| Ani Difranco lyrics
Self Evident lyrics
yes,
us people are just poems
we're 90% metaphor
with a leanness of meaning
approaching hyper-distillation
and once upon a time
we were moonshine
rushing down the throat of a giraffe
yes, rushing down the long hallway
despite what the p.a. announcement says
yes, rushing down the long stairs
with the whiskey of eternity
fermented and distilled
to eighteen minutes
burning down our throats
down the hall
down the stairs
in a building so tall
that it will always be there
yes, it's part of a pair
there on the bow of Noah's ark
the most prestigious couple
just kickin back parked
against a perfectly blue sky
on a morning beatific
in its Indian summer breeze
on the day that America
fell to its knees
after strutting around for a century
without saying thank you
or please
and the shock was subsonic
and the smoke was deafening
between the setup and the punch line
cuz we were all on time for work that day
we all boarded that plane for to fly
and then while the fires were raging
we all climbed up on the windowsill
and then we all held hands
and jumped into the sky
and every borough looked up when it heard the first blast
and then every dumb action movie was summarily surpassed
and the exodus uptown by foot and motorcar
looked more like war than anything I've seen so far
so far
so far
so fierce and ingenious
a poetic specter so far gone
that every jackass newscaster was struck dumb and stumbling
over 'oh my god' and 'this is unbelievable' and on and on
and I'll tell you what, while we're at it
you can keep the pentagon
keep the propaganda
keep each and every TV
that's been trying to convince me
to participate
in some prep school punk's plan to perpetuate retribution
perpetuate retribution
even as the blue toxic smoke of our lesson in retribution
is still hanging in the air
and there's ash on our shoes
and there's ash in our hair
and there's a fine silt on every mantle
from hell's kitchen to Brooklyn
and the streets are full of stories
sudden twists and near misses
and soon every open bar is crammed to the rafters
with tales of narrowly averted disasters
and the whiskey is flowin
like never before
as all over the country
folks just shake their heads
and pour
so here's a toast to all the folks who live in Palestine
Afghanistan
Iraq
El Salvador
here's a toast to the folks living on the pine ridge reservation
under the stone cold gaze of mt. Rushmore
here's a toast to all those nurses and doctors
who daily provide women with a choice
who stand down a threat the size of Oklahoma City
just to listen to a young woman's voice
here's a toast to all the folks on death row right now
awaiting the executioner's guillotine
who are shackled there with dread and can only escape into their heads
to find peace in the form of a dream
cuz take away our playstations
and we are a third world nation
under the thumb of some blue blood royal son
who stole the oval office and that phony election
I mean
it don't take a weatherman
to look around and see the weather
Jeb said he'd deliver Florida, folks
and boy did he ever
and we hold these truths to be self evident:
#1 George W. Bush is not president
#2 America is not a true democracy
#3 the media is not fooling me
cuz I am a poem heeding hyper-distillation
I've got no room for a lie so verbose
I'm looking out over my whole human family
and I'm raising my glass in a toast
here's to our last drink of fossil fuels
let us vow to get off of this sauce
shoo away the swarms of commuter planes
and find that train ticket we lost
cuz once upon a time the line followed the river
and peeked into all the backyards
and the laundry was waving
the graffiti was teasing us
from brick walls and bridges
we were rolling over ridges
through valleys
under stars
I dream of touring like Duke Ellington
in my own railroad car
I dream of waiting on the tall blonde wooden benches
in a grand station aglow with grace
and then standing out on the platform
and feeling the air on my face
give back the night its distant whistle
give the darkness back its soul
give the big oil companies the finger finally
and relearn how to rock-n-roll
yes, the lessons are all around us and a change is waiting there
so it's time to pick through the rubble, clean the streets
and clear the air
get our government to pull its big dick out of the sand
of someone else's desert
put it back in its pants
and quit the hypocritical chants of
freedom forever
cuz when one lone phone rang
in two thousand and one
at ten after nine
on nine one one
which is the number we all called
when that lone phone rang right off the wall
right off our desk and down the long hall
down the long stairs
in a building so tall
that the whole world turned
just to watch it fall
and while we're at it
remember the first time around?
the bomb?
the Ryder truck?
the parking garage?
the princess that didn't even feel the pea?
remember joking around in our apartment on avenue D?
can you imagine how many paper coffee cups would have to change their design
following a fantastical reversal of the New York skyline?!
it was a joke, of course
it was a joke
at the time
and that was just a few years ago
so let the record show
that the FBI was all over that case
that the plot was obvious and in everybody's face
and scoping that scene
religiously
the CIA
or is it KGB?
committing countless crimes against humanity
with this kind of eventuality
as its excuse
for abuse after expensive abuse
and it didn't have a clue
look, another window to see through
way up here
on the 104th floor
look
another key
another door
10% literal
90% metaphor
3000 some poems disguised as people
on an almost too perfect day
should be more than pawns
in some asshole's passion play
so now it's your job
and it's my job
to make it that way
to make sure they didn't die in vain
sshhhhhh....
baby listen
hear the train?
