Ani Difranco

tonight you stooped to my level
i am your mangy little whore
you are trying to find your underwear
and then your socks and then the door
and you're trying to find a reason
why you have to leave
i know it's 'cuz you think you're adam
and you think i'm eve

you rhapsodize about beauty
and my eyes glaze
everything that i love is ugly
i mean really, you would be amazed
just do me a favor
it's the least that you can do
just don't treat me like i am
something that happened to you

i am truly sorry about all this

you put a tiny pinprick
in my big red balloon
and as i slowly start to exhale
that's when you leave the room
i did not design this game
i did not name the stakes
i just happen to like apples
and i am not afraid of snakes

i am truly sorry about all this
i envy your ignorance
i hear that it's bliss

so i let go of the ratio
of things said to things heard
and i leave you to your garden
and the beauty you preferred
and i wonder what of this
will have meaning for you
when you've left it all behind
i guess i'll even wonder
if you meant it
at the time

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

life used to be life-like
now it's more like showbiz
i wake up in the night
and i don't know where the bathroom is
and i don't know what town i'm in
or what sky i am under
and i wake up in the darkness and i
don't have the will anymore to wonder
everyone has a skeleton
and a closet to keep it in
and your mine
every song has a you
a you that the singer sings to
and you're it this time
baby, you're it this time

when i need to wipe my face
i use the back of my hand
and i like to take up space
just because i can
and i use my dress
to wipe up my drink
i care less and less
what people think
and you are so lame
you always dissapoint me
it's kind of like our running joke
but it's really not funny
and i just want you to live up to
the image of you i create
i see you and i'm so unsatisfied
i see you and i dialate

so i'll walk the plank
and i'll jump with a smile
if i'm gonna go down
i'm gonna do it with style
and you won't see me surrender
you won't hear me confess
'cuz you've left me with nothing
but i've worked with less
and i learn every room long enough
to make it to the door
and then i hear it click shut behind me
and every key works differently
i forget everytime
and forgetting defines me
that's what defines me

when i say you sucked my brain out
the english translation
is i am in love with you
and it is no fun
but i don't use words like love
'cuz works like that don't matter
but don't look so offended
you know, you should be flattered
and i wake up in the night
in some big hotel bed
and my hands grope for the light
and my hands grope for my head
the world is my oyster
the road is my home
and i know that i'm better
off alone

the wind is ruthless
the trees shake angry fingers at the sky
the people hunch their shoulders
hold their collars over their earsand run by
it's a cold rain
it's a hard rain
like the kind that you find in songs
i guess that makes methe jerk with the heartache
here to sing youabout how i've been done wrong

and i am sitting, watching
out the window of the coffee shop
and i am waiting, waiting
waiting for it to let up
i am rocking like a cradle
warming my hands with the cup in between
i am leaning over the table
holding my face over the steam

and before it gets so cold
that the rain turns to snow
there's just a couple things
i'd like to know

like how could you do nothing
and say, i'm doing my best
how could you take almost everything
and then come back for the rest
how could you beg me to stay,
reach out your hands and plead
and then pack up your eyes and run away
as soon as i agreed

it just all slips
away so slowly
you don't even notice till you've lost a lot
i've been like one of those zombies
in vegas
pouring quarters into a slot
and now i'm tired
and i am broke
and i feel stupid and i feel used
and i'm at the end of my little rope
and i am swinging back and forth
about you

before it gets so cold
that the rain turns to snow
there's just a couple things
i'd like to know

like how could you do nothing
and say, i'm doing my best
how could you take almost everything
and then come back for the rest
how could you beg me to stay,
reach out your hands and plead
and then pack up your eyes and run away
as soon as i agreed

you can't get through it
you can't get over it
you can't get around

just like in a dream
you'll open your mouth to scream
and you won't make a sound

you can't believe your eyes
you can't believe your ears
you can't believe your friends
you can't believe you're here

and you're not gonna get through it
so you are going down

i put a cup out on the window sill
to catch the water as it fell
now i got a glass half full of rain
to measure the time between
when you said you'd come
and when you actually came

little mister limp dick
is up to his old tricks
and thought he'd call me
one last time
but i'm just about done
with the oh-woe-is-me shit
and i want everything back
that's mine

i do it for the joy it brings
because i'm a joyful girl
because the world owes me nothing
and we owe each other the world
i do it because it's the least i can do
i do it because i learned it from you
i do it just because i want to
because I want to

everything i do is judged
and they mostly get it wrong
but oh well
'cuz the bathroom mirror has not budged
and the woman who lives there can tell
the truth from the stuff that they say
and she looks me in the eye
and says would you prefer the easy way?
no, well o.k. then
don't cry

and i wonder if everything i do
i do instead
of something i want to do more
the question fills my head
i know that there's no grand plan here
this is just the way it goes
and when everything else seems unclear
i guess at least i know

i do it for the joy it brings...

they told you your music
could reach millions
that the choice was up to you
you told me they always
pay for lunch
and they believe in what i do
and i wonder
if you miss your old friends
once you've proven what you're worth
yeah i wonder
when you're a big star
will you miss the earth

and i know you would always want more
i know you would never be done
'cuz everyone is a fucking napoleon
yeah everyone is a fucking napoleon

and the next time
that i saw you
you were larger than life
you came and you conquered
you were doing alright
you had an army
of suits behind you
and all you had to be was willing
and i said i still
make a pretty good living
you must make a killing
a killing

and i hope that you are happy
i hope at least you are having fun
'cuz but everyone is a fucking napoleon
yeah everyone is a fucking napoleon

now you think, so that is
the way it's gonna be
that's what this is all about
i think that that is
the way it always was
you chose not to notice until now
yeah now that there's a problem
you call me up to confide
and you go on for over an hour
'bout each one that took you for a ride

and i guess that you dialed my number
'cuz you thought for sure that i'd agree
i said baby, you know i still love you
but how dare you complain to me

everyone is a fucking napoleon
yeah everyone is a fucking napoleon

no no no no no no no no no no no no
no more
no no no no no no no no no no no no
no more
no no no
no more

it's gonna be sudden
it's gonna be strange
i'm gonna turn on a dime
give you five cents change
it's gonna be long
overdue
it's all gonna come out
outta me, on to you

outta me, onto you...

one of these days
you're gonna push too hard
we'll go on like we've always done
'til you go too far
yeah one of these days
it's gonna reach the top
then it's gonna start to spill
and it's not gonna
stop

outta me, onto you...

no more...

some people wear their smile
like a disguise
those people who smile a lot
watch the eyes
i know it 'cuz i'm like that a lot
you think everything's okay
and it is
'til it's not

outta me, onto you...

no more

some people wear their heart
up on their sleeve
i wear mine underneath my right pant leg
strapped to my boot
don't think cause i'm easy, i'm naive
don't think i won't pull it out
don't think i won't shoot

outta me, onto you...

most people like to talk a lot
including you
you know there isn't much i have to say
that i wouldn't rather
just shut up and do
i'm gonna miss you
when you're gone
yeah i'm gonna be torn
just remember that i love you
just remember you were warned

outta me, onto you...

no more...
no more

i cannot name this
i cannot explain this
and i really don't want to
just call me shameless
i can't even slow this down
let alone stop this
and i keep looking around
but i cannot top this

if i had any sense
i guess i'd fear this
i guess i'd keep it down
so no one would hear this
i guess i'd shut my mouth
and rethink a minute
but i can't shut it now
'cuz there's something in it

we're in a room without a door
and i am sure without a doubt
they're gonna wanna know
how we got in here
and they're gonna wanna know
how we plan to get out
we better have a good explanation
for all the fun that we had
'cuz they are coming for us, baby
they are going to be mad
they are going to be mad at us

this is my skeleton
this is the skin it's in
that is, according to light
and gravity
i'll take off my disguise
the mask you met me in
'cuz i got something
for you to see
just gimme your skeleton
give me the skin it's in
yeah baby, this is you
according to me
i never avert my eyes
i never compromise
so nevermind
the poetry

we're in a room without a door...

