| Ani DiFranco – Promised Land Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I thinks she's having a conversation with herself here. | |
| Ani DiFranco – Untouchable Face Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I think this song is pretty self explanatory, but I think the "fuck you" part is misinterpreted by many. I don't think fuck you means fuck you, as some sort of in your face statement of empowerment. I think she says fuck you because she is devastated. She can't say anything else but F.Y. because she is still in love and isn't getting her love returned. This is described in the first two verses. | |
| Ani DiFranco – Used Cars Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| This is a bruce springsteen song. Ani does a great cover of it. I heard Ani say once that she's a springsteen gal. | |
| Ani DiFranco – The Atom Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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This quote says it well too: "The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking...the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker." Albert Einstein |
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| Ani DiFranco – Decree Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Also, Cancer is a teacher because it is teaching us the consequences of our negligence. | |
| Ani DiFranco – Decree Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| entitude - Regarding your question about the cancer lines noted above: I think Ani is basically pointing out the difference between preventitive measures and reactionary measures. Instead of trying to live healthy and prevent cancer and the costs associated with it (IE: not living downstream from things that contribute to cancer and avoiding the costs of cancer), mainstream science tries to find solutions or band-aids to fix them (thus finding a way to live in hell/live with cancer). When she says that cancer is opening a school downstream she is describing a familiar situation where a factory pumps out some chemical into a stream and cancer rates rise in the surrounding area. She says that scientists are fools for investing so much into a cure for cancer when there are very obvious ways to decrease it's impact (such as not dumping chemicals into a stream). Point well made. | |
| Ani DiFranco – Joyful Girl Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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2 Quotes from Ani: "Men make angry music and it's called rock-and-roll; women include anger in their vocabulary and suddenly they're angry and militant." "In terms of the way people perceive me, the people who know me and know my work, who come to the shows, I feel pretty understood. But then there's a lot of people outside of that who just form opinions based upon media, without ever coming to a show and seeing what it is that they have an opinion about....People who stereotype me as an angry person come from very far outside of myself and my community…It's funny because, in my experience, the people who bring the most anger, the most rage over injustices, onto the stage, into their work, those are the nicest people. I mean, the people who give a fuck. Honestly, what is said about me in the media is not my greatest concern. That's part of the job; people you don't even know, never ever will know, stating definitively who and what you are, what you are doing and what it means." |
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| Ani DiFranco – Joyful Girl Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Interesting take. It goes along with some of the other songs on Dilate. I think the thing that what she does for the joy it brings is being politically outspoken. As Ani has said, she doesn't separate the personal from the political. When she says that "I learned it from you", I think she is speaking to her mother, saying that she learned to be outspoken and strong from her (the newer song paradigm hints at this). And maybe when she says everything she does is judged and they mostly get it wrong, she may be speaking about the media; who have definitely misrepresented Ani in the past. And when Ani asks herself if she would prefer the easy way and answers no; I think it means that she would rather be open and honest and face opposition to her views than keep quiet and not suffer external opposition. When she says "when everything else seems unclear i guess at least i know...", she may be telling herself that she doesn't always know if she is doing the right thing, but at least she knows that she is being honest and open unlike others. And when she says that "the world owes her nothing", she might be saying that change doesn't just happen (the world doesn't change on its own). And when she says that "we owe each other the world", my guess is she is saying to her mother that her mother's generation struggled for the rights and priveleges that we have today, and Ani's generation owes it to them to recognize this and fight to defend and extend them. That's my take. Anyone else have a take? |
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| Ani DiFranco – Joyful Girl Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Hi Ani Smith: I agree that Ani expresses anger in many of her songs, and of course Dilate has its share of angry moments (among many other emotions). I didn’t say that Ani never expresses anger. I think there is a huge difference between being an angry person, and simply expressing anger through a song. This is a distinction that I think that the media and even some fans have failed to make regarding Ani, and I think that this is what Ani is addressing in Joyful Girl (I could be wrong about the meaning of this song, this is just what I think). I wouldn’t call Ani an angry person just because she wrote an angry song. If anything, she is working through her anger and expressing it through her music. As I see it, anger is a useful catalyst for creative work and social change, among other things. We all have anger, and a song is a great way to work through it; whether we are writing it, singing it, or listening to it. I don’t think its crazy to say that “if you are familiar with Ani's songs, there is no way you can call her an angry person”. I’m a longtime fan, and Ani doesn’t strike me as an angry person. That doesn’t mean I think she has never been angry. Her fans all know she has ups and downs like everyone else, because she freely expresses them through her music. She is obviously a very engaged person who feels things deeply and expresses them extremely well. Despite her ups and downs, she seems like an eternally kind and respectful person to me. I think she is a model humanitarian, even in her anger. I think in Joyful Girl, Ani is addressing the fact that some people hear anger in her songs, and assume that her anger is a predominant personality trait since she expresses it so freely and publicly (“everything I do is judged….”). Whenever I see Ani live, there are always people who scream in excitement whenever she sings “fuck you and your untouchable face”; as if Ani is saying ‘fuck you’ in some sort of punk, anti-establishment sort of way. I think those people don’t get it. If they understood what Ani meant by ‘fuck you’, then they wouldn’t scream right after she says it. I think she sings ‘fuck you’ because she is devastated, not because she’s angry and she wants to get back at someone. I think that this misunderstanding goes along with the previous one. The media thinks she is an angry person because she writes and performs some angry songs; and some of her fans think she is saying fuck you like a badass teenager would say it (“…they mostly get it wrong…”). Just wanted to clarify what I meant in my previous post. |
