ani difranco (1990)
There are some things that you can't know unless you've been
there, but oh--how far we could go
if we started to share. i dont need to tell you what it is all about, you just start
on the inside and work your way out.
(work your way out)
I'd make such a good statistic,
someone should study me now.
somebody's gotta be interested in how i feel,
just cause i'm here,
and i'm real.
(fire door)
My thighs have been involved in many accidents
and now I cant get insured,
and I dont need to be lured by you.
my cunt is built like a wound that
wont heal,
and now you dont have to ask cause you know how I feel.
(out of habit)
Taken out of
context i must seem so strange.
(fire
door)
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.
(both hands)
not so soft (1991)
We don't say everything that we could, so that we can say later;
"Oh you misunderstood." I hold my cards up
close to my chest, I say what i have to and i hold back the rest.
(anticipate)
We can touch, touch our girl cheeks
and we can hold hands like paper dolls,
we can try, try each other on in the privacy
within new york city's walls.
(the whole night)
imperfectly (1992)
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.
(in
our out)
She says he dont mean what he do, she tells me he called to
apologize.
he says he loves her,
he says he's changing,
and he can keep her warm,
and so she sits there like America suffering through slow reform.
(fixing her hair)
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 wanna
hear your voice, i just wanna see your face.
(in or out)
The same rule always applies: smile pretty and watch your back.
(every state line)
I didn't really notice when everything else disappeared.
as far as I'm concerned: if it isn't her, it isn't here.
(if it isn't her)
When i look in the mirror i see my days to come, and my face is
just a trace of where i'm coming from.
(circle
of light)
I can't wait to get back to new york city, where at least when I
walk down the street, nobody ever hesitates to tell me exactly what they think
of me.
(every state line)
And it's bad that i took that second look,
I guess i'm an open book.
you know i really didn't intend to embrace you that long, but then
again--i noticed i
wasn't the only one
holding on.
(good, bad ugly)
I don't have no grand plan for you and
me, just nothing is impossible, nothing is unlikely, i'm just riding the tide,
nothing more, and it's bound to take me out some before it brings me back to
shore.
(circle of light)
Sometimes the beauty is easy,
sometimes you don't have to try at all,
sometimes you can hear the wind blow in a handshake,
sometimes there's poetry written right on the bathroom wall.
(good, bad ugly)
I'm okay if you get me at a good angle, and youre okay in the right
sort of light, and we don't look like pages from a magazine, but that's
alright.
(imperfectly)
We get a little further from perfection each year on the road, i
guess that's what they call character, i guess that's just the way it goes.
Better to be polished than dusted like some store window mannequin--why don't
you touch me where i'm rusty, let me stain your hands.
(imperfectly)
Strangers are exciting, their mystery never ends, but there's
nothing like looking at your own history in the faces of your friends.
(good, bad, ugly)
out of range (1994)
I want you to pay me for
my beauty,
i think it's only right.
cause
i have been paying for it all of my life.
(letter to a john)
How can i go home with nothing to say, when i know you're going to
look at me that way, and say--what did you do out there? what did you decide?
you
said you needed time, and you had time.
(you had time)
We are wise wise women, we are giggling girls. we both cary a smile to show when we're
pleased, we both carry a switchblade in our sleeves.
(if he tries anything)
Boys get locked up in some prison, girls get locked up in some
house.
(out of range)
We are made to bleed, and scab and heal and bleed again, and turn
every scar into a joke.
We are made to fight, and fuck and talk and fight again, and sit
around and laugh until we choke,
sit around and laugh until we choke.
(buildings and bridges)
I've been waking up slowly savoring the same old dream, and
somewhere between the folds of your memory, i was sleeping soundly.
(hell yeah)
Feels
like reckless driving when we're talking,
it's
fun while it lasts, and it's faster than walking, but no one's going to sympathize when we crash, they'll say 'you
hit what you head for, you get what you ask', we'll say we didn't know, we
didn't even try, one minute there was road between us, the next just sky.
(falling is like this)
You'll say it's really good to see you,
you'll say i missed you horribly,
you'll say 'let me carry that, give that to me,'
and you will take the heavy stuff and you will drive the car,
and i'll look out the window and make jokes
about the way things are.
(you had time)
We can't fight gravity on a planet that insists
that love is like falling
and falling is like this.
(falling is like this)
Life is a b movie, it's stupid and it's strange
it's a didrectionle story and the dialogue is lame
but in the he said she said sometimes there's some poetry
if you turn your back long enough and let it happen naturally.
(hell yeah)
I like you so much, i talk to everyone but
you.
(hell yeah)
not a pretty girl (1995)
Maybe
we are both good people who've done some bad things.
(crime
for crime)
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 lets not ask what next,
or how or why,
i am leaving in the morning, so let's not be shy.
(shy)
Yeah i'd like to go to all the pretty parties where all the pretty
people go. and i ain't really all that pretty, but nobody will know--because
everyone loves you when you're a star, and nobody questions what it takes to go
that far. life
is a sleazy stranger and this is his favorite bar.
(million you never made)
In the end the world comes down to just a few people,
but for you it comes down to me.
but no one ever asked me if i thought i could be everything to
someone,
there's a crowd of people harbored in every person,
there are so many roles that we play,
and you've decided to love me for eternity,
i'm still deciding who i want to be today.
(light of some kind)
Too much is how i love you,
but too well is how i know you.
