Grey"

"Grey"



the sky is grey, the sand is grey, and the ocean is grey. i feel right at
home in this stunning monochrome, alone in my way. i smoke and i drink and
every time i blink i have a tiny dream. but as bad as i am i'm proud of the
fact that i'm worse than i seem. what kind of paradise am i looking for? i've
got everything i want and still i want more. maybe some tiny shiny thing will
wash up on the shore. you walk through my walls like a ghost on tv. you
penetrate me and my little pink heart is on its little brown raft floating out
to sea. and what can i say but i'm wired this way and you're wired to me, and
what can i do but wallow in you unintentionally? what kind of paradise am i
looking for? i've got everything i want and still i want more. maybe some tiny
shiny key will wash up on the shore. regretfully, i guess i've got three
simple things to say. why me? why this now? why this way? overtone's ringing,
undertow's pulling away under a sky that is grey on sand that is grey by an
ocean that's grey. what kind of paradise am i looking for? i've got everything
i want and still i want more. maybe some tiny shiny key will wash up on the
shore.

 

[fox69]

"Half-Assed"

"Half-Assed"



You start trippin
And i start slippin away
I was taught to zip it
If i got nothin nice to say
And down in the texas of my heart
Driving a really big truck
Headed down a dirt road
My love is scrunchin up its features
The really big eyes
Big lips, big nose

Just show me a moment that is mine
Its beauty blinding and unsurpassed
Make me forget every moment that went by
And left me so half-hearted
Cuz i felt it so half-assed

You are an unruly translucent
A dirty windshield with a shifting view
So many cunning running landscapes
For my dented door to open into
I just wanna tune out all the billboards
Weld myself a mental shield
I just wanna put down all the pressures
And feel how i really feel

Just show me a moment that is mine
Its beauty blinding and unsurpassed
Make me forget every moment that went by
And left me so half-hearted
Cuz i felt it so half-assed

Spring is super in the supermarkets
And the strawberries prance and glow
Nevermind that they're all kinda tart and tasteless
As strawberries go
Meanwhile wild things are not for sale
Anymore than they are for show
So i'll be outside, in love with the kind of beauty
It takes more than eyes to know

Just show me a moment that is mine
Its beauty blinding and unsurpassed
And i'll forget every moment that went by
And left me so half-hearted
Cuz i felt it so half-assed

 

[fox69]

"Happy All The Time"

"Happy All The Time"



Suffer did the Buddha
And suffer did the Christ
And suffer did Isis
When mankind started to write
And through profound suffering
Shines enlightenment's light
So I'm grateful for their struggle
Yes I honor their plight

But me I'm just happy all the time
Yeah me I'm just happy all the time

And I know pain is a teacher
To be welcomed and not feared
Alas pain is your ally
So embrace it while it's here
It's here to open up your eyes
Here to make the way clear
At least that's what I've observed
At least that's what I hear

But me I'm just happy all the time
Yes me I'm just happy all the time

I know trial brings wisdom
And greatness has a price
Just ask Abraham Lincoln
Ask miles davis' wives
And I have great admiration
For those that raise up mankind
But I'm afraid that great gift
Is not meant to be mine

Cuz me I'm just happy all the time
Yeah me I'm just happy all the time

 

[fox69]

"Harder Than It Needs To Be"

"Harder Than It Needs To Be"



Honey please don't laugh at everything I say
In a humorless way
Honey please don't roll your eyes around
Just to put me down
It's exactly as hard to talk to you
As it is to talk to me
Let's not make this harder
Than it needs to be

I know I married your mama
And I married your papa
When I married you
And right now it's clear
Who I'm talking to
We better just step back
We better take a breath
See what we can see
Let's not make this harder
Than it needs to be

 

[fox69]

"Hat Shaped Hat"