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| Joni Mitchell – Both Sides Now Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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To me, both sides now isn't so much a coming of age song. If it were, it would mean that the author's point of view evolved from one earlier naive state to a more enlightened state through experience. In other words, it would mean that the protagonist used to see clouds & love as beautiful, and after subsequent experiences saw them in a different & more realistic light. While the coming of age/changing perspective thing is the subject of the verses; the chorus goes beyond that by adding that although she has seen things for what they really are, she continues to choose illusion over reality. I think both sides now is a song about illusion versus reality from the point of view of a dreamer. Even when experience teaches the true nature of something, the dreamer can continue to live with their illusions about life and love. The dreamer seems doomed to repeat the same mistakes by choosing to sugar coat the true nature of life and love with their own romantic illusionment. Even this has a duality: you can look at it as being hopeful or unrealistic. |
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| Ani DiFranco – Unrequited Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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A song about a post-breakup relationship. The question: "is all or nothing really the best we can do?" seems to sum up the song pretty well. Why does a relationship either have to work or not exist at all? Ani feels that love doesn't just go away, and she feels that 'there is more to life that they could have loved each other through' despite the fact that the 'ideal' kind of relationship didn't work out for them. It seems like it takes a lot of strength and understanding on both sides for a relationship to exist somewhere in between an ideal relationship and a non-existent one. I really identify with this verse: "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". It is sad when people deal with the hurt in a defensive way; by re-evaluating the relationship with a new found sense of negativity and blame towards the other person. By 'hanging it on the wall', the hurt person is presenting their new (negative) take on the relationship to the world. A relationship that a person considers wonderful at one time can be interpreted in a completely different way after the person has been hurt (even though the events that made up the relationship have not changed). This is the nature of memory really: every new experience influences how you re-construct the memories of your previous experiences. |
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| Ani DiFranco – Phase Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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It should be: "I'll be your exception to whatever the rule" and "I'll sit at your red light, and wait for your shit to go by" and "against this slow leak deflation" and "yeah the further the horizon, the more it holds my gaze and the foreground's out of focus..." I think this song is about the kind of apathy you get when you are sick of everything. I think when Ani says "I'll be your biggest fan or your fool" etc, she is basically saying 'whatever'. Same thing when she describes "the vague little smile that is her all purpose expression; the meaning of which she will leave to your discretion"; I think it means: 'whatever' and 'my expression means whatever you want it to mean'. She sounds like she feels bored and trapped and tied down by some aspect(s) of her life when she says: "the further the horizon the more it holds my gaze". It is as if she is expecting to be tied down by her current situation and she has lost a sense of control and has become numb about it all. She hopes it is just a phase. |
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| Ani DiFranco – Joyful Girl Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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At an Ani show in the late 90's, I'm pretty sure I remember Ani saying that Joyful Girl was written for her mother. It seems like Ani is reassuring her mom and herself that despite what the rest of the world thinks of her, that her lifestyle and work makes her happy and she is willing to stick it out through hard times; because at the end of the day, it is what she wants and she does it for herself. I wonder if when Ani says that she is a joyful girl, it is a response to the label of angry feminist that I have heard the media use before. I think that if you are familiar with Ani's songs, there is no way you can call her an angry person. And that is exactly why the media has used that label so often; they don't know her songs, and instead they write about their own shallow image of Ani. Expressing anger in a song does not make you an angry person; if anything, a song is a constructive means to express and deal with any emotions including anger. Most musicians write and perform songs about their emotions (including anger), and the reason that someone like Ani is centered out as an angry person is because the media simply does not go deep enough. When I hear Ani's songs, she strikes me as a thoughtful humanitarian with a great musical talent above all else. |
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| Ani DiFranco – Buildings and Bridges Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| I think the line: "what doesn't bend brakes" says it all. You can either adapt and learn to accept life for what it is or you can let it break you. You have a choice: you can look back and laugh at things, or you can hold a grudge. | |
| Ani DiFranco – Not a Pretty Girl Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| To me, a pretty girl is someone who doesn't speak up for themself, or who doesn't express themself. I don't think this song describes a specific patriarchal relationship between a woman and a man where the man expects the woman to 'fit the mould'; rather, i think ani is saying that in general she doesn't fit the passive role expected of her as a woman in our patriarchal society. I think this song may be ani's response to the label of angry feminist that she got alot from the media. She seems to be speaking to a wider audience rather than a specific person. | |