i gotta cover my butt 'cuz i covet
another man's wife
i got to divide my emotions
between wrong and right
then i get to see how close i can get to it
without giving in
then i get to rub up against it
till i break the skin
rub up against it
till i break the skin

they're gonna be mad at us
they're gonna be mad at me and you
yeah, they're gonna be mad at us
and all the things we wanna do
they're gonna be mad at us
they're gonna be mad at me and you
they're gonna be mad at us
and all the things we like do

just please don't name this
please don't explain this
just blame it all on me
say i was shameless
say i couldn't slow it down
let alone stop it
and say you just hung around
'cuz you couldn't top it

sleepwalking through the all-nite drugstore
baptized in flourescent light
i found religion in the greeting card aisle
now i know hallmark was right
and every pop song on the radio
is suddenly speaking to me
yeah, art may imitate life
but life imitates t.v.
'cuz you've been gone exactly two weeks
two weeks and three days
and let's just say that things look different now
different in so many ways

i used to be a superhero
no one could touch me
not even myself
you are like a phone booth
i somehow stumbled into
and now look at me
i am just like everybody else

if i was dressed in my best defenses
would you agree to meet me for coffee
if i did my tricks with smoke and mirrors
would you still know which one was me
if i was naked and screaming
on your front lawn
would you turn on the light and come down
screaming, there's the asshole
who did this to me
stripped me of my power
stripped me down

i used to be a superhero
no one could touch me
not even myself
you are like a phone booth
i somehow stumbled into
and now look at me
i am just like everybody else

yeah you've been gone exactly two weeks
two weeks and three days
and now i'm a different person
different in so many ways
tell me what did you like about me
don't say my strength and daring
'cuz now i think i'm at your mercy
and it's my first time for this kind of thing

i used to be a superhero
i would swoop down and save me
from myself
you are like a phone booth
that i somehow stumbled into
and now look at me
i am just like everybody else
i am worse than everybody else

think i'm going for a walk now
i feel a little unsteady
i don't want nobody to follow me
'cept maybe you
i could make you happy you know
if you weren't already
i could do a lot of things
and i do

tell you the truth i prefer
the worst of you
too bad you had to have a better half
she's not really my type
but i think you two are forever
and i hate to say it but
you're perfect together

so fuck you
and your untouchable face
and fuck you
for existing in the first place
and who am i
that i should be vying for your touch
and who am i
i bet you can't even tell me that much

two-thirty in the morning
and my gas tank will be empty soon
neon sign on the horizon
rubbing elbows with the moon
a safe haven of sleepless
where the deep fryer's always on
radio is counting down
the top 20 country songs
and out on the porch the fly strip is
waving like a flag in the wind
y'know, i don't look forward
to seeing you again soon
you'll look like a photograph of yourself
taken from far far away
and i won't know what to do
and i won't know what to say

except fuck you...

i see you and i'm so perplexed
what was i thinking
what will i think of next
where can i hide
in the back room there's a lamp
that hangs over the pool table
and when the fan is on it swings
gently side to side
there's a changing constellation
of balls as we are playing
i see orion and say nothing
the only thing i can think of saying

is fuck you...

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 eventually 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

I do it for the joy it brings
because I'm a joyful girl.
Because the world owes me nothing
and we owe each other the world.
I do it because it's the least I can do.
I do it because I learned it from you
and I do it just because I want to
Because I want to.

Everything I do is judged
And they mostly get it wrong
But oh well.
'Cause the bathroom mirror has not budged
and the woman who lives there can tell
the truth from the stuff that they say.
And, she looks me in the eye
and says "would you prefer the easy way?
No? Well, okay, then ...
Don't cry."

I wonder if everything I do
I do instead
of something I want to do more?
The question fills my head.
I know there's no grand plan here
this is just the way it goes.
When everything else seems unclear
I guess at least I know

I do it for the joy it brings
because I'm a joyful girl
because the world owes me nothing
and we owe each other the world
I do it because it's the least I can do
I do it because I learned it from you
and I do it just because I want to
because I want to

i do it for the joy it brings
because i'm a joyful girl
because the world owes me nothing
and we owe each other the world
i do it because it's the least i can do
i do it because i learned it from you
i do it just because i want to
because I want to

everything i do is judged
and they mostly get it wrong
but oh well
'cuz the bathroom mirror has not budged
and the woman who lives there can tell
the truth from the stuff that they say
and she looks me in the eye
and says would you prefer the easy way?
no, well o.k. then
don't cry

and i wonder if everything i do
i do instead
of something i want to do more
the question fills my head
i know that there's no grand plan here
this is just the way it goes
and when everything else seems unclear
i guess at least i know

i do it for the joy it brings...

I do it for the joy it brings
because I'm a joyful girl.
Because the world owes me nothing
and we owe each other the world.
I do it because it's the least I can do.
I do it because I learned it from you
and I do it just because I want to
Because I want to.

Everything I do is judged
And they mostly get it wrong
But oh well.
'Cause the bathroom mirror has not budged
and the woman who lives there can tell
the truth from the stuff that they say.
And, she looks me in the eye
and says "would you prefer the easy way?
No? Well, okay, then ...
Don't cry."

I wonder if everything I do
I do instead
of something I want to do more?
The question fills my head.
I know there's no grand plan here
this is just the way it goes.
When everything else seems unclear
I guess at least I know

I do it for the joy it brings
because I'm a joyful girl
because the world owes me nothing
and we owe each other the world
I do it because it's the least I can do
I do it because I learned it from you
and I do it just because I want to
because I want to

i do it for the joy it brings
because i'm a joyful girl
because the world owes me nothing
and we owe each other the world
i do it because it's the least i can do
i do it because i learned it from you
i do it just because i want to
because I want to

everything i do is judged
and they mostly get it wrong
but oh well
'cuz the bathroom mirror has not budged
and the woman who lives there can tell
the truth from the stuff that they say
and she looks me in the eye
and says would you prefer the easy way?
no, well o.k. then
don't cry

and i wonder if everything i do
i do instead
of something i want to do more
the question fills my head
i know that there's no grand plan here
this is just the way it goes
and when everything else seems unclear
i guess at least i know

i do it for the joy it brings...

i cannot name this
i cannot explain this
and i really don't want to
just call me shameless
i can't even slow this down
let alone stop this
and i keep looking around
but i cannot top this

if i had any sense
i guess i'd fear this
i guess i'd keep it down
so no one would hear this
i guess i'd shut my mouth
and rethink a minute
but i can't shut it now
'cuz there's something in it

we're in a room without a door
and i am sure without a doubt
they're gonna wanna know
how we got in here
and they're gonna wanna know
how we plan to get out
we better have a good explanation
for all the fun that we had
'cuz they are coming for us, baby
they are going to be mad
they are going to be mad at us

this is my skeleton
this is the skin it's in
that is, according to light
and gravity
i'll take off my disguise
the mask you met me in
'cuz i got something
for you to see
just gimme your skeleton
give me the skin it's in
yeah baby, this is you
according to me
i never avert my eyes
i never compromise
so nevermind
the poetry

we're in a room without a door...

i gotta cover my butt 'cuz i covet
another man's wife
i got to divide my emotions
between wrong and right
then i get to see how close i can get to it
without giving in
then i get to rub up against it
till i break the skin
rub up against it
till i break the skin

they're gonna be mad at us
they're gonna be mad at me and you
yeah, they're gonna be mad at us
and all the things we wanna do
they're gonna be mad at us
they're gonna be mad at me and you
they're gonna be mad at us
and all the things we like do

just please don't name this
please don't explain this
just blame it all on me
say i was shameless
say i couldn't slow it down
let alone stop it
and say you just hung around
'cuz you couldn't top it

Wishin', and hopin', and thinkin', and prayin',
Plannin' and dreamin' each night of his charms,
That won't get you into his arms.

So if your're looking for love, you can share,
All you gotta to is hold him, and kiss him, and love him,
And show him that you care.

Show him that you care, just for him.
Do the things that he likes to do.
Wear your hair just for him,
'Cause you won't get him
Thinkin' and a prayin',
Wishin' and a hopin',

Just wishin', and hopin', and thinkin', and prayin',
Planning and dreamin'
His kisses will start.
That won't get you into his heart.

So if you're thinking how great true love is,
All you gotta do is hold him,
And kiss him,
And squeeze him,
And love him,
Just do it,
And after you do,
You will be his.

Show him that you care just for him.
Do the things that he likes to do.
Wear your hair just for him,
'Cause, you won't get him,
Thinkin' and a prayin',
Wishin' and a hopin'.

Just wishin',
And hopin',
And thinkin',
And prayin',
Planning
And dreamin'
His kisses will start.
That won't get you into his heart.

So if you're thinking how great true love is,
All you gotta do is hold him,
And kiss him,
And squeeze him,
And love him,
Just do it,
And after you do,
You will be his.

You...will...be...his.

you will be his!

you can't hide
behind social graces
so don't try
to be all touchy feely
cuz 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 you friends would forgive you
or maybe i
am just speaking for me

cuz when i look around
i think this, this is good enough
and i try to laugh
at whatever life brings
cuz 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
cuz i don't buy it
like everyone else
and you can lie
in my face of all places
just don't
lie to yourself

cuz 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...

cold and drizzly night in chicago's deep dish
fluorescent light of the bathroom
shows my hands as they are
see an eyelash on my cheek
pick it off and make a wish
and walk back out into the bar
wind at the windows
neon lights the patterned pane
the waitress wields the weight
of her tray around her palm
the doorman cups his hand
and lights his cigarette again
and the rain marches on

this is only a possibility in a world of possibilities
there are obviously there are many possibilities
ranging from small to large
before long there will be short
before short there was nothing
when there was nothing
tehere was always the possibility
of something becoming what it is

don't even bother trying
to say something clever
clever is as clever does
no matter what it says
i'm looking for a sign
says you're for real this time
but i don't trust what's in your head
i walk up to the bar
and point to the top shelf
and then i throw my head back
and laugh at myself
i raise a toast to all our saviors
each so badly behaved
it's too bad that tehir world
is the one that they saved

there's a spider spinning cobwebs
from your elbow to the table
while my eyes ride the crowd
in a secret rodeo
i smile with my mouth
lift my watch up to the light
say oh, look, i have to go
now you got to dance with me, now is when
it's gotta be
cuz i can't wait for the dance floor to fill in
if you want to dance with me, i'll show you
how it's gonna be
cuz i can't wait for the bad to begin

they were digging a new foudation in Manhattan
and they discovered a slave cemetary there
may their souls rest easy
now that lynching is frowned upon
and we've moved on to the electric chair
and i wonder who's gonna be president, tweedle dum or tweedle dummer?
and who's gonna have the big blockbuster box office this summer?
howabout we put up a wall between houses and the highway
and you can go your way , and i can go my may

except all the radios agree with all the tvs
and all the magazines agree with all the radios
and i keep hearing that same damn song everywhere i go
maybe i should put a bucket over my head
and a marshmallow in each ear
and stumble around for
another dumb- dumb waiting for another hit song to appear

people used to make records
as in a record of an event
the event of people playing music in a room
now everything is cross-marketing
its about sunglasses and shoes
or guns and drugs
you choose
we got it rehashed
we got it half-assed
we're digging up all the graves
and we're spitting on the past
and you can choose between the colors
of the lipstick on the whores
cause we know the difference between
the font of 20% more
and the font of teriakiyi
you tell me
how does it...make you feel?

you tell me
what's ...real?
and they say that alcoholics are always alcoholics
even when they're as dry as my lips for years
even when they're stranded on a small desert island
with no place within 2,000 miles to buy beer
and i wonder
is he different?
is he different?
has he changed? what's he about?...
or is he just a liar with nothing to lie about?

