Ani DiFranco
Popular folk-rock singer-songwriter and guitarist.
I was blessed with a birth and a death, and I guess I just want some say in-between.
I love all those great 'f' words - feminism, folk music..
Now I wonder who is gonna be president: Tweedle Dumb, or Tweedle Dumber--
And who is gonna have the big block buster box office this summer.
Freedom and democracy,
That's the word from Washington every day.
Put America to sleep with warm milk and clichés,
And people are expendable along the way.
Now let's get talking: reefer madness. Like some arrogant government can't,
By any stretch of the imagination, outlaw a plant.
I am writing graffiti on your body.
I am drawing the story of how hard we tried.
Let's grow old and die together. Let's do it now.
I think I'm done gunnin to get closer.
To some imagined bliss.
I gotta knuckle down.
And just be ok with this.
I always feel I have to take a stand,
And there's always someone on hand
To hate me for standing there.
I always feel I have to open my mouth,
And every time I do, I offend someone, somewhere.
They say that the truth will set you free
But then again, so will a lie...
It depends if you're trying to get to the promised land
Or if you're just trying to get by.
She says “Do I know you?” I say “Well, no, not biblically,
But I've been waiting for you to come and talk to me.
I have been playing too many of those boy-girl games.”
She says, “Honey, you are safe here. This is a girl-girl thing.”
But what if no one's watching?
What if when we're dead, we are just dead?
What if there's no time to lose?
What if there's things we gotta do,
Things that need to be said?
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 wanna do.
You know
Taken out of context I must
Seem so strange.
They put you in your place, and they tell you to behave
But no one can be free until we're all on even grade.
People used to make records, as in the record of an event, the event of people playing music in a room, and now everything's cross-marketing, its about sunglasses and shoes, or guns and drugs that you choose."
So we're led by denial like lambs to the slaughter
Serving empires of style and carbonated sugar water
And the old farm road's a four-lane that leads to the mall
And our dreams are all guillotines waiting to fall.
And we hold these truths to be self-evident:
Number one-- George W. Bush is not president.
Number two-- America is not a true democracy.
And, Number three-- the media is not fooling me.
Every tool is a weapon - if you hold it right.
Maybe you don't like your job, maybe you didn't get enough sleep--
But nobody likes their job, nobody got enough sleep.
Maybe you just had the worst day of your life;
Well, you know, there's no escape.
That's no excuse. Just suck up and be nice.