Other Ani Difranco lyrics:
Circle Of Light lyrics
Swim lyrics
Slide lyrics
Serpentine lyrics
2nd Intermission lyrics
Promised Land lyrics
Phase lyrics
Oh My My lyrics
In The Way lyrics
Icarus lyrics
Here For Now lyrics
Forest For The Trees lyrics
Your House lyrics
Submerged lyrics
Waiting For Susan lyrics
The Boys In Blue lyrics
Silver Ingrid lyrics
One More Night lyrics
North Main Street lyrics
No Reason To Come Home lyrics
How Long Can It Last lyrics
Find A Fire lyrics
Cold And Mean lyrics
Asked You First lyrics
To Be Free lyrics
Subway lyrics
One Times One Times One lyrics
Handsome Musician lyrics
Fair Weather lyrics
When Doves Cry lyrics
My I.Q. lyrics
Letting The Telephone Ring lyrics
Every Angle lyrics
The Story lyrics
Pale Purple lyrics
Dog Coffee lyrics
Imperfectly lyrics
Served Faithfully lyrics
The Waiting Song lyrics
Make Them Apologize lyrics
Good, Bad, Ugly lyrics
If It Isn't Her lyrics
Circe Of Light lyrics
Fixing Her Hair lyrics
What If No One's Watching lyrics
Shy lyrics
1,000,000 lyrics
God's Country lyrics
Pick Yer Nose lyrics
Used To You lyrics
Born A Lion lyrics
Blood In The Boardroom lyrics
Back Around lyrics
Egos Like Hairdos lyrics
4th Of July lyrics
Anyday lyrics
Names And Dates And Times lyrics
Outta Me, Onto You lyrics
If He Tries Anything lyrics
Falling Is Like This lyrics
Face Up And Sing lyrics
How Have You Been lyrics
Hell Yeah lyrics
Buildings And Bridges lyrics
Swandive lyrics
Hide Seek lyrics
Joyful Girl lyrics
The Diner lyrics
Overlap lyrics
Out Of Range lyrics
Willing To Fight lyrics
I'm No Heroine lyrics
Every State Line lyrics
In Or Out lyrics
Both Hands lyrics
Feakshow lyrics
Independence Day lyrics
Glass House lyrics
Pixie lyrics
Deep Dish lyrics
Two Little Girls lyrics
As Is lyrics
Gravel lyrics
Fuel lyrics
Little Plastic Castle lyrics
Welcome To lyrics
Shrug lyrics
Jukebox lyrics
Pulse lyrics
Swan Dive lyrics
Loom lyrics
Napoleon lyrics
32 Flavors lyrics
You Had Time lyrics
Letter To A John lyrics
My IQ lyrics
Gratitude lyrics
Your Next Bold Move lyrics
Subdivision lyrics
So What lyrics
Sick Of Me lyrics
School Night lyrics
Revelling lyrics
Reckoning lyrics
Old Old Song lyrics
In Here lyrics
Imagine That lyrics
Grey lyrics
Rock Paper Scissors lyrics
Fierce Flawless lyrics
What How When Where (Why Who) lyrics
Whatall Is Nice lyrics
Kazoointoit lyrics
Heartbreak Even lyrics
Marrow lyrics
Tamburitza Lingua lyrics
Garden Of Simple lyrics
O.K. lyrics
Ain't That The Way lyrics
I Know This Bar lyrics
Providence lyrics
The Arrivals Gate lyrics
Cloud Blood lyrics
Carry You Around lyrics
Back Back Back lyrics
Hello Birmingham lyrics
Going Once lyrics
Freakshow lyrics
Wish I May lyrics
Soft Shoulder lyrics
Hat Shaped Hat lyrics
Trickle Down lyrics
Know Now Then lyrics
Up Up Up Up Up Up lyrics
Everest lyrics
Angry Anymore lyrics
Angel Food lyrics
Come Away From It lyrics
Virtue lyrics
'Tis Of Thee lyrics
Out Of Habit lyrics
Fire Door lyrics
Rush Hour lyrics
Lost Woman Song lyrics
Work Your Way Out lyrics
The Slant lyrics
Talk To Me Now lyrics
Face Up lyrics
Sooner Than You Think lyrics
Sunrise lyrics
This Time Of Night lyrics
The Perfect Kiss lyrics
Swing lyrics
To The Teeth lyrics
Adam And Eve lyrics
Going Down lyrics
Done Wrong lyrics
Shameless lyrics
Amazing Grace lyrics
Dilate lyrics
Superhero lyrics
Outa Me, Onto You lyrics
Untouchable Face lyrics
Coming Up lyrics
Crime For Crime lyrics
This Bouquet lyrics
Asking Too Much lyrics
Hour Follows Hour lyrics
Million You Never Made lyrics
Not A Pretty Girl lyrics
Light Of Some Kind lyrics
Sorry I Am lyrics
Cradle And All lyrics
Tiptoe lyrics
Worthy lyrics
Looking For The Holes lyrics
Brief Bus Stop lyrics
The Next Big Thing lyrics
The Whole Night lyrics
Itch lyrics
Roll With It lyrics
Not So Soft lyrics
Small World lyrics
On Every Corner lyrics
Make Me Stay lyrics
She Says lyrics
Rockabye lyrics
Anticipate lyrics
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