← more from
Righteous Babe Records
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Puddle Dive

by Ani DiFranco

supported by
samuliroslander
samuliroslander thumbnail
jenren
jenren thumbnail
edward81
edward81 thumbnail
Cassidy Murray
Cassidy Murray thumbnail
Linh
Linh thumbnail
Bx Lilith Beorning
Bx Lilith Beorning thumbnail
Mason Adams
Mason Adams thumbnail
Sam Goodwin
Sam Goodwin thumbnail
Dominic Hatton
Dominic Hatton thumbnail
kjtrujillo
kjtrujillo thumbnail
empico2000
empico2000 thumbnail
Andrew van Buuren
Andrew van Buuren thumbnail
sarahcbittle
sarahcbittle thumbnail
Brian Betteridge
Brian Betteridge thumbnail
kantcstr8
kantcstr8 thumbnail
/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

1.
Names and Dates and Times 02:39
lyrics
buy track
i know so many white people i mean where do i start the trouble with white people is you just can’t tell them apart i’m so bad with names and dates and times but i’m big on faces that is except for mine i believe you when you tell me that we’ve met before but this time you got my interest this time you got the floor why don’t you go and tell me something i don’t already know give me something to remember you by when i go i eat too much i laugh too long maybe i’ll like too much of you when i’m gone let’s go over to the window and sit in the neon light let’s go out walking you know it’s garbage night let’s go down to the east river and throw something in something we can’t live without then let’s start again the more you talk the more i get the sense of something that hasn’t happened yet the more you talk the more i want to know the way i’ll remember you when i go i eat too much i laugh too long maybe i’ll like too much of you when i’m gone i am so many white people i mean where do i start i got lots of personalities i just can’t tell them apart and i never remember anything except for those things that i never forget there’s no in between i’m big on your face yeah it’s big in my mind you’re like the rest of the human race you are one of a kind
2.
Anyday 03:00
lyrics
buy track
i will lean into you you can be the wind i will open my mouth and you can come rushing in you can rush in so hard and make it so i can’t breath i breath too much anyway i can do that anyday i just wish i knew who you were i wish you’d make yourself known you probably don’t realize i’m her the woman you want to call home i’ll keep my ear to the wall i’ll keep my eye on the door cause i’ve heard all my own jokes and they’re just not funny anymore i laugh too much anyway i can do that anyday have you ever been bent or pulled have you ever been played like strings if i could see you i could strum you i could break you make you sing but i guess you can’t really see the wind it just comes in and fills the space and every time something moves you think that you have seen its face and i’ve always got my guitar to play but i can do that anyday
3.
4th of July 03:03
lyrics
buy track
you gotta have the right tools for every job so invite myself in through the hole in the fence i am tripping thru the junkyard scanning over the piles the thin cats raise their skin in defense i know he’s watching me i can see him thru the cracks his eyes are small and shy on my back he says his name is jason he lives in the last trailer on the right he tells me he’ll be 7 on the 4th of july only the people who live here know the name of this place my path thru iowa would be hard to trace all the adults in this town try not to frown when i walk by but jason smiled at me he met my eye he met my eye he don’t ask me where i’m from or why i came here alone we all go looking for paradise then we go back home we cut out the small talk and got right to the way things are he showed me his squirrel skull i told him i locked myself out of my car so there goes the only friend i have in iowa his hand flapping behind him waving goodbye his name is jason he lives on the last trailer on the right and he’ll be 7 on the 4th of july
4.
Willing to Fight 03:49
lyrics
buy track
the windows of my soul are made of one way glass don’t bother looking into my eyes if there’s something you want to know just ask i got a dead bolt stroll where i’m going is clear i won’t wait for you to wonder i’ll just tell you why i’m here ‘cause i know the biggest crime is to just throw up your hands say this has nothing to do with me i just want to live as comfortably as i can you got to look outside your eyes you got to think outside your brain you got to walk outside your life to where the neighborhood changes tell me who’s your boogie man that’s who i will be you don’t have to like me for who i am but we’ll see what you’re made of by what you make of me i think it’s absurd that you think i am the derelict daughter i fight fire with words words are hotter than flames words are wetter than water i got friends all over this country i got friends in other countries too i got friends i haven’t met yet i got friends i never new i got lovers who’s eyes i’ve only seen at a glance i got strangers for great grandchildren i got strangers for ancestors i was a long time coming i’ll be a long time gone you got your whole life to do something and that’s not very long so why don’t you give me a call when you decide you’re willing to fight for what you think is real for what you think is right
5.
Egos Like Hairdos 02:44
lyrics
buy track
i saw on the poster that my name was printed just a little bit smaller i can tell you need to stand just a little bit taller no one ever talks about it but no one can disguise the cloud of competition that is hanging behind their eyes there’s more bad blood in this bar than there is beer it’s subtle but it still sucks and i want out of here we got egos like hairdos they’re different every day depending on how we slept the night before depending on the demons that are at our door they told me you wanted to play last that every profession has a system of castes so they reverse the order that we go on then you stand at the bar and you talk through my songs we got egos like hairdos they’re different every day depending on how we slept the night before depending on the demons that are at our door everyone loves the underdog but no one wants to be him they say the press will fatten you up and then they’ll dig their teeth in it’s cool to discover someone it’s hard to support them everyone is playing life like it is some stupid sport we got egos like hairdos they’re different every day depending on how we slept the night before depending on the demons that are at our door i got my kitchen stocked, i got my door unlocked there ain’t no demons here and i don’t really care whose name is printed in bigger type i live in a world full of hope not a world full of hype i ain’t no saint i help myself to what i need but i help other people too you know i sleep soundly
6.
Back Around 03:09
lyrics
buy track
my lipstick jumped ship to a styrofoam cup the coffee gone the conversation strong all i got left to give baby is up but sentiments like shadows grow long guess i gotta go don’t get up don’t cry it’s really very simple just kiss my cheek and say goodbye i never really go anywhere anyway i just pass thru from time to time bye bye baby baby bye bye maybe i’ll see you next time i’m in town maybe when i’m thru falling off the face of the earth i’ll come back around you know i’d love to come back around ten hours of driving will make your mind kind of numb but it’s better than ten dollars an hour slammin’ a hammer on my thumb and it’s better than five dollars an hour selling people shit i wouldn’t buy myself at least at the end of the day i’m always somewhere else bye bye baby baby bye bye maybe i’ll see you next time i’m in town maybe when i’m thru falling off the face of the earth i’ll come back around you know i’d love to come back around