"Hat Shaped Hat"



in walked a man in the shape of a man
holding a hat-shaped hat
he held up two fingers and said 'how many fingers?"
and i said 'Peace man, that's where it's at"
i said you are what you do in order to
prevent becoming what you're busy not doing
and if you do do it truly
then you arrive at it newly
then in the end you are absolved
and the problem of heaven is solved

and the man broke into a smile,
like he was breaking into a song
and he was broken and smiling
and i was singing along
and we agreed completely agreetly about most things
'til the sun set sweetly
like it does in those paintings
the ones they hang in hotel rooms
the ones they bolt to the wall
as though anyone would want to steal them at all

we talked like children without breathing
'til i stopped this lady as she was leaving
and i said 'excuse me,
but do you know what time it would be
if we were on mars ?'
and she held up her hand
like a crossing guard stopping the cars
and she said
five in the morning

in walked a man
in the shape of a man
holding a hat shaped hat

 

[fox69]

"Hearse"

"Hearse"



I don't want to strive for nothing anymore,
I just want to lie here with you,
Keep the wolves outside the door,
There is nothing in this world you could ever show me that could ever matter more.

Little baby
In the next room dreaming,
Is just icing on the cake,
There is nothing like dancing,
A dance of give and take,
One step forward,
One step sideways,
A helpless feeling,
When the earth shakes.

I will always be your lover,
Even after our atoms are dispersed,
We'll be pushing up daisies,
And my crush will just be getting worse,
I will follow you into the next life,
Like a dog chasing after a hearse.

I just don't want to strive for nothing anymore,
I just want to lie here with you,
Keep the wolves outside the door,
There is nothing in this world you could ever show me that could ever matter more...

 

[fox69]

"Heartbreak Even"

"Heartbreak Even"



it's a heartbreak even situation
nothing lost and nothing gained
so i'm 10 years old again
standing in the backyard waving at a train

i feel you make love to me slightly
every time you let a little laugh slip too soon
and the moment passes over us so lightly
it feels like sand blowing over a dune

you try not to let your emotions show
but it ain't a balloon you can just let go
it's an ice cream cone dripping in the sun
sticky hands
sticky arms
sticky situation

it's a heartbreak even situation
one part powerful elation
one part pitiful and frail
and i'm trying to feel my way around
a book of promises written in braille

there is pressure from within this
and pressure from above
there is pressure on our tenuous, strenuous love
and there's wet wool blankets one, two, three
laid onto my chest
'til i just can't breathe

and i try not to let my emotions show
but it ain't a balloon i can just let go
it's an ice cream cone dripping in the sun
sticky hands
sticky arms
sticky situation

 

[fox69]

"Hell Yeah"

"Hell Yeah"




life is a b movie
it's stupid and it's strange
a directionless story
and the dialouge is lame
but in the he said she said
sometimes there's some poetry
if you turn your back long enough
and let it happen naturally
oh, yeah
hell yeah

I got a face like a limp handshake
hair like an accident scene
I've been waking up slowly
savoring the same old dream
and somewhere between
the folds of your memory
I was sleeping soundly
oh, yeah
hell yeah

'cause I like you
but I know you don't know it
I like you soo much,
I talk to everyone but you
and I wonder
what you would think of this little number
I wonder
what you would say if you knew

If you don't ask the right questions
every answer seems wrong
I was a terrible waitress
so I started to write songs
and I don't know how I feel
but I wonder if you feel like me
do you ever get wrapped up
in the folds of my memory
oh, yeah
hell, yeah

'cause I like you
but I know you don't know it
I like you so much
I talk to everyone but you
and I wonder
what you would think of this little number
yeah I wonder
what you would say if you knew

there's a river of people
that runs past my eyes
and it's beautiful enough
just to watch it go by
but the trouble with water is
she'll always leave you for gravity
I never even told you
I had a crush on you or anything
oh, yeah
hell yeah

life is a b movie
it's stupid and it's strange
a directionless story
and the dialouge is lame
but in the he said she said
sometimes there's some poetry
if you turn your back long enough
and let it happen naturally
oh, yeah
hell yeah