Am i headed for the same brick wall
is there anything i can do about
anything at all?
except go back to that corner in Manhattan
and dig deeper, dig deeper this time
down beneath the impossible pain of our history
beneath unknown bones
beneath the bedrock of the mystery
beneath the sewage systems and the path drain
beneath the cobblestones and the water mains
beneath the traffic of friendships and street deals
beneath the screeching of kamikaze cab wheels
beneath everything i can think of to think about
beneath it all, beneath all get out
beneath the good and the kind and the stupid and the cruel
there's a fire just waiting for fuel

there's a fire just waiting for fuel
there's a fire just waiting for fuel
there's a fire just waiting for fuel
there's a fire just waiting for fuel
there's a fire just waiting for fuel
there's a fire just waiting for fuel
there's a fire just waiting for fuel
there's a fire just waiting for fuel
there's a fire just waiting for fuel
there's a fire just waiting for fuel
there's a fire just waiting for fuel
there's a fire just waiting for fuel
there's a fire just waiting for fuel

sitting in my glasshouse
while your ghost is sleeping down the hall
watching the little birds fly
kamikaze missions into the walls
think i'm gonna stay in today
sit on my couch and watch them fall

[drums]
life just keeps getting harder
keeps getting harder to hide
darker it is around me
easier it is to see inside
and outside the glass
the whole world is magnified
and its barely an inch
from here to the other side

[chorus]
guess that push has come to this
so i guess this must be shove
but before you throw those stones at me
tell me what's your house made of
and before you'll know what i'm doing wrong
you're going to have to get in line
for the purposes of this song
lets just say i'm doing fine
sure, i'm doing fine

trapped in my glasshouse
crowd has been gathering since dawn
make a pot of coffee
while catastrophe awaits me out on the lawn
think i'm going to stay in today
pretend like i don't know what's going on

seems that push has come to this
so i guess this must be shove
but before you throw those stones at me
tell me what's your house made of
and before you'll know what i'm doing wrong
you're going to have to get in line
so for the purposes of this song
lets just say i'm doing fine
sure, i'm doing fine

sitting in my glass house
sitting in my glass house

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

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

in a coffee shop in a city
which is every coffee shop
in every city
on a day which is every day
i pick up a magazine
which is every magazine
and read a story then forgot it right away

they say goldfish got no memory
i guess their lives are much like mine
the little plastic castle
is a surprise every time
it's hard to say if they are happy
when they don't seem much to mind

from the shape of your shaved head
i recognized your silhoutte
as you stepped in out of the sun and sat down
your sleepy smile eclipsed everyone else in the room
as they paused to snear at the girls from out of town

i said, "Baby, look at you this morning
you are so way the fucking cutest
be careful getting cofee
i think these people want to shoot us
i think there's some kind of competition here

to see who can be the rudest

people talk about my image
like i come in two dimensions
like lipstick is a sign of my decling mind
like what i happen to be wearing the day
that someone takes my picture
is my new statement for all womankind

i wish they could see us now
in leather bras and rubber shorts
like some ridiculous team uniform
for some ridculous new sport
quick someone call the girl police
and file a report

in a coffe shop in a city
which is every coffee shop
in every city
on a day which is every day

you've always got those dark sunglasses
covering up your face
but if you promise to take them off
i promise i won't squander your gaze
i will be picturesque
i will be nice
i won't do anything you can't tell your wife
i will think before i act
i will think twice
just let me see your eyes

each time we spoke you put in a token ran? the tilt-a-whirl
when i was giggling and dizzy
flirting like a 12 year old girl
the carnival of you and me was coming to town
watch how we spin and stop and then fall down
now we just say hello and head for firmer ground

you are the one-way glass
that watches me
standing in line at the bank
i always looked into your glasses
like a cat looks into a fish tank
but all i could ever see
was the specter of me reflected
i'm on a monument of friendship
that we never had erected
i wanted to take up lots of room
i wanted to loom

you always got those dark sunglasses
between us when we talk
after the party is over
if you wanna take a walk
we could just look around
not to nothing wrong
just try to be at least as brave as our songs
i will bring my heart
i will bring my face
you just name the time and place

i'm a pixie
i'm a paperdoll
i'm a cartoon
i'm a chipper cheerful free for all
and i light up a room
i'm the color me happy girl
miss live and let live
and when they're out for blood
i always give

the man behind the counter looks like he's got
a half a dozen places he'd rather be
and furthermore it looks like he's preparedd
to take it all out on me
buddy, i don't really care what your problem is
just don't make it mine
come on kids, let's all hold hands
and pretend we're having a good time

maybe you don't like your job
maybe you didn't get enough sleep
well, nobody likes their job
nobody got enough sleep
maybe you just had
the worst day of your life
but, you know, there's no escape
and there's no excuse
so just suck up and be nice

all the privileged white kids on tv
playing at death
brandishing their cold cuts
with their whostly makup
and their heroin breath
and all the little fishes are flapping wildly
on their hooks
while all the top critics find great meaning
in the telephone book

the little emperor he has no clothes
so he can't come out to play
and besides which life is suffering
and he likes it that way
and the little guy is not so friendly
but you know life has been cruel
so wipe that smile off your face baby
and try to be cool

maybe you don't like your job
maybe you didn't get enough sleep
well, nobody likes their job
nobody got enough sleep
maybe you just had
the worst day of your life
but, you know, there's no escape
and there's no excuse
so just suck up and be nice

yeah, i would like to perfect the art
of being studiously aloof
like life is just a boring chore
and i am living proof
i could join forces with an army
of ornery hipsters
but then i guess i'd be out of a job
so i guess that's out of the picture

cuz i'm a pixie
i'm a paperdoll
i'm a cartoon
i'm a chipper cheerful free for all
and i light up a room
i'm the color me happy girl
miss live and let live
and when they're out for blood
i always give

you crawled into my bed that night
like some sort of giant insect
and i found myself spellbound
at the sight of you there
cocooned in my room,
beautiful and grotesque and all the rest of that bug stuff
bluffing your way into my mouth
behind my teeth, reaching for my scars
that night we got kicked out of two bars
and laughed our way home

that night you leaned over
and threw up into your hair
and i thought
i would offer you my pulse
if i thought it would be useful
i would give you my breath
except
the problem with death is that you have
some hundred years and then they can
build building on your only bones
100 years and then your grave is not your own
we lie in out beds, and our graves
unable to save ourselves from
the quaint tragedies we invent
and then undo from the stupid circumstances
we slalomed through
and i realized that night that the hall light
which seemed so bright when you turned it on is nothing
compared to the dawn
which is nothing, compared to the light
which seeps from me while you're sleeping
cocooned in my room
beautiful and grotesque resting
that night we got kicked out of two bars
and laughed our way home
and i held you there thinking
i would offer you my pulse
i would give you my breath
i would offer you my pulse

the heat is so great
it plays tricks with the eye
it turns the road to water
and then from water to sky
and there's a crack in the concrete floor
and it starts at the sink
there's a bathroom in a gas station
and i've locked myself in it to think

and back in the city
the sun bakes the trash on the curb
the men are pissing in doorways
and the rats run in herds
i've got a dream of your face
that scares me awake
i put too much on my table
and now i got too much a stake

and i might let you off easy
yeah i might lead you on
i might wait for you to look for me
and then i might be gone
where i come from and where i'm going
and i'm lost in between
i might go up to that phone booth
and leave a veiled invitation on you machine

and you'll stop me, won't you
if you've heard this one before
the one where i surprise you
by showing up at your front door
saying 'let's not ask what's next,
or how, or why'
i am leaving in the morning
so let's not be shy

the door opens, the room winces
the housekeeper comes in without a warning
and i squint at the muscular motel lady
says 'hey good morning'
and she jumps, her keys jingle
and she leaves as quick as she came in
and i roll over and taste the pillow with my grin
well, the sheets are twisted and tangled
and the heat is so great
and i swear i can feel the mattress
sinking underneath your weight
oh sleep is like a fever
and I'm glad when it ends
and the road flows like a river
and pulls me around every bend

and you'll stop me, won't you...