7.
Blood in the Boardroon 03:55
lyrics
buy track
sitting in the boardroom the i’m so bored room listening to the suits talk about their world they can make straight lines out of almost anything except for the line of my upper lip when it curls dressed in my best greasy skin and squinty eyes i’m the only part of summer that made it inside in the air-conditioned building decorated with a corporate flair i wonder can these boys smell me bleeding thru my underwear there’s men wearing the blood of the woman they love there’s white wearing the blood of the brown but every woman learns how to bleed from the moon and we bleed to renew life every time it’s cut down i got my vertebrae all stacked up high as they can go but i still feel myself sliding from the earth that i know so i excuse myself and leave the room saying my period came early but it’s not a minute too soon i go and find the only other woman on the floor it’s the secretary sitting at the desk by the door i ask her if she’s got a tampon i can use she says oh honey what a hassle for you sure i do you know i do i say it ain’t no hassle no it ain’t no mess right now it’s the only power that i possess these businessmen got the money they got the instruments of death but i can make life i can make breath sitting in the boardroom the i’m so bored room listening to the suits talk about their world i didn’t really have much to say the whole time i was there so i just left a big brown blood stain on their white chair
8.
Born a Lion 01:48
lyrics
buy track
i’m not hurting anyone i’m just telling my own truth if there if there is something wrong then maybe maybe there’s something wrong with you what’s the big deal, get over it, relax just ‘cause i do up in your face what other people do behind you back why we all gotta look, why we all gotta act the same i say if your born a lion don’t bother trying to act tame everything i do i do for the first time i got a big crush on you, it is crushing my mind can i follow you home and listen to you think leave my lip prints on your cups leave my hairs in your sink they think i’m out there out there living on the fringe what if this is my world and i invited them in they should try living by my rules for a day nobody would die and there’d be lots of stuff to say i’m not hurting anyone no i’m not hurting anyone
9.
My IQ 02:23
lyrics
buy track
when i was 4 years old they tried to test my i.q. they showed me this picture of 3 oranges and a pear they asked me which one is different and does not belong they taught me different is wrong but when i was 13 years old i woke up one morning thighs covered in blood like a war like a warning that i live in a breakable takable body an ever-increasingly valuable body that a woman had come in the night to replace me deface me see... my body is borrowed yeah i got it on loan for the time in between my mom and some maggots i don’t need anyone to hold me i can hold my own i got highways for stretch marks see where i’ve grown i sing sometimes like my life is at stake ‘cause you’re only as loud as the noises you make i’m learning to laugh as loud as i can listen ‘cause silence is violence in women and poor people if more people were screaming then i could relax but a good brain ain’t diddly if you don’t have the facts we live in a breakable takable world an ever available possible world and we can make music like we can make do genius is in a backbeat backseat to nothing if you’re dancing especially something stupid like i.q. for every lie i unlearn i learn something new i sing sometimes for the war that i fight ‘cause every tool is a weapon if you hold it right
10.
Used to You 03:23
lyrics
buy track
i’m still here because i got nothing else to do you’re an asshole but i’m getting used to you i like the fact that you talk incessantly i got a thing for assholes who tell good stories i think that drinking is the only thing that you do right you’re gonna self destruct i think that’s what i like you like me so you try and make me feel like shit i think it’s kind of funny yeah i kind of enjoy it if you’re gonna do it, overdo it that’s how you know you’re alive go ahead, take yourself a coma nap take a puddle dive you said, this is my bedroom window you said, this is my view you said, lie down here with me and see the things that i do like you were trying to tell me something about the way you live like you would give me something if you had something to give and for all your talk you don’t say much that’s real i think i know more than you about the way you feel i understand your anger and your apathy i think if i was you, you are just who i’d be i’m still here because i got nothing else to do you’re an asshole but i’m getting used to you i could love you yeah i’ve entertained the thought but i could never like you so i guess i’d better not
11.
Pick Yer Nose 02:44
lyrics
buy track
how come i can pick my ears but not my nose who made that rule anyway how come you say that’s the way it is that’s just the way it goes why don’t you decide for yourself what you can do and what you can say how come i can pick my friends but not my enemies what is it about me that offends what is it about me you know i’m only five foot two and i’m giggly wiggly tell me again what did i do why are you scared of me i fight with love and i laugh with rage you gotta live light enough to see the humor and long enough to see some change i think shy is boring i think depressed is too i think pretty is nice but i’d rather see something new all those plastic people got their plastic surgery but we got a big big beautiful we got it for free who you gonna be if you can’t be yourself you can’t get it from t.v. you can’t force it on anybody else you know they come to clear cut they come to stripe mine they come for some of my big but my big brain or just a little time they wanna take me home to dinner they think i’m a bitch if i don’t go seems like the people who actually like me don’t allow me to say no your idea of a conversation is the third degree i don’t really know you and i don’t really wanna talk about me ‘cause i’m not going to pretend that i don’t pick my nose that’s just the way it is my friends that’s just the way it goes this is who i am what i do and what i say if you like it let it be if you don’t please do the same i fight with love i laugh with rage you gotta live light enough to see the humor and long enough to see some change
12.
God's Country 02:50
lyrics
buy track
state trooper thinks i drive too fast pulled me over to tell me so i say out here on the prairie any speed is too slow i miss brooklyn i miss my crew let’s start over i missed my cue guess i forgot who i was talking to i should have recognized that fierce look in his eyes i’ve seen it in my mirror so many times he’s gonna put two cents in ‘cause he’s got a gun but i’m gonna put in three ‘cause history owes me one guess i came out here to see some stuff for myself i mean why leave the telling up to everybody else this may be god’s country but this is my country too move over mr. holiness let the little people thru thank you for serving and protecting the likes of me thanks for the ticket now can i leave you know i have left everywhere that i have ever been i don’t really recommend it though not like anybody asked me Album Lyrics -–Draft #1 10/19/17 004-20 maybe you and i will meet again some day i’ve been known to come down this road maybe it’s destiny and then again maybe not, i don’t know

