7 Meanings
Add Yours
Share
'Tis of Thee Lyrics
they caught the last poor man on a poor man's vacation
they cuffed him and they confiscated his stuff
and they dragged his black ass down to the station
and said "ok the streets are safe now.
all your pretty white children can come out to see spot run
and they came out of their houses and they looked around
but they didn't see no one.
and my country tis of thee
to take swings at each other on talk show tv
why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun
'cause we'll never live long enough to
undo everything they've done to you
undo everything they've done to you
and above 96th street
they're handing out smallpox blankets
so people don't freeze
the old dogs they got a new trick
it's called criminalize the symptoms
while you spread the disease
i hold on hard to something
between my teeth when i'm sleeping
and i wake up and my jaw aches
and the earth is full of earthquakes
and my country tis of thee
to take shots at each other on prime time tv
why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun
'cause we'll never live long enough to
undo everything they've done to you
undo everything they've done to you
they caught the last poor man
flying away in a shiny red cape
and they brought him down to the station
and they said "boy you should know better
than to try and escape"
and i ran away with the circus
'cause there's still some honest work left for bearded ladies
but it's not the same goin' town to town
since they put everyone in jail 'cept
the cleavers and the bradys
and my country tis of thee
to take swings at each other on talk show tv
why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun
'cause we'll never live long enough to
undo everything they've done to you
undo everything they've done to you
this is one of my favorite ani difranco songs. i think it's is about how corrupted America is nowadays. Saying that we are trying to make everything perfect, but that we cant (and said "ok the streets are safe now all your pretty white children can come out to see spot run and they came out of their houses and they looked around but they didn't see no one) i might be wrong
I look at it as another one of her fine social, anti-right, songs. Against conservatives who feel the need that anything different then their middle-class, white outlook is unacceptable.
I don't think it can be broken down to such liberal vs. cconservative lines. This could be at America in general....and the lines:
"why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun 'cause we'll never live long enough to undo everything they've done to you"
I think speak the most powerfully. I see that as going out to anybody who has been done wrong by. That if you hold onto that hate, negativaty, and such then you'll never be satisfied. Kind of like, "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" mentality.
I think this song is quite layered so as to speak to both the one doing wrong and the wronged.
I agree with Strange. I think part of the reason why we are where we are today in this mess of madness is because of cycle of negativity and society's ritual of holding onto hatred and anger seeking revenge rather than peace or a peace of mind.
America was built upon "those who have been done wrong by" where justice was never served and now we are paying the price. And because the true problems of racism, classism, capitalism and blah blah blah were never addressed way back when old men with thier white curlys on were sitting around the table, it has seeped into the everyday events of the "land of the free and the home of the brave." I think she is definately commenting on the general corruption of America but her main emphasis is on the quality of life for the rich and the poor and the black and the white. She is commenting on the fact that the streets of America are paved for the rich white kids to come out and play while the poor black folks are to be swept away. Hurricane Katrina also did a wonderful job uncovering a major issue our country still must address
ah there is just too much to say sometimes but ani does a fabulous job of saying what hopefully most of us can see well...
i think it's interesting how she shifts in this song. like: "the old dogs they got a new trick it's called criminalize the symptoms while you spread the disease" which clearly speaks about legislation and government. and fear.then she sings about her response to this subliminal injustice: "i hold on hard to something between my teeth when i'm sleeping and i wake up and my jaw aches" and then this: and the earth is full of earthquakes."what does that mean?she wakes up to destruction?waves of destruction?
why is the poor man wearing a red cape? like little red ridding hood? i thought that was some reference to woman hood. perhaps innocence? in any case the point of that story is that she looses it. who has lost the innocence? the listener? the poor man? the accuser[s]?
The poor man is a junkie on a poor man's vacation
The poor man is a junkie on a poor man's vacation
He feel like superman in his shiny red cape but even that is denied to him because the authorities want to clean up the town.
He feel like superman in his shiny red cape but even that is denied to him because the authorities want to clean up the town.
@lalalalala1392 I think she's not speaking to little red riding hood, lost innocence, or the poor man. I see the man in the read cape as a literal reference to superman. that this is becoming a country that even he wouldn't recognize. that the ideals that we hold up and say we value and cherish, the ideals superman is also supposed to stand for, its all lip service.
@lalalalala1392 I think she's not speaking to little red riding hood, lost innocence, or the poor man. I see the man in the read cape as a literal reference to superman. that this is becoming a country that even he wouldn't recognize. that the ideals that we hold up and say we value and cherish, the ideals superman is also supposed to stand for, its all lip service.
And just as the targeting and marginalization of the poor, the racism, the institutional structures in place to keep that system going... there is no place for the poor man. No real...
And just as the targeting and marginalization of the poor, the racism, the institutional structures in place to keep that system going... there is no place for the poor man. No real room for our values and humanity we say we love, and no room for superman, who is supposed to stand for these things.
By far one of my fave ani songs. Actually basing my dissertation research on the political/social themes she so deftly deconstructs for us. And as for this stanza,
"why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun 'cause we'll never live long enough to undo everything they've done to you"
well, that's just brilliant. She obviously is a Judith Butler fan and is referring to the fact that we are inscribed within a violent identity discourse before we are even born, and the extent to which our lives are just reproduction after reproduction of those power formations is completely inescapable.
@sadgreeneyes Right, but underlying it is this poignant sadness. This lost hope that we could have and should have been better... but that it's become so unrecognizable and the damage done so significant that it's too forgone to fix now. Within the song you see a lot of hope that's been lost. But there had been hope there before. I don't know that it jells with a J. Butler interpretation.
@sadgreeneyes Right, but underlying it is this poignant sadness. This lost hope that we could have and should have been better... but that it's become so unrecognizable and the damage done so significant that it's too forgone to fix now. Within the song you see a lot of hope that's been lost. But there had been hope there before. I don't know that it jells with a J. Butler interpretation.