ani difranco lyrics
hide and seek
me and all the kids from the neighbourhood we play out in the street all summer long rule was we had to go home at nite when the street lights came on we were oblivious to the rest of the world we hold up the cars in the street we always played boys against girls and both sides would cheat strange men would stop their cars at the curb say "hey sweetheart, come here" and i would go up to the window and they would have their dick out in there hands and a sick little sneer i'd say "here we go again yeah, this time you win" i would feel dirty; i would feel ashamed but i wouldn't let it stop my game we would play hide and go seek territory would be the whole block sometimes the older boys when they find you they wouldn't want to tag you they just want to talk they say "what would you do for a quarter? come on, we don't have that much time" i'd think for a minute and i'd say "ok, give me the quarter first. fine" this time you win here we go again and i would feel dirty and i would feel ashamed but i wouldn't let it stop my game i remember my first trip alone on the greyhound bus a man who put his hands on me as soon as nite fell i remember when i was leaving how excited i was i remember when i arrived i didn't feel so well i remember the teachers who got me so sick scared, i went into the bathroom and i threw up in my hair i could go on but you know what it just gets worse so i should probably stop there. girl, next time he wants to know what your problem is girl, next time he wants to know where the anger comes from just tell him this time the problem is his just tell him the anger just comes it just comes
not a pretty girl
i am not a pretty girl that is not what i do i ain't no damsel in distress and i don't need to be rescued so put me down punk maybe you'd prefer a maiden fair isn't there a kitten stuck up a tree somewhere i am not an angry girl but it seems like i've got everyone fooled every time i say something they find hard to hear they chalk it up to my anger and never to their own fear and imagine you're a girl just trying to finally come clean knowing full well they'd prefer you were dirty and smiling and i am sorry i am not a maiden fair and i am not a kitten stuck up a tree somewhere and generally my generation wouldn't be caught dead working for the man and generally i agree with them trouble is you gotta have yourself an alternate plan and i have earned my disillusionment i have been working all of my life and i am a patriot i have been fighting the good fight and what if there are no damsels in distress what if i knew that and i called your bluff? don't you think every kitten figures out how to get down whether or not you ever show up i am not a pretty girl i don't want to be a pretty girl no i want to be more than a pretty girlnot angry anymore
growing up, it was just me and my mom against the world. and all my sympathies were with her when i was a little girl and i've seen both my parents play out the hands that they were dealt as each year goes by, i know more about how my father must have felt. i just want you to understand that i know what all the fighting was for, and i just want you to understand that i'm not angry anymore. no, i'm not angry anymore. she taught me how to wage cold war with quiet charm but i just want to walk through my life unarmed. to accept, and just get by like my father learned to do, but without all the acceptance of getting by that got my father through i just want you to understand that i know what all the fighting was for and i just want you to understand that i'm not angry anymore. no, i'm not angry anymore. night falls like people into love we generate our own light to compensate for the lack of light from above. every time we fight a cold wind blows our way, we can learn like the trees, how to bend, how to sway and say i, i think i understand what all this fighting is for, and i just want you to understand i'm not angry anymore. no, i'm not angry anymore.
literal
Note: This is a poem in the booklet of Educated Guess, but it is not read on the CD.
when they said he could walk on water what it sounds like to me is he could float like a butterfly and sting like a bee literal people are scary, man literal people scare me out there trying to rid the world of its poetry while getting it wrong fundamentally down at the church of "look, it sez right here, see!"
me and all the kids from the neighbourhood we play out in the street all summer long rule was we had to go home at nite when the street lights came on we were oblivious to the rest of the world we hold up the cars in the street we always played boys against girls and both sides would cheat strange men would stop their cars at the curb say "hey sweetheart, come here" and i would go up to the window and they would have their dick out in there hands and a sick little sneer i'd say "here we go again yeah, this time you win" i would feel dirty; i would feel ashamed but i wouldn't let it stop my game we would play hide and go seek territory would be the whole block sometimes the older boys when they find you they wouldn't want to tag you they just want to talk they say "what would you do for a quarter? come on, we don't have that much time" i'd think for a minute and i'd say "ok, give me the quarter first. fine" this time you win here we go again and i would feel dirty and i would feel ashamed but i wouldn't let it stop my game i remember my first trip alone on the greyhound bus a man who put his hands on me as soon as nite fell i remember when i was leaving how excited i was i remember when i arrived i didn't feel so well i remember the teachers who got me so sick scared, i went into the bathroom and i threw up in my hair i could go on but you know what it just gets worse so i should probably stop there. girl, next time he wants to know what your problem is girl, next time he wants to know where the anger comes from just tell him this time the problem is his just tell him the anger just comes it just comes
not a pretty girl
i am not a pretty girl that is not what i do i ain't no damsel in distress and i don't need to be rescued so put me down punk maybe you'd prefer a maiden fair isn't there a kitten stuck up a tree somewhere i am not an angry girl but it seems like i've got everyone fooled every time i say something they find hard to hear they chalk it up to my anger and never to their own fear and imagine you're a girl just trying to finally come clean knowing full well they'd prefer you were dirty and smiling and i am sorry i am not a maiden fair and i am not a kitten stuck up a tree somewhere and generally my generation wouldn't be caught dead working for the man and generally i agree with them trouble is you gotta have yourself an alternate plan and i have earned my disillusionment i have been working all of my life and i am a patriot i have been fighting the good fight and what if there are no damsels in distress what if i knew that and i called your bluff? don't you think every kitten figures out how to get down whether or not you ever show up i am not a pretty girl i don't want to be a pretty girl no i want to be more than a pretty girlnot angry anymore
growing up, it was just me and my mom against the world. and all my sympathies were with her when i was a little girl and i've seen both my parents play out the hands that they were dealt as each year goes by, i know more about how my father must have felt. i just want you to understand that i know what all the fighting was for, and i just want you to understand that i'm not angry anymore. no, i'm not angry anymore. she taught me how to wage cold war with quiet charm but i just want to walk through my life unarmed. to accept, and just get by like my father learned to do, but without all the acceptance of getting by that got my father through i just want you to understand that i know what all the fighting was for and i just want you to understand that i'm not angry anymore. no, i'm not angry anymore. night falls like people into love we generate our own light to compensate for the lack of light from above. every time we fight a cold wind blows our way, we can learn like the trees, how to bend, how to sway and say i, i think i understand what all this fighting is for, and i just want you to understand i'm not angry anymore. no, i'm not angry anymore.
literal
Note: This is a poem in the booklet of Educated Guess, but it is not read on the CD.
when they said he could walk on water what it sounds like to me is he could float like a butterfly and sting like a bee literal people are scary, man literal people scare me out there trying to rid the world of its poetry while getting it wrong fundamentally down at the church of "look, it sez right here, see!"