the heat is so great
it plays tricks with the eye
it turns road to water
and water to sky
and there's a crack in the concrete floor
and it starts at the sink
there's a bathroom in a gas station
and i've locked myself
in it to think

and you'll stop me, won't you...

sleep walking through the all-nite drug store
baptized in fluorescent light
i found religion in the greeting card aisle
now i know hallmark was right
and every pop song on the radio
is suddenly speaking to me
art may imitate life
but life imitates t.v.
'cuz you've been gone exactly two weeks
two weeks and three days
and let's just say that
things look different now
different in so many ways
i used to be a superhero
no one could touch me
not even myself
you are like a phone booth
that i somehow stumbled into
and now look at me
i am just like everybody else
if i was dressed in my best defenses
would you agree to meet me for coffee
if i did my tricks with smoke and mirrors
would you still know which one was me
if i was naked and screaming
on your front lawn
would you turn on the light and come down
screaming, there's the asshole
who did this to me
stripped me of my power
stripped me down
i used to be a superhero
no one could touch me
not even myself
you are like a phone booth
that i somehow stumbled into
and now look at me
i am just like everybody else
yeah you've been gone exactly two weeks
two weeks and three days
and now i'm a different person
different in so many ways
tell me what did you like about me
and don't say my strength and daring
'cuz now i think i'm at your mercy
and it's my first time for this kind of thing
i used to be a superhero
i would swoop down and save me
from myself
but you are like a phone booth
that i somehow stumbled into
and now look at me
i am just like everybody else

you were fresh off the boat from virginia
i had a year in new york city under my belt
we met in a dream
we were both 19
i remember where we were standing
i remember how it felt
2 little girls growing out of their training bras
this little girl breaks furniture, this little girl breaks laws
2 girls together
just a little less alone
this little girl cries wee wee
all the way home

you were always half crazy, now look at you baby
make about as much sense as a nursery rhyme
love is a piano dropped out a four story window
and you were in the wrong place at the wrong time

i don't like your girlfriend, yeah i don't like her
never seen one of your lovers do you so much harm
i loved you first and you know i would prefer
if she didn't empty her syringes into your arm

here comes little naked me padding up to the bathroom door
to find little naked you slumped on the bathroom floor
so i guess i'll just stand here with my back against the wall
while you distilled your whole life down to a 911 call
[chorus]

so now you bring me your bruises
so i can oh and ah at the display
maybe i'm supposed to make one of my famous jokes that makes everything ok
maybe i'm supposed to be the handsome prince who rides up and unties your hands
or maybe i'm supposed to be the furrow-browed friend who thinks she understands

here comes little naked me......[etc]

there's no place in this world where i'll belong when i'm gone.
and i won't know the right from the wrong when i'm gone.
and you won't find me singin' on this song when i'm gone,
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.
and i won't feel the flowing of the time when i'm gone.
all the pleasures of love will not be mine when i'm gone.
my pen won't pour out a lyric line when i'm gone,
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.
and i won't breathe the bracing air when i'm gone.
and i can't even worry 'bout my cares when i'm gone.
won't be asked to do my share when i'm gone.
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.
and i won't be running from the rain when i'm gone.
and i can't even suffer from the pain when i'm gone.
can't say who's to praise and who's to blame when i'm gone,
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.
won't see the golden of the sun when i'm gone.
and the evenings and the mornings will be one when i'm gone.
can't be singing louder than the guns when i'm gone.
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.
all my days won't be dances of delight when i'm gone.
and the sands will be shifting from my sight when i'm gone.
can't add my name into the fight while i'm gone,
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.
and i won't be laughing at the lies when i'm gone.
and i can't question how or when or why when i'm gone.
can't live proud enough to die when i'm gone,
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.

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'r egonna 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

how pleased can one
sun setting make you
if you humble yourself
to it?
how grateful can you
relay say that you are
just to be here and live
through it?
and when beauty asks a question
how often do you reply?
how often do you wonder
about life on the other side?
on the other side of sorrow
on the other side of rage
on the other side of ok
ok at all
in any way
imagine what loneliness
will drive someone to do
now multiply that times me
and multiply that times you
now imagine what it would take to make
this all happen again
and just when you think you're gonna cry
multiply that times ten
you
are distracting me
from all other activities
and i know the fact of your presence
will dominate my memory
of this restaurant this table
this day and this town
cuz i carry you, baby
i carry you around

i've been wondering what you meant when you asked
do you have a light?
i've been wondering where you went when you left
that party that night
cloud blood smudge smeared on the sky
it's dawn's roadkill
i've been driving since midnight
and i'm driving still

stop on the top of the ridge just to feel the wind
on my rand mcnally
then i feel the air go cold as i drift in
to the first blue of the valley
you're wondering how far down you are
on my call back list
but you don't realize everytime i find i'm by a phone
the landscape shifts

every other song someone's trying to write angels
into the wrold
every grace, every ace every near miss
every decent kiss by a pretty girl
she was an angel
she looked like an angel
and all of the angels did sing
the angels were watching
and the angels were listening
and the angels were on hand
to stand in for everything

you can call it magic
when a man pulls a rabbit out of a hat
but the reason i don't call is cuz i wonder
if there isn't a better word than that
and you can call me crazy
but i think you're as lazy
as white paint on a wall
and i know you'll only speak to me in dial tones
if i call

it's been way too long
since i've been behind the wheel
headlights guiding me through the dark i feel
dry eyed trying hard to resist
sleep's first kill
everytime i have time to think
i think of this

life in the circus ain't easy
but the folks on the outside don't know
the tent goes up and the tent comes down
and all that they see is the show
and the laides on the horses look so pretty
and the lions are looking real mad
and some of the clowns are happy
and some of the clowns are sad

but underneath
there's another expression
that the makeup isn't making
life under the big top
it's about freedom
it's about faking
there's an art to the laughter
there's a science
and there's a lot of love
and compliance

welcome to the freakshow
here we go...

we live to hear the slack-jawed gasping
we live under a halo of held breath
and when the children raise up a giant shield
of laughter, it's like they're fending of death
oh and we can make something bigger
than any of us alone
and then the clowns will take of their makeup
and the people will go home

but life on the outside ain't easy
no sequins, no elephants
no parading around
yeah, the circus comes
and the circus goes
and they're stuck in this fucking town

you need a lot of love and compliance

welcome to the freakshow
here we go...

going once, going twice
sold to the girl
who ignored all the advice
of all the people who knew better
she just stood there
on the front porch
waiting for her will
to come and get her

she was packed
she had a suitcase
full of noble intentions
she had a map packed
and a straight face
hell bent on reinvention
and she was ready
for the lonely
she was in it for
it only

going once, going twice
down the road less taken
with her diary and her WD40
and her swiss army knife
and her beer
and there was always
someone there to say
why don't you just stay
and hang your hat here

but she was packed
she had a suitcase
full of bumbles and near misses
and she was swinging
through a jungle
of last calls and first kisses
and she was learning
about please
and huge humilities

then one day she looked around here
and everything up till then was showing
and she wondered how did i get here
without even knowing where i was going?
now there's no getting out of this
and there is no going back
and it all seems so odd sometimes
and the odds all seem stacked

going once, going twice
sold to the girl
who ignored all the advice
of all the people who knew better
she just stood there
on the front porch
waiting for her will
to come and get her

she was packed
she had a suitcase
she had a map packed
and a straight face
she was ready
for the lonely
she was in it for
it only

Hold me down
I am floating away
Into the overcast skies
Over my home town
On election day

What is it about Birmingham?
What is it about buffalo?
Did the hate filled wanna build bunkers
In your beautiful red earth
They want to build them
In our shiny white snow

Now I've drawn closed the curtain
In this little booth where the truth has no place to stand
And I am feeling oh so powerless
In this stupid booth with this useless
Little lever in my hand
And outside my city is bracing
For the next killing thing
Standing by the bridge and praying
For the next doctor
Martin Luther King

It was just one shot
Through the kitchen window
It was just two miles from here
If you fly like a crow
A bullet came to visit a doctor
In his one safe place
A bullet ensuring the right to life
Whizzed past his kid and his wife
And knocked his glasses
Right off of his face

And the blood poured off the pulpit
Yeah the blood poured down the picket lines
Yeah, the hatred was immediate
And the vengence was divine
So they went and stuffed god
Down the barrel of a gun
And after him
They stuffed his only son

Hello birmingham
It's buffalo
I heard you had some trouble
Down there again
And I'm just calling to let to know
That someone understands

