the slant

by ani

the slant
a building settling around me
my figure female framed crookedly
in the threshold
of the room
door scraping floorboards
with every opening
carving a rough history
of bedroom scenes
the plot hard to follow
the text obscured
in the folds of sheets
slowly gathering the stains
of seasons spent lying there
red and brown
like leaves fallen
the colors of an eternal cycle
fading with the
wash cycle
and the rinse cycle
again an unfamiliar smell
like my name misspelled
or misspoken
a cycle broken
the sound of them strong
stalking talking about their prey
like the way hammer meets nail
pounding, they say
pounding out the rhythms of attraction
like a woman was a drum like a body was a weapon
like there was something more they wanted
than the journey
like it was owed to them
steel toed they walk
and i'm wondering why this fear of men
maybe it's because i'm hungry
and like a baby i'm dependent on them
to feed me
i am a work in progress
dressed in the fabric of a world unfolding
offering me intricate patterns of questions
rhythms that never come clean
and strengths that you still haven't seen

origami

by ani difranco

i am an all powerful amazon warrior
not just some sniveling girl
so no matter what i think i need
you know i can't possibly
have a need in this world

come and come for that sweet sweetness
i'll be your never ending vending machine
i could never need to be alone
never need to be my own
as much as you need your queen

i know men are delicate
origami creatures
who need women to unfold them
hold them when they cry
but i am tired of being your savior
and i am tired of telling you why

and since when did this me me me
become the be all and end all of me
oh listen to you talk to me
long time love has got to breathe, babe
you got to let it ebb and flow
if you want a ball to bounce
you gotta let it go
just let it go

i know men are delicate
origami creatures
who need women to unfold them
hold them when they cry
but i am tired of being your savior
and i am tired of telling you why

shroud

by ani difranco

i had to leave the house of fashion
go forth naked from its doors
cuz women should be allies
not competitors
and i had to leave the house of god
cuz the cross replaced the wheel
and the goddesses were out in the garden
with the plants that nourish and heal

i had to leave the house of privilege
spend christmas homeless and feeling bad
to learn that privilege is a headache
that you don't know that you don't have
and i had to leave the house of television
to start noticing the clouds
it's amazing the stuff you see
when you finally shed that shroud

i had to leave the house of conformity
in order to make art
i had to be more or less true
to learn to tell the two apart
and i had to leave the house of fear
just about as soon as i could crawl
ignore my face on the wanted posters
stuck to the post office wall

i had to leave the house of self-importance
to doodle my first tattoo
realize a tattoo is no more permanent
than i am, and who
ever said that life is suffering
i think they had their finger on the pulse of joy
ain't the power of transcendence
the greatest one we can employ

unrequited

by ani difranco

he had all kind of reasons
why she was unable to love him
she was just too young
she was too high strung
she was afraid of commitment
but all of the theories
that he recited
played like the song
of the unrequited

baby, how long's it been now
since you held me to your chest
and told me that you love me
more than all the rest
it's such a shame that you won't talk to me
cuz i won't repeat after you
i believe that there is more to life
we coulda loved each other through
but i was afraid of commitment
when it came to you

i'll tell you, if there is one instinct
i just can't get with at all
it's the urge to kill something beautiful
just to hang it on your wall
are you just too young
are you too high strung
to actually follow through
on all the love you said you had
baby i never lied to you

is all or nothing
the best we can do?

anyday

by ani difranco

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

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

have you ever been bent or pulled
have you ever been played like strings
if i could see you i could strum you
i could break you
make you sing
but i guess you can't really see the wind
it just comes in and fills the space
and every time 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

grey

by ani difranco

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 thing
will wash up on the shore

you walk through my walls
like a ghost on tv
you penetrate me

and my little pink heart
is on its little brown raft
floating out to sea

and what can i say
but i'm wired this way
and you're wired to me

and what can i do
but wallow in you
unintentionally
what kind of paradise am i looking for?
i've got everything i want and still i want more
maybe some tiny shiny key
will wash up on the shore

regretfully
i guess i've 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

looking for the holes

by ani difranco

i am looking for the holes
the holes in your jeans
because i want to know
are they worn out in the seat
or are they worn out in the knees

there are so many ways to wear
what we have before it's gone
to make use of what is there
you know i don't wear anything i can't wipe my hands on

oh, do your politics fit between the headlines
are they written in newsprint, are they distant
mine are crossing an empty parking lot
they are a woman walking home
at night
alone
they are six string that sing
and wood that hums against my hipbone

we can't afford to do anyone harm
we owe them our lives
each breath is recycled from someone else's lungs
our enemies are the very air in disguise

you can talk a great philosophy
but if you can't be kind to people
every day
it doesn't mean that much to me
it's the little things you do
the little things you say
it's the love you give along the way

when we patch things up
they say a job well done
but when we ask the question why
where did the rips come from?
they say we are subversive
and extreme, of course
we are just trying to track a problem to its source

we are looking for the holes
the holes
we are looking for the holes
the holes

because we know we can't sit back
and let people come to harm
we owe them our lives
each breath is recycled from someone else's lungs
our enemies are the very air
our enemies are the air

i am looking for the holes
the holes in your jeans
because i want to know
are they worn out in the seat
or are they worn out in the knees

november 4, 2008

by ani difranco

the victory was ours
and you were the first to say it
never known so many people
donate time to a campaign

and when you were elected
there was a global wave of joy
who knew a world gone mad
could still go sane?

we poured into the streets
and we danced and we cheered
and a neighborhood was a neighborhood
like it hadn't been in years

all eyes meeting
filled with tears
yes, we prayed you were coming
and then we saw you were here

you are black
you are white
you are red
you are blue
you are green
you are orange
with a purple and yellow hue

you've risen like a phoenix
from each flame that they threw
you've been everything
that we asked of you

president obama
it's an honor just to say it
i used to hide my passport
now i want to display it

thank you for our democracy
through you it's resurrected
thank you for our basic decency
through you it's reflected
thank you, america
for being more than i expected

yes we can
yes we can
yes we can
yes we can
yes we can

yes we can
yes we can
yes we can
yes we can
yes we can

president obama
you do not have to be perfect
i trust that you
are a public servant
steady as abraham lincoln
ready as martin luther king
is the spirit that you bring

and we vow to uphold you
through these tricky times
keep you safe in our hearts
and informed with our minds

and we will uphold each other
we won't divide and attack
there's no going back
there's no going back
there's no going back

yes we can
yes we can
yes we can
yes we can
yes we can

victory was ours
and you were the first to say it

nov 4, 2008

I promise I will get lyrics up as soon as I can.