| Ani DiFranco – Animal Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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To me, animal is a realization that the predominant political or religious systems that seem to largely dictate how human life happens come and go. They don't last. To me, Animal is a song about empowerment. Its about owning your politics and/or beliefs by taking a step back systems of power and control created by humans, and realizing that life on earth has always been primarily goverened by nature. In other words, it is an empowering notion that political or religious systems that seem so powerful and unchanging when you exist within them become a joke when you look at the constantly changing history of human systems of control. I think Ani recognizes this, and understands that in the long-term, political systems and religious systems have trivial influences compared to natural ones. I don't think this song is about nature exclusively. To me, it means that to empower yourself, and to own your politics instead of feeling powerless means looking at human life differently. "You have to believe that mercy has its own country, and its round and borderless". When I heard that line, I felt I understood exactly what the song was about. I had the same experience previously when I was crossing the border into the US from my home in Canada, and I saw a flock of geese fly over the border without being stopped. That experience made me realize how ridiculous the idea of borders and even countries is. |
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| Ani DiFranco – Parameters Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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To me, parameters is an examination of fear, and how its onset can change the way you look at things. I don't think the incident with the strange man is really the point of the poem; instead, what jumps out at me is the author's change of mindset before and after the fearful incident. Beforehand, the author had moved beyond fear, having learned to loosen the momentum of her teenage nightmares; and instead of being afraid of shadows, she learned to admire their beauty (or look at them differently). Also, she mentions that before the incident, she essentially moved through life in a care-free sort of way (without fear): surely floating serenely on the moving walkway of memory without the need to look where she is going or even over her shoulder Then the incident brought her fistfuls of teenage nightmares. The nightmares that she had previously loosened the momentum of (let go of) now have to be held onto again. At this point, she had to take them with her into new life situations, and she noticed how they changed her outlook: there are now more shadows around everything and her vision becomes a dim flashlight that she has shake all the way to the outhouse (she is forced to look around nervously out of fear); and instead of sleeping, she lies awake in a sleeping position, because now the series of suspicious sounds are something to be feared (sounds that she might not have noticed beforehand). The amount of imagery compacted into these words is simply amazing. I could go on about every little thing I love about this poem, but i think I have written enough. Keep writing Ani. |
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| Gillian Welch – Everything Is Free Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| I think this song is a reaction to the napster phenomenon from a musician's point of view. | |
| Ani DiFranco – Swan Dive Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I think Swan Dive is about taking the plunge (or swan dive) into a relationship that she feels people will disapprove of. I wonder if she was anticipating the reactions from others about her relationship and marriage with Andrew Gilchrist at the time. I think Ani had some fans that took her songs way too literally, and believed in a rigid form of feminism that almost resembled patriarchy (I have been an Ani fan since Puddle Dive came out and I have seen her audience change over the years). I always thought Ani's songs represented humanist ideals from a particular feminist's perspective. Some fans that I spoke to did not agree. They thought I had no place speaking about such things because I'm a man. I could be way off about the meaning of this song, but this is what it makes me think about. I think she had come to a place in her life where she was beginning to feel the effects of living life under the microscopes of many rabid fans who couldn't accept the growth in her songs and life (all of which I absolutely loved and still love - isn't LPC a great album??). I think in Swan Dive, she's saying the hell with what others think - "they can call me crazy". I love this song because it is so 'in-your-face'. Great guitar riff too. Did anyone else see her perform it solo on Sesssions at West 54th years ago? Gave me chills. What a great song (even if I don't have it right). |
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| Ani DiFranco – Soft Shoulder Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Like 'This Bouquet', I wonder if this song was written for Greg Brown. "And I danced to one of your old tunes With my true love on our wedding day And your voice sang the way my heart would sing If it finally knew just what to say". I know how she feels. Greg Brown writes incredibly beautiful songs that capture relationships so well. |
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| Ani DiFranco – This Bouquet Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I think Ani wrote this song for Greg Brown (an amazing songwriter and friend of Ani's). "we've both got gardens of songs". Check out Greg's album: 'Slant Six Mind', since Greg wrote Ani a song back when he heard 'This Bouquet'. It is called 'Vivid'. Here are the lyrics to Vivid: You gave me flowers, all wet with dew, You gave me flowers, I'd like to give you something too. Vivid flowers, raggedy yellow red and blue, Smell of rain and summer. Vivid, just like you. You gave me music with the bouquet from your hand, You gave me a living song, something I could understand. Let's go walking when the party is through, You gave me so much, I want to give you something too. |
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| Ani DiFranco – Decree Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Decree is about thought control/the manufacturing of consent through the media. She is observing the mind-numbing effects that televised propaganda is having on the attitudes and the actions of many americans. These people are so hypnotized by this propaganda that they can't see what the U.S. is becoming (stars going out/stripes getting bent). I agree with her. | |
| Ani DiFranco – Studying Stones Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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It seems like Ani is reassuring herself that she shouldn't act on her feelings of temptation/attraction towards someone. Trying to slow the blood in my veins / keep my face blank (trying to conceal her feelings of attraction); when all the forbidden fruit has fallen and rotted that's when I'm gonna come down (when the temptation has gone away, that is when she'll show emotion again). Great Song. |
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