I was once escorted
Through the doors of a clinic
By a man in a bulletproof vest
And no bombs went off that day
So I am still here to say Birmingham
I'm wishing you all of my best
Oh Birmingham
I'm wishing you all of my best
Oh Birmingham
I'm wishing you all of my best on this election day

i know this bar
with a jukebox full of medicine
and christmas lights blinking
around a clouded mirror
it's not that far
from old voelkers bowling alley
just go up there and turn right
it's about three blocks from here

you'll probably find grace
her shift starts at happy hour
she's got this sweet face
easy as tea leaves to read
you gotta know what to look for
you gotta know what's there to find
but then i guess you don't really know her
so nevermind

i used to hang out a lot around here
in that part of town
where all the white kids
still have feathered hair

i know this song
with this one really killer line
i don't remember it exactly
but it slays me every time
it's on the jukebox there
i know it's number 5403
go put that song on for me won't you
and make gracie think of me

who knew
at this party that
i would walk in and i'd see you
i guess now
we could just get drunk
yeah, and that could be our excuse
you could slip
and outta nowhere
i could be there to catch your fall
and we could laugh
at ourselves
and the writing that's on the wall

it's a narrow margin
just room enough for regret
in the inch and a half between
hey, how ya been?
and
can i kiss you yet?
so we talk like
nervous neighbors over a tall fence
true love
but for the lack of providence

but i just got one more
thing to tell you
cuz words are vitamins
and life is short
and i know when we get up
to the front office
we're gonna have to fill out
a full report
the first question will be
what were you thinking?
and the next question will be
what did you say?
and then they're gonna check to see
if the answers to one and two
matched up much
along the way

in the interest of poetry
and the cowboy movie
that's you and me
i'm back on the horse now
and i am riding
i am striding so effortlessly
what i mean is
it's late
much too late for us
and i'm fixing to go home
with just my conscience
and a bitter sense of irony
as my chaperone

i don't keep much stuff around
i value my portability
but i will say that i have saved
every letter you ever wrote to me
the one you left on my windshield
outside of that little motel
is in the pocket of my old gig bag
from back when life was more soft shell

letters littered with little lewd pictures
drawn by the ghost of woody guthrie
who would use you big thick hand
just to draw one or two for me

i think of your letters as love letters
which is how i think of songs
in that it is the writing of them
that tends to carry us along
and i danced to one of your old tunes
with my true love on our wedding day
and you voice sang the way my heart would sing
if it finally knew just what to say

two people pulled over on the same night
to look up at the same stars
they both found their wheels were spinning
in a soft shoulder
when they both got back into their cars
and they missed fates appointed rendezvous
and then a whole lotta time wnet by
and then one day they were done
worshipping the landscape
and they just put down their hands
and moved into the sky

they had barely said hello and it was time to say goodbye

are you weary as water
in a faucet left dripping
with an incessant sadness
like a sad record skipping
and an ugly and ornery
and shadowy dread
lurking like a troll under the bridge
between your heart and your head

she came to and her
whole life was how she remembered it
she had a mouth full of fur
and she was laughing
she parked her hearse across
three spaces posted "motorcycles only"
and jumped out shouting
what the cus could make a nice girl like us
feel so lonely?

are you weary as water
in a faucet left dripping
with an incessant sadness
like a sad record skipping
and an ugly and ornery
and shadowy dread
lurking like a troll under the bridge
between your heart and your head

please dumb blind kind sir
lend little miss listless just a little bit of christmas
she's been a real good girl
but now she's stuck here
the world is so little and still
mysterious and ominous as ever before
like an unmarked bottle full of pills
on the shelf right next to the thing
you were reaching for

are you weary as water
in a faucet left dripping
with an incessant sadness
like a sad record skipping
and an ugly and ornery
and shadowy dread
lurking like a troll under the bridge
between your heart and your head

swing the groove 'round here
where i can reach it
when i get my ass back on track
i'm gonna need it
swing shift til i get the money
to buy me and my baby a moon full of honey
then i'm gonna turn off the nagging voices
inside my head
that follow me to bed and say (you suck)

are you weary as water (what'd you do that for?)
in a faucet left dripping
with an incessant sadness
like a sad record skipping
and an ugly and ornery
and shadowy dread
lurking like a troll under the bridge
between your heart and your head
(end of radio version rest is only on To the Teeth)
if you diggin on the sound (break it down down)
no walls up break it down (break it down down)
happiness spread it all around (break it down down)
racist stomp it in the ground (break it down down)
so if you diggin on the sound (break it down down)
no walls up break it down (break it down down)
ignorance stomp it in the ground (break it down down)
then happiness spread it all around (break it down down)

tcha who said funk and hip hop can't match
put us together on a stage and like a match
KABOOM guess who stepped in the room
sweepin ya off ya feel like we had a broom
with ani difranco and Maceo.
add a little freestyle flow and who knows
put a little scratchin into the mix and
its enough to get you high if you need a fixin

if you diggin on the sound (break it down down)
no walls up break it down (break it down down)
ignorance stomp it in the ground (break it down down)
happiness spread it all around (break it down down)
if you diggin on the sound (break it down down)
no walls up break it down (break it down down)
happiness spread it all around (break it down down)
racist stomp it in the ground (break it down down)
break it down down down down (fades out)

the sun is setting on the century
and we armed to the teeth
we're all working together now
to make our lives mercifully brief
schoolkids keep trying to teach us
what guns are all about
confuse liberty with weaponry
and watch your kids act it out
every year now like christmas
some boy gets the milkfed suburban blues
reaches for the available arsenal
and saunters off to make the news
and the women in the middle
arelearning what poor women have always known
that the edge is closer than you think
whe your men bring the guns home

look at where the profits are
that's how you'll find the source
of the big lie that you and i
both know so well
in the time it take this cultural
death wish to run its course
they're gonna make a pretty penny
and then they're all going to hell
he said the chickens all come home to roost
yeah malcolm forecasted this flood
are we really gonna sleep through another century
while the rich profit off our blood?
true it may take some doing
to see this undoing through
but in my humble opinion
here's what i suggest we do

open fire on hollywood
open fire on MTV
open fire on NBC
and CBS and ABC
open fire on the NRA
and all the lies they told us
along the way
open fire on each weapons manufacturer
while he's giving head
to some republican senator

and if i hear one more time
about a fool's right
to his tools of rage
i'm gonna take all my friends
and i'm gonna move to canada
and we're gonna die of old age

i am losing my love for adventure
i'm losing all respect
for me and myself tonight
i wonder what happens if i get to
the end of this tunnel
and there isn't a light
i've worn down the treads
on all of my tires
i've worn through the elbows
and the knees of my clothing
i am stumbling down
the gravel driveway of desire
trying not to wake up
my sleeping self-loathing

do you ever have that dream
where you open your mouth
and you try to scream
but you can't make a sound
that's every day starting now
that's every day starting now

don't tell me it's gonna be alright
you can't sell me on your optimism tonight

it's stiff competition
to see who can stay up later
the stars or the street lights
all they really want
is to be alone with the darkness
no more wish i may
no more wish i might

it takes a stiff upper lip
just to hold up my face
i got to suck it up and savor
the taste of my own behavior
i am spinning with longing
faster than a roulette wheel
this is not who i meant to be
this is not how i meant to feel

i don't think i am strong enough
to do this much longer
god i wish i was stronger
this song could never be long enough
to express every longing
god i wish it was longer

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
you probably don't realize 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

I opened the fire door
to four lips
none of which were mine
kissing
tightened my belt around my hips
where your hands were missing
and stepped out into the cold
collar high
under the slate grey sky
the air was smoking and the streets were dry
and I wasn't joking when I said
Good Bye
magazine quality men talking on the corner
French, no less much less of them then us
so why do I feel like something's been rearranged?
you know, taken out of context I must seem so strange
killed a cockroach so big
it left a puddle of pus on the wall
when you and I are lying in bed
you don't seem so tall
I'm singing now because my tear ducts are too tired
and my mind is disconnected but my heart is wired
I make such a good statistic
someone should study me now
somebody's got to be interested in how I feel
just 'cause I'm here
and I'm real
oh, how I miss
substituting the conclusion to confrontation with a kiss
and oh, how I miss
walking up to the edge and jumping in
like I could feel the future on your skin
I opened the fire door
to four lips
none of which were mine
kissing

I opened the fire door x 9

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

some days 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 restaurant
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

how come i can pick my ears
but not my nose
who made up that rule anyway
how can you say that's the way it is
that's just the way it goes
why don't you decide for yourself
what you can do
and what you can say

how come i can pick my friends
but not my enemies
what is it about me that offends
what is it about me
'cause you know i'm only five foot two
and i'm giggly wiggly
tell me again, what did i do
why are you scared of me
i fight with love
and i laugh with rage
you've gotta live light enough
to see the humor
and long enough to see some change

i think shy is boring
i think depressed is too
i think pretty is nice
but i'd rather see something new
all these plastic people
got their plastic surgery
but we got a big big beautiful
we got it for free
who you gonna be
if you can't be yourself
you can't get it from t.v.
you can't force it on
anybody else

you know they come to clear cut
they come to strip mine
they come for some of my big butt
my big brain
or just a little time
they wanna take me out to dinner
think i'm a bitch if i don't go
seems like the people who actually like me
won't allow me to say no
your idea of a conversation
is the third degree
but i don't really know you
and i don't really want to talk about me

'cause i'm not going to pretend
that i don't pick my nose
that's just the way it is, my friends
that's just the way it goes
this is who i am
what i do
and what i say
if you like it, let it be
if you don't, please do the same
i fight with love
i laugh with rage
you gotta live light enough to see the humor
and long enough to see some change

Tending the garden of noise
where i grow the traffic
and the church bells
and the neighborhood boys
singing to myself
when the solitude sets in
in tune with the symphony
of south brooklyn
i sing

rockabye, rockabye baby
rockabye, the baby that is me
rockabye, rockabye baby
rockabye till i'm fast asleep

the tunnel is train torn
the tracks are worn and sore
i can feel the rattle
riding up through the floor
she jumped the turnstile
he paid for his ride
i am the echo in the station
where their footfalls collide
i left her at the epicenter
we were trembling dutifully
i left him too
i left parts of me
singing...

rockabye, rockabye baby
rockabye, the baby that is me
rockabye, rockabye baby
rockabye till i'm fast asleep (repeats)

i said today i am leaving
in every sense of the word
but i'm in love with your memory already
everything i've seen and heard
and i will go singing
as the solitude sets in
in time with the rhythm
of everywhere i have been
it sounds like

rockabye, rockabye baby
rockabye, the baby that is me
rockabye, rockabye baby
rockabye till i'm fast asleep (repeats x3)

tending the garden of noise
where i grow the traffic
and the church bells
and the neighborhood boys
singing to myself
when the solitude sets in
in tune with the symphony
of south brooklyn.