about

We'll see what you're made of by what you make of Puddle Dive. Socially irreverent, sonically irresistible, Ani DiFranco's fistful of guitar is jazzy, folky and poetic. Puddle Dive asks important questions and is pretty damn insightful. One of the most important questions is -- can an acoustic guitar actually do that? The answer in this case is resoundingly – yes! "Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right". Under the joyful finger pickin' and grinnin' there is an equally driving insatiable rhythm.

At the record's outset, guitar takes center stage, and is then met with the lines "I know so many white people/ I mean where do I start/ the trouble with white people/ is you just can't tell them apart". The record plays with the kind of self-deprecation and personal assessment that builds character. Timelessly significant, overtly political tunes like "Willing To Fight", "My IQ", and "Names and Dates and Times" are familiar favorites for most fans. Several heartfelt sultry numbers include "Anyday" and "Back Around" where the melodies are sweet and pliant. "Egos Like Hairdos", "Pick Yer Nose" and "God's Country" are as much fun as their song titles imply.

Musical guests vary from track to track. Andy Stochansky hits drums and tire rims and sings backing vocals on most songs. Others offer Rory Mcleod's harmonica styling, Scot Fisher on accordion, Scott Freilich on bass, Mary Ramsey on violin, and Ann Rabson's piano playing. These fine musicians add delightful layers to the acoustic guitar centered arrangements.

Disclaimer: You will come away a better person for having listened to this record. You will be that much more interesting and probably inclined to some pretty liberated behavior.

Hair: Awesome
Folksinger: Smiley
Artwork: Lots of pictures and handwritten lyrics
Misc. Rory Mcleod, recognize that name from DiFranco shows, don't ya?
AKA: The yellow one

"Joined by British harmonica player Rory McLeod, violinist Mary Ramsey, and pianist Ann Rabson of Saffire: The Uppity Blues Women, DiFranco sings songs the way guerrillas fight revolution."
- THE BOSTON GLOBE

credits

released February 14, 1993

1993, 1993 Righteous Babe Records distributed by United For Opportunity

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Ani DiFranco image

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

contact / help

Contact Ani DiFranco

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Ani DiFranco, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Fabiana Palladino stops by to talk about her mesmeric debut LP.
listen now