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Present/Infant Lyrics
lately i've been glaring into mirrors
picking myself apart
you'd think at my age i'd of thought
of something better to do
than making security into a full-time job
making security into art
and i fear my life will be over
and i will have never lived it better
always glaring into mirrors
mad i don't look better
but now here is this tiny baby
and they say she looks just like me
and she is smiling at me
with that present infant glee
and yes i will defend
to the ends of the earth
her perfect right to be here
so i'm beginning to see some problems
with the on going work of my mind
and i've got myself a new mantra
it says: "don't forget to have a good time"
don't let the sellers of stuff in power enough
to rob you of your grace
love is all over the place
there's nothing wrong with your face
love is all over the place
there's nothing wrong with your face
lately i've been glaring into mirrors
picking myself apart
picking myself apart
you'd think at my age i'd of thought
of something better to do
than making security into a full-time job
making security into art
and i fear my life will be over
and i will have never lived it better
always glaring into mirrors
mad i don't look better
and they say she looks just like me
and she is smiling at me
with that present infant glee
and yes i will defend
to the ends of the earth
her perfect right to be here
with the on going work of my mind
and i've got myself a new mantra
it says: "don't forget to have a good time"
don't let the sellers of stuff in power enough
to rob you of your grace
love is all over the place
love is all over the place
there's nothing wrong with your face
picking myself apart
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An amazing song. I think the first verse should be 'and I will never have lived it UNFETTERED' though. It's so true - she's talking about how the media and the world outside you tries to project the idea that you're never pretty enough, popular enough, thin enough, sexual enough, clever enough..... and she fell for it. Now she looks at her daughter, who is just so content to be here, to smile, and she sees that the fetters she had on her life were ridiculous, so she's brushing them aside and enjoying herself the way she is. She's seeing through all the ways she's 'supposed' to be, and finding that she's actually fine. She sees this through her daughter too - maybe she hopes that she'll never be caused to doubt herself the way most people seem to.
Aw, I love this song.. the first time I heard it live (before it was released) and I just could not wait to hear it again. Having someone tell you there's nothing wrong with your face is remarkably impowering. makes me smile everytime. :)
Checking the liner notes it seems that daneypops is right, it's "never lived it unfettered". I had a different interpretation when I first heard it that I like more: "will have never lifted a feather". It's like "lifted a finger" but with a feather instead, meaning that she never really... "flew".
That said, this song disappoints me. Here's this amazing, powerful goddess of a woman singing about how she never had much self-worth until she had a baby! That's depressing. There are sexist beauty standards in our society telling women they're never pretty enough, but there's an equally strong message from society that "real women have babies". Like you're not really an adult until you've had a child. That seems really anti-feminist and just really shallow and pathetic to me, and I'm hoping that's not what she's trying to say.
Sayna,
Sayna,
I can see what you mean, but I don't think this is what Ani is trying to say. I think the significance of her own insecurities really struck her when she looked at her innocent daughter and realized that she didn't want her daughter to grow up feeling bad about herself. Ani is saying that she has spent so much of her life buying into media's image of beauty, and she doesn't want her child to make that mistake. She's giving her daughter great advice:
I can see what you mean, but I don't think this is what Ani is trying to say. I think the significance of her own insecurities really struck her when she looked at her innocent daughter and realized that she didn't want her daughter to grow up feeling bad about herself. Ani is saying that she has spent so much of her life buying into media's image of beauty, and she doesn't want her child to make that mistake. She's giving her daughter great advice:
don't let the sellers of stuff in power enough to rob you of your grace love...
don't let the sellers of stuff in power enough to rob you of your grace love is all over the place
In fact, the "love is all over the place/there's nothing wrong with your face" is sung almost like a lullaby. It's perfect!
Right before singing this song at her concert, Ani said that she wrote it when she was 36 and had just had a baby and "was feeling the most unsexy" she ever had in her life. So, I don't think she meant the song to mean she always had low self-esteem until she had a baby.
I think it's about the changes she went through when she became a mother and realized she wasn't feeling as young and hot as she'd usually felt. And then looking at her daughter and thinking that it shouldn't matter and re-claiming her sense of self-worth.