Lots of folks back East, they say, is leavin' home every day,
Beatin' the hot old dusty way to the California line.
'Cross the desert sands they roll, gettin' out of that old dust bowl,
They think they're goin' to a sugar bowl, but here's what they find --
Now, the police at the port of entry say,
"You're number fourteen thousand for today."

CHORUS:
Oh, if you ain't got the do re mi, folks, you ain't got the do re mi,
Why, you better go back to beautiful Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee.
California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see;
But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot
If you ain't got the do re mi.
You want to buy you a home or a farm, that can't deal nobody harm,
Or take your vacation by the mountains or sea.
Don't swap your old cow for a car, you better stay right where you are,
Better take this little tip from me.
'Cause I look through the want ads every day
But the headlines on the papers always say:
If you ain't got the do re mi, boys, you ain't got the do re mi,
Why, you better go back to beautiful Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee.
California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see;
But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot
If you ain't got the do re mi.

Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall.
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood,
Cries out, "My God, they killed them all!"
Here comes the story of the Hurricane,
The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done.
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.
Three bodies lyin' there does Patty see
And another man named Bello, movin' around mysteriously.
"I didn't do it," he says, and he throws up his hands
"I was only robbin' the register, I hope you understand.
I saw them leavin'," he says, and he stops
"One of us had better call up the cops."
And so Patty calls the cops
And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin'
In the hot New Jersey night.
Meanwhile, far away in another part of town
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin' around.
Number one contender for the middleweight crown
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
Just like the time before and the time before that.
In Paterson that's just the way things go.
If you're black you might as well not show up on the street
'Less you wanna draw the heat.
Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops.
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin' around
He said, "I saw two men runnin' out, they looked like middleweights
They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates."
And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head.
Cop said, "Wait a minute, boys, this one's not dead"
So they took him to the infirmary
And though this man could hardly see
They told him that he could identify the guilty men.
Four in the mornin' and they haul Rubin in,
Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs.
The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye
Says, "Wha'd you bring him in here for? He ain't the guy!"
Yes, here's the story of the Hurricane,
The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done.
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.
Four months later, the ghettos are in flame,
Rubin's in South America, fightin' for his name
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game
And the cops are puttin' the screws to him, lookin' for somebody to blame.
"Remember that murder that happened in a bar?"
"Remember you said you saw the getaway car?"
"You think you'd like to play ball with the law?"
"Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin' that night?"
"Don't forget that you are white."
Arthur Dexter Bradley said, "I'm really not sure."
Cops said, "A poor boy like you could use a break
We got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to your friend Bello
Now you don't wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow.
You'll be doin' society a favor.
That sonofabitch is brave and gettin' braver.
We want to put his ass in stir
We want to pin this triple murder on him
He ain't no Gentleman Jim."
Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
But he never did like to talk about it all that much.
It's my work, he'd say, and I do it for pay
And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way
Up to some paradise
Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
And ride a horse along a trail.
But then they took him to the jailhouse
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse.
All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance.
The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger.
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger.
And though they could not produce the gun,
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
And the all-white jury agreed.
Rubin Carter was falsely tried.
The crime was murder "one," guess who testified?
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride.
How can the life of such a man
Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
To see him obviously framed
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
Where justice is a game.
Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
An innocent man in a living hell.
That's the story of the Hurricane,
But it won't be over till they clear his name
And give him back the time he's done.
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.

are you weary as water
in a faucet left dripping
with an incessant sadness
like a sad record skipping
and an ugly and ornery
and shadowy dread
lurking like a troll under the bridge
between your heart and your head

she came to and her
whole life was how she remembered it
she had a mouth full of fur
and she was laughing
she parked her hearse across
three spaces posted "motorcycles only"
and jumped out shouting
what the cus could make a nice girl like us
feel so lonely?

are you weary as water
in a faucet left dripping
with an incessant sadness
like a sad record skipping
and an ugly and ornery
and shadowy dread
lurking like a troll under the bridge
between your heart and your head

please dumb blind kind sir
lend little miss listless just a little bit of christmas
she's been a real good girl
but now she's stuck here
the world is so little and still
mysterious and ominous as ever before
like an unmarked bottle full of pills
on the shelf right next to the thing
you were reaching for

are you weary as water
in a faucet left dripping
with an incessant sadness
like a sad record skipping
and an ugly and ornery
and shadowy dread
lurking like a troll under the bridge
between your heart and your head

swing the groove 'round here
where i can reach it
when i get my ass back on track
i'm gonna need it
swing shift til i get the money
to buy me and my baby a moon full of honey
then i'm gonna turn off the nagging voices
inside my head
that follow me to bed and say (you suck)

are you weary as water (what'd you do that for?)
in a faucet left dripping
with an incessant sadness
like a sad record skipping
and an ugly and ornery
and shadowy dread
lurking like a troll under the bridge
between your heart and your head
(end of radio version rest is only on To the Teeth)
if you diggin on the sound (break it down down)
no walls up break it down (break it down down)
happiness spread it all around (break it down down)
racist stomp it in the ground (break it down down)
so if you diggin on the sound (break it down down)
no walls up break it down (break it down down)
ignorance stomp it in the ground (break it down down)
then happiness spread it all around (break it down down)

tcha who said funk and hip hop can't match
put us together on a stage and like a match
KABOOM guess who stepped in the room
sweepin ya off ya feel like we had a broom
with ani difranco and Maceo.
add a little freestyle flow and who knows
put a little scratchin into the mix and
its enough to get you high if you need a fixin

if you diggin on the sound (break it down down)
no walls up break it down (break it down down)
ignorance stomp it in the ground (break it down down)
happiness spread it all around (break it down down)
if you diggin on the sound (break it down down)
no walls up break it down (break it down down)
happiness spread it all around (break it down down)
racist stomp it in the ground (break it down down)
break it down down down down (fades out)

are you weary as water
in a faucet left dripping
with an incessant sadness
like a sad record skipping
and an ugly and ornery
and shadowy dread
lurking like a troll under the bridge
between your heart and your head

she came to and her
whole life was how she remembered it
she had a mouth full of fur
and she was laughing
she parked her hearse across
three spaces posted "motorcycles only"
and jumped out shouting
what the cus could make a nice girl like us
feel so lonely?

are you weary as water
in a faucet left dripping
with an incessant sadness
like a sad record skipping
and an ugly and ornery
and shadowy dread
lurking like a troll under the bridge
between your heart and your head

please dumb blind kind sir
lend little miss listless just a little bit of christmas
she's been a real good girl
but now she's stuck here
the world is so little and still
mysterious and ominous as ever before
like an unmarked bottle full of pills
on the shelf right next to the thing
you were reaching for

are you weary as water
in a faucet left dripping
with an incessant sadness
like a sad record skipping
and an ugly and ornery
and shadowy dread
lurking like a troll under the bridge
between your heart and your head

swing the groove 'round here
where i can reach it
when i get my ass back on track
i'm gonna need it
swing shift til i get the money
to buy me and my baby a moon full of honey
then i'm gonna turn off the nagging voices
inside my head
that follow me to bed and say (you suck)

are you weary as water (what'd you do that for?)
in a faucet left dripping
with an incessant sadness
like a sad record skipping
and an ugly and ornery
and shadowy dread
lurking like a troll under the bridge
between your heart and your head
(end of radio version rest is only on To the Teeth)
if you diggin on the sound (break it down down)
no walls up break it down (break it down down)
happiness spread it all around (break it down down)
racist stomp it in the ground (break it down down)
so if you diggin on the sound (break it down down)
no walls up break it down (break it down down)
ignorance stomp it in the ground (break it down down)
then happiness spread it all around (break it down down)

tcha who said funk and hip hop can't match
put us together on a stage and like a match
KABOOM guess who stepped in the room
sweepin ya off ya feel like we had a broom
with ani difranco and Maceo.
add a little freestyle flow and who knows
put a little scratchin into the mix and
its enough to get you high if you need a fixin

if you diggin on the sound (break it down down)
no walls up break it down (break it down down)
ignorance stomp it in the ground (break it down down)
happiness spread it all around (break it down down)
if you diggin on the sound (break it down down)
no walls up break it down (break it down down)
happiness spread it all around (break it down down)
racist stomp it in the ground (break it down down)
break it down down down down (fades out)

