Dilate, by Ani DiFranco

Dilate

by Ani DiFranco

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Michael Heimbaugh A perfect appetizer for the triple-feast of Revelling/Reckoning and Little Plastic Castle. Grooves for days. Favorite track: Shameless.

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1.	Untouchable Face 04:39	lyrics	buy track
think i’m going for a walk now i feel a little unsteady don’t want nobody to follow me 'cept maybe you i could make you happy, y' know if you weren’t already i could do a lot of things and i do tell you the truth i prefer the worst of you too bad you had to have a better half she’s not really my type but i think you two are forever and i hate to say it but you’re perfect together so fuck you and your untouchable face and fuck you for existing in the first place who am i that i should be vying for your touch who am i bet you can’t even tell me that much two-thirty in the morning and my gas tank will be empty soon neon sign on the horizon rubbing elbows with the moon a safe haven of sleepless where the deep fryer’s always on and the radio is counting down the top twenty country songs and out on the porch the fly strip is waving like a flag in the wind y'know, i don’t look forward to seeing you again you’ll look like a photograph of yourself taken from far far away and i won’t know what to do and i won’t know what to say except fuck you and your untouchable face and fuck you for existing in the first place who am i that i should be vying for your touch who am i bet you can’t even tell me that much i see you and i'm so perplexed what was i thinking what will i think of next where can i hide in the back room there’s a lamp that hangs over the pool table and when the fan is on it swings gently side to side there’s a changing constellation of balls as we are playing i see orion and say nothing the only thing i can think of saying is fuck you and your untouchable face and fuck you for existing in the first place who am i that i should be vying for your touch who am i bet you can’t even tell me that much
2.	Outta Me, Onto You 04:37	lyrics	buy track
it’s gonna be sudden it’s gonna be strange i’m gonna turn on a dime and give you five cents change it’s gonna be long overdue it’s all gonna come out outta me, onto you one of these days you’re gonna push too hard we’ll go on like we’ve always done 'til you go too far yeah one of these days it’s gonna reach the top then it’s gonna start to spill and it’s not gonna stop some people wear their smile like a disguise those people who smile a lot watch the eyes i know it 'cuz i’m like that a lot you think everything’s o.k. and it is ‘til it’s not some people wear their heart up on their sleeve i wear mine underneath my right pant leg strapped to my boot don’t think ‘cuz i’m easy, i’m naive don’t think i won’t pull it out don’t think i won’t shoot most people like to talk a lot including you there isn’t much i have to say that i wouldn’t rather just shut up and do and i’m gonna miss you when you’re gone yeah i’m gonna be torn just remember that i love you just remember you were warned
3.	Superhero 04:45	lyrics	buy track
sleep walking through the all-nite drug store baptized in fluorescent light i found religion in the greeting card aisle now i know hallmark was right and every pop song on the radio is suddenly speaking to me art may imitate life but life imitates t.v. ‘cuz you’ve been gone exactly two weeks two weeks and three days and let’s just say that things look different now different in so many ways i used to be a superhero no one could touch me not even myself you are like a phone booth that i somehow stumbled into and now look at me i am just like everybody else if i was dressed in my best defenses would you agree to meet me for coffee if i did my tricks with smoke and mirrors would you still know which one was me if i was naked and screaming on your front lawn would you turn on the light and come down screaming, there’s the asshole who did this to me stripped me of my power stripped me down i used to be a superhero no one could hurt me not even myself you are like a phone booth that i somehow stumbled into and now look at me i am just like everybody else yeah you’ve been gone exactly two weeks two weeks and three days and now i’m a different person different in so many ways tell me what did you like about me and don’t say my strength and daring ‘cuz now i think i’m at your mercy and it’s my first time for this kind of thing i used to be a superhero i would swoop down and save me from myself but you are like a phone booth that i somehow stumbled into and now look at me i am just like everybody else
4.	Dilate 04:50	lyrics	buy track
dilate life used to be life-like now it’s more like show biz i wake up in the night and i don’t know where the bathroom is and i don’t know what town i’m in or what sky i am under and i wake up in the darkness and i don’t have the will anymore to wonder everyone has a skeleton and a closet to keep it in and you’re mine every song has a you a you that the singer sings to and you’re it this time baby, you’re it this time when i need to wipe my face i use the back of my hand and i like to take up space just because i can and i use my dress to wipe up my drink i care less and less what people think and you are so lame you always disappoint me it’s kinda like our running joke but it’s really not funny i just want you to live up to the image of you i create i see you and i’m so unsatisfied i see you and i dilate so i'll walk the plank and i'll jump with a smile if i’m gonna go down i’m gonna do it with style and you won’t see me surrender you won’t hear me confess ‘cuz you’ve left me with nothing but i've worked with less and i learn every room long enough to make it to the door and then i hear it click shut behind me and every key works differently i forget every time and the forgetting defines me that’s what defines me when i say you sucked my brain out the english translation is i am in love with you and it is no fun but i don’t use words like love ‘cuz words like that don’t matter but don’t look so offended you know, you should be flattered i wake up in the night in some big hotel bed my hands grope for the light my hands grope for my head the world is my oyster the road is my home and i know that i’m better off alone
5.	Amazing Grace 07:11	lyrics	buy track
amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me i once was lost but now i’m found was blind but now i see 'twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace that fear relieved how precious did that grace appear the hour i first believed through many dangers toils and snares i have already come ‘twas grace that brought me safely thus far and grace will lead me home and when this heart and flesh shall fail and mortal life shall cease i shall possess within the vale a life of joy and peace
6.	Napoleon 06:27	lyrics	buy track