the sun is setting on the century
and we armed to the teeth
we're all working together now
to make our lives mercifully brief
schoolkids keep trying to teach us
what guns are all about
confuse liberty with weaponry
and watch your kids act it out
every year now like christmas
some boy gets the milkfed suburban blues
reaches for the available arsenal
and saunters off to make the news
and the women in the middle
arelearning what poor women have always known
that the edge is closer than you think
whe your men bring the guns home

look at where the profits are
that's how you'll find the source
of the big lie that you and i
both know so well
in the time it take this cultural
death wish to run its course
they're gonna make a pretty penny
and then they're all going to hell
he said the chickens all come home to roost
yeah malcolm forecasted this flood
are we really gonna sleep through another century
while the rich profit off our blood?
true it may take some doing
to see this undoing through
but in my humble opinion
here's what i suggest we do

open fire on hollywood
open fire on MTV
open fire on NBC
and CBS and ABC
open fire on the NRA
and all the lies they told us
along the way
open fire on each weapons manufacturer
while he's giving head
to some republican senator

and if i hear one more time
about a fool's right
to his tools of rage
i'm gonna take all my friends
and i'm gonna move to canada
and we're gonna die of old age

there's no place in this world where i'll belong when i'm gone.
and i won't know the right from the wrong when i'm gone.
and you won't find me singin' on this song when i'm gone,
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.
and i won't feel the flowing of the time when i'm gone.
all the pleasures of love will not be mine when i'm gone.
my pen won't pour out a lyric line when i'm gone,
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.
and i won't breathe the bracing air when i'm gone.
and i can't even worry 'bout my cares when i'm gone.
won't be asked to do my share when i'm gone.
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.
and i won't be running from the rain when i'm gone.
and i can't even suffer from the pain when i'm gone.
can't say who's to praise and who's to blame when i'm gone,
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.
won't see the golden of the sun when i'm gone.
and the evenings and the mornings will be one when i'm gone.
can't be singing louder than the guns when i'm gone.
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.
all my days won't be dances of delight when i'm gone.
and the sands will be shifting from my sight when i'm gone.
can't add my name into the fight while i'm gone,
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.
and i won't be laughing at the lies when i'm gone.
and i can't question how or when or why when i'm gone.
can't live proud enough to die when i'm gone,
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.

i love you
and you love me
and ain't that the way
it's supposed to be?

i swing my stick legs 'round at the root
and pile drive each foot into a platform boot
and i'm up and i'm out
cuz i'm bouncing off the walls
and i come when i'm called
and you called

i got a super-cute three-piece suit
one piece for your body
one piece for your smile
one more little piece
if you stay a while

i gotta beeline double time
leave my home sweet home for your honeycomb
then i show up steady, ready and proud
and i find i've forgotten how to talk out loud

isn't it just like you
to bring me to my knees
in my brand new stockings
while the cat is out with my tongue
isn't it just like you
to bring me to my knees
in my brand new stockings
love makes me feel so dumb

she was cuffed to the truth like the truth was a chair
bright interrogation light in her eyes
her conscience lit a cigarette and just stood there
waiting for her to crack
waiting for her to cry
his face scampered through her mind
like a roach across a wall
it made her heart soar
it made her skin crawl
they said, we got this confession we just need for you to sign
why don't you just cooperate and make this easier on us all

there was light and then there was darkness
but there was no line in between
and asking her heart for guidance
was like pleading with a machine
'cause joy, it has its own justice
and dreams are languid and lawless
and everything bows to beauty
when it is fierce
and when it is flawless

on the table were two ziploc baggies
containing her eyes and her smile
they said, we're keeping these as evidence
'til this thing goes to trial
meanwhile anguish was fingering solace
in another room down the hall
both were love's accomplices
but solace took the fall

now look at her book of days
it's the same on every page
and she's got a little tin cup with her heart in it
to bang along the bars of her rib cage
bang along the bars of her rib cage

she was cuffed to the truth like the truth was a chair
bright interrogation light in her eyes
her conscience lit a cigarette and just stood there
waiting for her to crack
waiting for her to cry
his face scampered through her mind
like a roach across a wall
it made her heart soar
it made her skin crawl
they said, we got this confession we just need for you to sign
why don't you just cooperate and make this easier on us all

there was light and then there was darkness
but there was no line in between
and asking her heart for guidance
was like pleading with a machine
'cause joy, it has its own justice
and dreams are languid and lawless
and everything bows to beauty
when it is fierce
and when it is flawless

on the table were two ziploc baggies
containing her eyes and her smile
they said, we're keeping these as evidence
'til this thing goes to trial
meanwhile anguish was fingering solace
in another room down the hall
both were love's accomplices
but solace took the fall

now look at her book of days
it's the same on every page
and she's got a little tin cup with her heart in it
to bang along the bars of her rib cage
bang along the bars of her rib cage

some crazy fucker carved a sculpture out of butter
and propped it up in the middle of the bonanza breakfast bar
and i am stuffing toast and sausage into my pockets
under a sign that says grand opening
while my dog is waiting in the car

i wake up, i check out
i fill the tank and wash the windshield clean
then i'm back out on the highway
and BANG that's when i remember my dream:

we were standing in a garden
and i had a machine that made silence
it just sucked up the whole opinionated din
and there were no people on the payroll
and there were no monkeys on our backs
and i said, show me what you look like
without skin

science chases money
and money chases its tail
and the best minds of my generation
can't make bail
but the bacteria are coming to take us down
that's my prediction
it's the answer to this culture
of the quick fix prescription

but in the garden of simple
where all of us are nameless
you were never anything but beautiful to me
and, you know, they never really owned you
you just carried them around
and then one day you put 'em down
and found your hands were free

so now it's early in the morning
at the longitude of memphis
and the sun is setting sweetly on hong kong
and the big plan is just to keep spinning
cuz the big bang is only just beginning
and sometimes it's all that we can do just to hang on

and what i meant to say is xxoo which means i'm thinking of ya
which means i've been thinking of you
all along

some crazy fucker carved a sculpture out of butter
and propped it up in the middle of the bonanza breakfast bar
and i am stuffing toast and sausage into my pockets
under a sign that says grand opening
while my dog is waiting in the car

i wake up, i check out
i fill the tank and wash the windshield clean
then i'm back out on the highway
and BANG that's when i remember my dream:

we were standing in a garden
and i had a machine that made silence
it just sucked up the whole opinionated din
and there were no people on the payroll
and there were no monkeys on our backs
and i said, show me what you look like
without skin

science chases money
and money chases its tail
and the best minds of my generation
can't make bail
but the bacteria are coming to take us down
that's my prediction
it's the answer to this culture
of the quick fix prescription

but in the garden of simple
where all of us are nameless
you were never anything but beautiful to me
and, you know, they never really owned you
you just carried them around
and then one day you put 'em down
and found your hands were free

so now it's early in the morning
at the longitude of memphis
and the sun is setting sweetly on hong kong
and the big plan is just to keep spinning
cuz the big bang is only just beginning
and sometimes it's all that we can do just to hang on

and what i meant to say is xxoo which means i'm thinking of ya
which means i've been thinking of you
all along

the sky is grey
the sand is grey
and the ocean is grey

and 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 key
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 only got three
simple things to say:
why me?
why this now?
why this way?
with overtones ringing
and undertows 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

the sky is grey
the sand is grey
and the ocean is grey

and 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 key
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 only got three
simple things to say:
why me?
why this now?
why this way?
with overtones ringing
and undertows 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

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

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

imagine that i am onstage
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

then suddenly 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
pretend i've been standing here
watching you watching me
all this time
now imagine that you are the weather
in the tiny snow globe of this song
and i am the statue of liberty
one inch long

so here i am at my most hungry
and here i am at my most full
here i am waving a red cape
locking eyes with a bull

just imagine that i am onstage
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

imagine that i am onstage
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

then suddenly 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
pretend i've been standing here
watching you watching me
all this time
now imagine that you are the weather
in the tiny snow globe of this song
and i am the statue of liberty
one inch long

so here i am at my most hungry
and here i am at my most full
here i am waving a red cape
locking eyes with a bull

just imagine that i am onstage
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

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 clouds.

of 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 new things
to admire about you...
you

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 clouds.

of 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 new things
to admire about you...
you

i love us both but i don't feel good
so i keep pulling over
and looking under
the hood
i love us both but i'm at wit's end
where does your compromise begin
and mine end?
i love us both but what
world's it gonna be?
the one according to you
or the one according to me?

i don't feel good so ...
now do my problems include
talks with doctors who don't even understand
about food?
i think in ancient china they kinda
figured out how the body works
but our culture is just a roughneck
teenage jerk
with a bottle of pills
and a bottle of booze
and a full round of ammunition
and nothing to lose

and is it really the best we can do
to arm wrestle over whose world it's gonna be?
(the one according to you
or the one according to me)

i love us both and i'll see ya
if you'll see me
so ... who are we?

i love us both but i don't feel good
so i keep pulling over
and looking under
the hood
i love us both but i'm at wit's end
where does your compromise begin
and mine end?
i love us both but what
world's it gonna be?
the one according to you
or the one according to me?

i don't feel good so ...
now do my problems include
talks with doctors who don't even understand
about food?
i think in ancient china they kinda
figured out how the body works
but our culture is just a roughneck
teenage jerk
with a bottle of pills
and a bottle of booze
and a full round of ammunition
and nothing to lose

and is it really the best we can do
to arm wrestle over whose world it's gonna be?
(the one according to you
or the one according to me)

i love us both and i'll see ya
if you'll see me
so ... who are we?

the answer came
like a shot in the back
while you were running from your lesson
which might explain
why years later all you could remember
was the terror of the question
plus, you weren't listening
you were stockpiling canned goods
making a bomb shelter of our basement
and i can't believe you let the moral go by
while you were soaking in the product placement

where was your conscience?
where was your consciousness?
and where did you put all those letters
that you wrote to yourself
but could not address?

i'm a good kisser
and you're a fast learner
and that kinda thing could float us
for a pretty long time
then one day you'd realize
you've memorized my phone number
and you'll call it and find it's a disconnected line
cuz i got tossed out the window of love's el camino
and i shattered into a shower of sparks on the curb
you were smoking me
weren't you?
between your yellow fingers
you just inhaled and exhaled without saying a word

where was your conscience?
where was your consciousness?
and where did you put all those letters
that you wrote to yourself
but could not address?

there's a smorgasbord of unspoken poisons
a whole childhood of potions
that are all bottled up
and so one by one i am dusting off labels
i am uncorking bottles and filling up cups
so go ahead and have a taste of your own medicine
and i'll have a taste of mine
but first let's toast to the lists
that we hold in our fists
of the things that we promise to do
differently next time

cuz the answer came like a shot in the back
while you were running from your lesson
which might explain
why years later all you could remember
was the terror of the question
plus i'm not listening to you anymore
my head is too sore and my heart's perforated
and i'm mired in the marrow of my (well... ain't that) funny bone
learning how to be alone and devastated
where was my conscience?
where was my consciousness?
and what do i do with all these letters
that i wrote to myself
but cannot address?

the answer came
like a shot in the back
while you were running from your lesson
which might explain
why years later all you could remember
was the terror of the question
plus, you weren't listening
you were stockpiling canned goods
making a bomb shelter of our basement
and i can't believe you let the moral go by
while you were soaking in the product placement

where was your conscience?
where was your consciousness?
and where did you put all those letters
that you wrote to yourself
but could not address?

i'm a good kisser
and you're a fast learner
and that kinda thing could float us
for a pretty long time
then one day you'd realize
you've memorized my phone number
and you'll call it and find it's a disconnected line
cuz i got tossed out the window of love's el camino
and i shattered into a shower of sparks on the curb
you were smoking me
weren't you?
between your yellow fingers
you just inhaled and exhaled without saying a word

where was your conscience?
where was your consciousness?
and where did you put all those letters
that you wrote to yourself
but could not address?

there's a smorgasbord of unspoken poisons
a whole childhood of potions
that are all bottled up
and so one by one i am dusting off labels
i am uncorking bottles and filling up cups
so go ahead and have a taste of your own medicine
and i'll have a taste of mine
but first let's toast to the lists
that we hold in our fists
of the things that we promise to do
differently next time

cuz the answer came like a shot in the back
while you were running from your lesson
which might explain
why years later all you could remember
was the terror of the question
plus i'm not listening to you anymore
my head is too sore and my heart's perforated
and i'm mired in the marrow of my (well... ain't that) funny bone
learning how to be alone and devastated
where was my conscience?
where was my consciousness?
and what do i do with all these letters
that i wrote to myself
but cannot address?

*O.K. - Ani Difranco


If you ask me
I'll say
Yes, please
To you today
So don't ask me
Cus I'm weak that way
Just don't ask me
O.K .

I'm so glad we got that
straightened away (x2)

If you see me
Walk by
You better just let me
Walk by
You better not
Bat your pretty eyes
You better not
Stop me to say, Hi

I got a sweet tooth today
So you better not cut that pie (x2)

If you ask me
I'll say
Yes, please
To you today
So don't ask me
Cus I'm weak that way
Just don't ask me
O.K .

If you ask me
I'll say yes please to you today
So don't ask me
'cause I'm weak that way
Just don't ask me o.k.

I'm so glad we got that straightened away

If you see me walk by
You better just let me walk by
You better not bat your pretty eyes


You better not stop me to say hi

I got a sweet tooth today
So you better not cut that pie

If you ask me
I'll say yes please to you today
So don't ask me
'cause I'm weak that way
Just don't ask me o.k.

i'll sing you a song that starts out descriptive
and locates a time and a place
like a dinner table where a whole family
is just sitting down to say grace
an old old song that moves into action
taking its sweet sweet time
and waits until we all say amen
again and again in rhyme

it's the story of a father and a mother
who battle each other over nothin'
with a couple of kids trying to figure
which way the plot's spinning
who's winning and who is bluffing

it's a story as common as a penny, son
it ain't really worth anything to anyone

poor little sore little song
that aches like a muscle each time that it moves
sad little song that you play
and you play and you play
and you play 'til you lose
while history is outside writing a recipe book
for every earthly pain
this song is inside finger painting dark swirls
again and again and they all look the same

cuz what if you come home from school one day
and you find your whole family's at war
and there's this ominous silence just waiting to be broken
and there's secret places for hiding underneath the floorboards
and everyone seems to be bracing
for the subharmonic thunder of the next bomb
and everyone seems to be waiting for the cops to bust in
with their guns drawn
at the bleak light of dawn

it's a story as common as a penny, son
i don't think it's worth anything to anyone

i'll sing you a song that starts out descriptive
and locates a time and a place
like a dinner table where a whole family
is just sitting down to say grace
an old old song that moves into action
taking its sweet sweet time
and waits until we all say amen
again and again in rhyme

it's the story of a father and a mother
who battle each other over nothin'
with a couple of kids trying to figure
which way the plot's spinning
who's winning and who is bluffing

it's a story as common as a penny, son
it ain't really worth anything to anyone

poor little sore little song
that aches like a muscle each time that it moves
sad little song that you play
and you play and you play
and you play 'til you lose
while history is outside writing a recipe book
for every earthly pain
this song is inside finger painting dark swirls
again and again and they all look the same

cuz what if you come home from school one day
and you find your whole family's at war
and there's this ominous silence just waiting to be broken
and there's secret places for hiding underneath the floorboards
and everyone seems to be bracing
for the subharmonic thunder of the next bomb
and everyone seems to be waiting for the cops to bust in
with their guns drawn
at the bleak light of dawn

it's a story as common as a penny, son
i don't think it's worth anything to anyone

you can doubt anything
if you think about it long enough
cuz what happened always adjusts to fit
what happened after that
and it's hard to feel like you are free
when all you seem to do is referee
remember when it was just you and me
steppin' up to bat?

and win or lose
just that you choose this little war
is what kills you
and either/or it's that this war
is maybe also what thrills you

we thought we left possession behind
but truth is i was yours and you were mine
and now i've replayed a thousand times
exactly what was said
cuz nothing is as it appears
in the funhouse mirrors of your fears
on the roller coaster of all these years
with your hands above your head

and win or lose
just that you choose this little war
is what kills you
and either/or it's that this war
is maybe also what thrills you

i don't care how fast you run
just tell me, baby, that when you're done
with your little marathon
you still got cab fare home
cuz the finish line is a shifty thing
and what is life but reckoning
and, you know
you are still the song i sing
to myself
when i'm alone

and win or lose just that we choose
this little war is what kills us
and either/or it's that this war
is maybe also what thrills us

you can doubt anything
if you think about it long enough
cuz what happened always adjusts to fit
what happened after that
and it's hard to feel like you are free
when all you seem to do is referee
remember when it was just you and me
steppin' up to bat?

and win or lose
just that you choose this little war
is what kills you
and either/or it's that this war
is maybe also what thrills you

we thought we left possession behind
but truth is i was yours and you were mine
and now i've replayed a thousand times
exactly what was said
cuz nothing is as it appears
in the funhouse mirrors of your fears
on the roller coaster of all these years
with your hands above your head

and win or lose
just that you choose this little war
is what kills you
and either/or it's that this war
is maybe also what thrills you

i don't care how fast you run
just tell me, baby, that when you're done
with your little marathon
you still got cab fare home
cuz the finish line is a shifty thing
and what is life but reckoning
and, you know
you are still the song i sing
to myself
when i'm alone

and win or lose just that we choose
this little war is what kills us
and either/or it's that this war
is maybe also what thrills us

you were so in love
that it was all you could talk about
and i think i felt a little left out
you were on cloud 9 all the time
while i was levelling
i was wringing my hands and you were revelling

but then why shouldn't you?
it was such a beautiful thing to do

would that i could get me some
of your yum yum delirium
i could level off the ground that we stand on
but with you down on bended knee
always looking up at me
that feeling of standing up together is gone

and though i love you through all time and space
my love always seems to take second place

you were so in love
that it was all you could talk about
and i think i felt a little left out
you were on cloud 9 all the time
while i was levelling
i was wringing my hands and you were revelling

but then why shouldn't you?
it was such a beautiful thing to do