they told you your music could reach millions that the choice was up to you and you told me they always pay for lunch and they believe in what i do and i wonder will you miss your old friends once you’ve proven what you’re worth yeah i wonder when you’re a big star will you miss the earth i knew you would always want more i knew you would never be done ‘cuz everyone is a fucking napoleon yeah everyone is a fucking napoleon and the next time that i saw you you were larger than life you came and you conquered you were doing alright you had an army of suits behind you all you had to be was willing and i said i still make a pretty good living but you must make a killing a killing i hope that you are happy i hope at least you are having fun ‘cuz everyone is a fucking napoleon yeah everyone is a fucking napoleon now you think, so that is the way it’s gonna be that’s what this is all about and i think that is the way it always was you chose not to notice until now yeah now that there’s a problem you call me up to confide and you go on for over an hour 'bout each one that took you for a ride and i guess that you dialed my number ‘cuz you thought for sure that i’d agree and i say baby, you know i still love you but how dare you complain to me everyone is a fucking napoleon yeah everyone is a fucking napoleon
7.	Shameless 04:52	lyrics	buy track
i cannot name this i cannot explain this and i really don’t want to just call me shameless i can’t even slow this down let alone stop this and i keep looking around but i cannot top this if i had any sense i guess i'd fear this i guess i’d keep it down so no one would hear this i guess i’d shut my mouth and rethink a minute but i can’t shut it now 'cuz there’s something in it we’re in a room without a door and i am sure without a doubt they’re gonna wanna know how we got in here and they’re gonna wanna know how we plan to get out we better have a good explanation for all the fun that we had 'cuz they are coming for us, babe and they are going to be mad yeah they’re going to be mad at us this is my skeleton this is the skin it’s in that is, according to light and gravity i'll take off my disguise the mask you met me in 'cuz i got something for you to see just gimme your skeleton give me the skin it’s in yeah baby, this is you according to me i never avert my eyes i never compromise so never mind the poetry i gotta cover my butt 'cuz i covet another man's wife i gotta divide my emotions into wrong and right then i get to see how close i can get to it without giving in then i get to rub up against it ‘til i break the skin rub up against it ‘til i break the skin they’re gonna be mad at us they’re gonna be mad at me and you they’re gonna be mad at us and all the things we wanna do just please don’t name this please don’t explain this just blame it all on me say i was shameless say i couldn’t slow it down let alone stop it and say you just hung around 'cuz you couldn’t top it
8.	Done Wrong 06:34	lyrics	buy track
the wind is ruthless the trees shake angry fingers at the sky the people hunch their shoulders hold their collars over their ears and run by it’s a cold rain it’s a hard rain like the kind you find in songs i guess that makes me the jerk with the heartache here to sing to you about how i been done wrong i am sitting, watching out the window of the coffee shop and i’m waiting, waiting waiting for it to let up i am rocking like a cradle warming my hands with the cup in between i am leaning over the table holding my face over the steam and before it gets so cold that the rain turns to snow there’s just a couple things i’d like to know like how could you do nothing and say, i’m doing my best how could you take almost everything and then come back for the rest how could you beg me to stay reach out your hands and plead and then pack up your eyes and run away as soon as i agreed it just all slips away so slowly you don’t even notice ‘til you’ve lost a lot i've been like one of those zombies in vegas pouring quarters into a slot and now i’m tired and i am broke and i feel stupid and i feel used and i’m at the end of my little rope and i am swinging back and forth about you before it gets so cold that the rain turns to snow there’s just a couple things i’d like to know like how could you do nothing and say, i’m doing my best how could you take almost everything and then come back for the rest how could you beg me to stay reach out your hands and plead and then pack up your eyes and run away as soon as i agreed
9.	Going Down 04:50	lyrics	buy track
you can’t get through it you can’t get over it you can’t get around just like in a dream you’ll open your mouth to scream and you won’t make a sound you can’t believe your eyes you can’t believe your ears you can’t believe your friends you can’t believe you’re here and you’re not gonna get through it so you are going down i put a cup out on the window sill to catch the water as it fell now i got a glass half full of rain to measure the time between when you said you’d come and when you actually came little mister limp dick is up to his old tricks and thought he’d call me one last time but i’m just about done with the oh-woe-is-me shit and i want everything back that’s mine
10.	Adam and Eve 06:40	lyrics	buy track
tonight you stooped to my level i am your mangy little whore now you’re trying to find your underwear and then your socks and then the door and you’re trying to find a reason why you have to leave but i know it’s 'cuz you think you’re adam and you think i’m eve you rhapsodize about beauty and my eyes glaze everything i love is ugly i mean really, you would be amazed just do me a favor it’s the least that you can do just don’t treat me like i am something that happened to you i am truly sorry about all this you put a tiny pin prick in my big red balloon and as i slowly start to exhale that’s when you leave the room i did not design this game i did not name the stakes i just happen to like apples and i am not afraid of snakes i am truly sorry about all this i envy you your ignorance i hear that it’s bliss so i let go the ratio of things said to things heard as i leave you to your garden and the beauty you preferred and i wonder what of this will have meaning for you when you’ve left it all behind i guess i'll even wonder if you meant it at the time
11.	Joyful Girl 05:08	lyrics	buy track
i do it for the joy it brings because i'm a joyful girl because the world owes me nothing and we owe each other the world i do it because it’s the least i can do i do it because i learned it from you and i do it just because i want to because i want to everything i do is judged and they mostly get it wrong but oh well 'cuz the bathroom mirror has not budged and the woman who lives there can tell the truth from the stuff that they say and she looks me in the eye and says would you prefer the easy way no, well o.k. then don’t cry i wonder if everything i do i do instead of something i want to do more the question fills my head i know there’s no grand plan here this is just the way it goes when everything else seems unclear i guess at least i know i do it for the joy it brings because i'm a joyful girl because the world owes me nothing and we owe each other the world i do it because it’s the least i can do i do it because i learned it from you and i do it just because i want to because i want to

about

Dilate is layered with unabashed rhythmic hues that are riveting and sexy. Acting as a bridge between Ani's acoustic guitar core and the more explorative instrumental realm found in later releases, Dilate is no doubt the product of a three week hole up at the live in studio, The Congress House in Austin, Texas, a favorite staple for future studio works. Love dirges mingle in a watery solitude that flow through a landscape, Ani describes as "a serpentine journey" which examines a single relationship from many angles.

Dark and melancholy but not without humor, "baptized in fluorescent light/ I found religion in the greeting card aisle/ now I know Hallmark was right…I used to be a Superhero". For a fallen superhero, the vulnerability of this album is unparalleled. Haunting the way the guitar bends on the edge of tuning responsive to the world it plays in. As for instrumentation, Ani throws down electric, acoustic, steel and bass guitars, Hammond organ, synthesizers, thumb piano and drums. Dilate hosts a special cast of characters: Andy Stochansky on drums, David Travers Smith on trumpet, and Michael Ramos on organ.

Not one for the FCC annual ballroom dance, 'Napoleon' is effused with electric guitar and the stellar observation, "everyone is a fucking Napoleon," they sure are girl and while that line is a concert sing-along favorite, 'Untouchable Face' takes another look at the F-word, the kind that leaves you speechless meaning far more than the standard L-O-V-E. But Ani doesn't use words like Love, at least not in 'Dilate', a song that describes life on the road with a busted organ (heart folks, not Hammond). On 'Adam and Eve', Ani plays acoustic and bass guitars with Andy on drums this tender environment is consummated by the heart wrenching solemnity and biblical allusion (a recurrent theme, "Amazing Grace" also appears, the first cover to make it on a record, well of course she'd start with a 1754 classic) nothing like despair to summon up that infamous ancestral pair.

Recorded in December 1995 and January 1996, you almost want to wipe the snow off the CD before placing it in the player and grabbing a beer or seven. But when you are laid out, Ani has pre-meditated the final chapter "I ended the album with 'Joyful Girl' because I see it as a song of redemption; you travel down this really steep slope until you hit bottom, then you're in the valley where it's green and you can rest". Who can rest? – We want to dance around and play 'Shameless' over and over and over again until our neighbors complain or join in!

Hair: long colorful blue and yellow braids
Artwork note: folksinger in a dress
Love: pining, murky, tortured, reeling
Misc: Dilate charted on Billboard's Top 200, earned Ani her first significant commercial airplay. Also Dave Matthews does a cover of 'Joyful Girl'.
AKA: The black one (not to be confused with Ani's guitar of the same name)

"A microscopic examination of envy and adoration, a hard-won lesson that you can't know anyone the way you hoped you could ...a beautiful record...the genuine article."
- CMJ

credits

released May 1, 1996

1996, 1996 Righteous Babe Records distributed by United For Opportunity

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about

Ani DiFranco New Orleans, Louisiana

Grammy winner and feminist icon Ani DiFranco began her career as a proponent of the artist-run label, creating her own Righteous Babe Records in 1990. Since then she has released over twenty studio albums and supported a broad range of social causes including racial justice, reproductive rights, gender equality, environmental issues and prison reform. ... more

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